Dogs, Yoga and Baden Baden
People always ask where my inspiration comes from for Mike + Ally collections. Since I spend a good portion of my day involved in production and operations, I rarely have time to sit a desk and simply plot the next design series. Instead, ideas are usually generated at what I consider to be my down time. In particular,
walking my dog early in the morning and after hours in Central Park. My earphones on, a good audio book and a bucolic setting usually does the trick.
Another great idea mill is Yoga class. While others are chanting Om Shanti...I am looking ahead at the next trend. It’s a peaceful environment and there are few noise bytes to distract my thinking. I find doing a headstand turns my perspective upside down. Now that I finally perfected it, headstands are one of my favorite poses, it’s like flipping a switch in the brain and letting all the blood flow in to the head. Countless luxury bath accessories have come from being turned upside down.
But the time of greatest creativity comes from my travels. Being removed from the office and away from the NYC, I am almost always guaranteed to return with a wealth of bath accessory set ideas. We recently visited Baden Baden Germany and stayed at the Villa Stephanie at Brenner’s Park Hotel. It was a Grand Dame of hotels – a beautifully manicured symbol of perfection. Situated along the famous Lichtentaler Allee, I took my morning walks along the river as did Tolstoy and Kaiser Wiilhem. I observed all the well coiffed women detoxifying from Frankfurt and the gorgeous Rococo period homes….which prompted the creation of the new Mike + Ally ‘Meurice Collection’.
This tailored, classic bath collection is embellished with three types of chains; French twist, Ball chain and Rhinestone chain. It’s a unique design element for the luxury bathroom suite. And why the name? We met a gentlemen at dinner one night. He was from Maastricht in the Netherlands, moved to Paris and vacationed religiously at Baden Baden. So cosmopolitan.
