Dishing it all.

Léa Zana, founder of Vaissille talks about her success, inspiration and leaving the fashion world. 

I once read a quote by Jonas Salk that said evolution with purpose had to do with design.  Funny words, coming from a man a science, but when you really think about it design really does help shape our reality and build the foundations for our future.

Leá Zana has been a designer for many years, she started her career in fashion and worked as a shoe designer at Inditex, Topshop, and Asos —  so it is very likely that you own a pair of shoes that were developed by her.  Today, she is the founder and designer of Vaissille (which translates to dish in French), a homeware brand that found success overnight thanks to its unique designs and bold colors. 

At the end of summer we had the chance to talk to her about her journey, sources of inspiration and what she hopes for the future. 

P: What made you transition from fashion to homeware? 

L: Back in December 2019 I lost my job at ASOS, I was going back to Topshop but just before the first lockdown in March they cancelled my recruitment so I had no job offers. I knew I had to set up something of my own to keep the money coming in. I realised that I didn’t want to do fashion anymore, after 15 years I was burnout from the industry. 

I have always liked ceramics and knew it was an easy product to develop so I started researching the best places to do it. I chose Spain because my fiancé (now husband) is from there. Once borders reopened I took a flight to Mallorca and started looking into studios and artisan that could help me out.  I started developing the first collection in July and by September I was selling it through Instagram. 

P: Is there a reason why you chose Mallorca to develop your collection?

L:. I literally did a Google search and found out that in Mallorca there is something called La Ruta del Fang, a place where people only do ceramics and pottery.  I started in Mallorca but  I wasn’t really happy with the quality so we moved the production to the South of Spain. I found a place in Cordoba that I really liked and now I am working with Ana and Javi, an amazing couple that owns a studio. 

P: Guide me through your creative and developing process. 

L: The process is really simple. I send Ana and Javi pictures of my designs though WhatsApp and we do video calls every 3 days. 

I start with choosing my colour palette, which is always done with my developers to see what’s available and what works best. I then sketch sitting down on the floor of my living room playing music. I listen to 70s records put on a candle and have my cat nearby, it is all like a meditative process, very chilled.

P: What are your main sources of inspiration? 

L: I travel a lot, so that plays a huge part of my inspiration. As a child I used to go to India to visit my father, and it had a huge impact on my taste and love for color.  Before Covid I traveled to Holbox in Mexico and being there was like a dream for me. But… with all the travel restrictions in place at the moment, nature has acted as my main source of inspiration, especially flowers. Because of my background in fashion I also look at designers, especially from the 70s like Chloé and Marni. I am drawn to Spanish antiques for references because I want to allure that my pieces are made in Spain. Since I am French and I come from a small town where you see Vichy all around, the pattern is wired to my brain. 

P: Has not being able to travel diminished your inspiration? 

L:  Yes. It has been my worst nightmare. I used to travel at least twice a month, so this has been really hard for me. Instead of travelling to India or Mexico or The States I am doing Google searches, which obviously is not the best. I feel like I need to get out and be there in person. But it has also been hard in other ways, like not being able to see my mom for two years. 

P: I feel like everyone went into a bit of a crisis period when Covid stroke and it made us look outside of our comfort zone, how was this period for you in this transition from fashion to homeware? 

L: Transitioning from fashion to homeware, and setting up my business was something that had to do with spending a lot of time at home. People stopped shopping for clothes. I was inspired by the fact that we wanted to decorate and change our homes, and I wanted to bring some novelty into it.

P: How did it affect your personal evolution?

L: I am so much happier! My last years in fashion were a nightmare, I was struggling with mental health issues and now I wake up every day - still stressed -  but very happy because everything I do, I do it for myself. Change is always easy and scary but if you are doing what you love and are passionate about it makes you happy and it flows. 

P: How have you perceived an evolution of our consumptions habits post-pandemic? Especially after coming from a fast-fashion background. 

L: When I was at ASOS I realised I couldn’t deal with this type of consumption cycle anymore. There is no really a need to have a million references to create a pair of black boots. Also, the way in which providers are treated in India or China is not always the best. I just didn’t want to contribute to that kind of system anymore. I knew there was a gap for clients who were looking for something different, a different model and that valued quality over quantity;  I could see customers at ASOS preferring the more expensive items made in Europe as opposed to the cheaper one.

P: How was the road to success and what were the key elements in making the brand successful? 

L: Instagram!! I am not a social media person, I have 12 followers on my personal account but I think I got lucky because what I brought to the table was very different and niche so people started to share what I was doing. Liberty’s buyer found me and reached out to me as did  a few influencers. So that really helped in evolving the brand really fast. 

P: What are your next steps?

L: I am currently working on my third  collection, But mainly I just want to make everything better: my website and customer experience so that everything feels smoother. I am looking into expanding on wholesale as well.  Right now I am on UK, Japan and France. But I would like to have a presence in Europe, especially Spain, with Brexit I don’t want to just be in the UK. 

P: Would you like to expand to any other homeware areas? 

L: I’ve thought about it but I will stick to creating one really good thing for right now and consolidate what I am doing right now.

The new collection is now available on Vaissille’s website.