Trendy and full of simple charm. That’s the Poppi monogram from the stable of jewellery and accessory brand Outhouse founded by sisters Kaabia and Sasha Grewal. This is their newest monogram. t2 caught up with Kaabia and Sasha on the making of the monogram, their new collections and plans for the mega 10.
The new monogram looks cool...
Kaabia: The monogram is an expression of our childhood. Earlier this year in June-July we visited our family home where we grew up and from there on, bringing back all our nostalgic memories... the whole concept of innocence and our journey from there till now. It is a five-petal monogram... the key pillars identify Sasha and my journey. Even when we launched a new monogram a few years back, the idea was to create a stronger brand identity which was celebrating the five years of the brand. Now we have almost completed nine years and the idea was not to mark a journey but to evolve. There should be a recall value for the brand. The idea was to build in a sense of timelessness in the design. Each of the five petals, which includes the OH (Outhouse) logo, symbolises emotions that reflect our journey, like vibrant, bold, free-spirited, independent... what we are as people today as well.
We’ll of course continue with our previous lines and monograms, but this is another monogram. This is a playful monogram, but it is still very strong and industrial. In some pieces (in the collection) the petal has been expanded with a hardware feel to it.
So many new things have come out from the visit to your family home...
Kaabia: We just wanted to go down memory lane. We hadn’t been there for a good six-seven years. It brought back a lot of childhood memories, how we grew up and I think as children, the first thing you tend to draw is a flower. Sasha and I have been students of commercial art and it kind of rooted from there.
You want to create something that you are truly connected to. It is not about following a trend. Though if you look at our jewellery, it is very trend-driven. Hardware is a very strong trend at this point in jewellery. So, we have also amalgamated the softness of the five-petal monogram into the edginess of the hardware.
Sasha: We are also launching so many new leather accessories and we are building on our vegan portfolio in such a strong way. So, we want to build these iconic pillars. If you see the Mini Disco bag, which is around the OH V components and embosses the OH monogram, it has its own iconism. We have built the Birdy bag on it, the Furbie and a jewellery line on it. That is a strong signature in jewellery and even in our leather accessories. So, the concept of building another monogram, which has happened by chance I would say, is also to build more iconism in terms of symbolism in the brand, which goes in jewellery and our vegan accessories.
You also introduced the bucket bags crafted in PETA-approved vegan leather featuring 24k rose gold finishing...
Kaabia: When we started doing bags, which was four-five years back, we wanted to sync it with jewellery. If you see our Mini Disco bags as well, they are jewelled. That was the starting point. This (the bucket bag) is a very day-to-date bag crafted from vegan leather. All the leather we use are PETA certified. This is a versatile bag and there are different ways of styling it. We have introduced new colours as well. There are some classic colours like black, beige, maroon but we have also introduced a lot of macaron shades like powder blue and pastel pink. People want to travel and I think with everybody wanting to get out, people also want to explore. There is always a demand for black, but Sasha and I wanted to do different colours.
And, happy...
Kaabia: Happy and light. They want to make you travel and you feel good. The whole collection is happy and strong.
Nature has been an inspiration...
Kaabia: We really go back to nature in general to seek inspiration. We have taken strong inspiration from animal motifs and have adapted in our own formats. With this interpretation, we wanted to keep it very innocent. As a brand we want to talk about being sustainable. This is a practice we have built for the last three years. At least we are not using anything which damages the environment.
How do you look back at the journey as the brand will soon turn 10?
Sasha: It’s such a beautiful learning. You start off from an immature and unexposed manner. You don’t know anything about business and are just a creative person. Over a period of time, you understand business and creativity and you have to strike a balance to marry both. And then how you would like to build that journey into a stronger brand. We are at a point where we are really revamping things so that we can groom our company into being next level when we launch our 10th. Even the teams... in the last two years we have had some great people join us, which has added more value to our ecosystem.
Kaabia: We both have always aspired to be entrepreneurs from very early years of our lives. We both left home when we were 17, which is not an early age... a very normal American way of living, but it made us independent. Most importantly, we learned the 360-degree aspect of our business. Sasha and me, different strengths of course, but we feel we have learnt a lot in the last two years. You can get work done only if you know about the company very well. There has been a lot of journey in terms of learning leadership skills.... We have done innovative collections.
For 10 years, we want to break free from all the clutter and do something innovative. The journey has been gratifying. Up or down, we have learnt from everything.
Accessorise best this party season:
Kaabia: I would invest in pieces I could wear a lot. People want to wear things which are statement. Do your jewellery and accessories first because they add something extra. You can wear something simple... with a statement necklace and you are good to go. It’s a lot about styling and creating a fine balance. It should look chic. A simple pair of hoops with a nice bag can look super chic. You can dress up or dress down. When we are shopping or designing a piece, we look at the piece individually and whether we will enjoy wearing it. When you think from the mindset of yourself as the consumer, what you would buy and how you would wear it, I think you can style and tell your teams also how to make a person style it. It’s about how you intelligently and creatively mix and match.
Sasha: I want people to set a trend for themselves. Dress it up or dress it down. We really need to celebrate who we are without inhibitions.
The contemporary necklace ‘fuses architectural finesse and remarkable craftsmanship’
The OH Poppi Clump Earcuff
The OH Petite Poppi ring features a mini version of the OH Poppi monogram
The OH Poppi Bolt Necklace with a pendant inscribed with the OH Poppi monogram
OH Poppi bucket bag in pale pink
OH Poppi Tuberose Handcuff
OH Poppi bucket bag in powder blue
Pictures: Sourced by the correspondent