Today we take you into the colourful home of Hélène and Laurens, the creative couple behind L'effrontée. We chat with Hélène about her passion for design and sustainability and life in Byron Bay, Australia. We hope you enjoy their story…
Tell us about L’effrontée, what inspired you to start your business?
I have been wanting to have a side hustle since I have met Laurens. We were discussing a lot about what we could do together without ever agreeing on anything. A few months after COVID happened I was going through a tough time mentally, like a lot of people and Laurens told me to just go for it and pick what I wanted to do and it just happened... I had the idea of selling vintage in the back of my head for a while and that’s how we started. I then later one started exploring up-cycling and here we are!
You paint such beautiful objects and artworks, when did your passion for painting and creating begin?
I have been a fashion designer for a while now so that’s always been my way of being creative. I had never really explored any other ways to express it until I met one of my friends here in Byron who’s an amazing painter. She made me want to paint and I haven’t really stopped since. Though I have really found my aesthetic since I have started L’effrontée and the Bazaar range.
How would you describe your aesthetic and style?
Colourful and graphic! I love playing with colour. I am fascinated how one colour can be perceived differently depending on what colour it is associated with.
We love your quirky colour combos, what inspires you?
I always on the hunt for exciting and cool colour combos. It can happened at the most random times. Often it’s a cool pic on Instagram but the other day I just dropped two pieces of clothing on my rug and loved the colour combo it created. I took a mental note for the future ;)
What is your favourite part of your process/ running L’effrontée?
I have surprisingly discovered a real passion for creating the content of our Instagram account... I love the painting side don’t get me wrong but when I put all the goods together and see all the colours next to each other it just makes me happy. I started realizing that seeing our insta posts is making other people happy too or so I like to think... We are living some dark and slightly depressing times. There is so much going on and all these colours are having such a soothing effect on me and I hope they are also soothing everyone that is following us on Instagram.
You live in a beautiful colourful home in Byron Bay, what does a typical weekend look like?
Well I used to be very dedicated to our business and spend all my weekend doing only that. Especially working full time it was the only time that I could spend a lot of hours in a row focused and also enjoy the day light for all the content creating. But recently I have decided to slow down and treat myself to some free time as it was just getting a bit too much. So now I share my time between L’effrontée (painting, sewing, content creating, website..) and enjoying all the beautiful things Byron bay has to offer which is mainly having a nap on the beach :)
To me sustainability means...
It’s something I think about everyday all the time. I am not perfect and it’s not about being perfect. But I believe it’s about thinking and trying to make the best choice whenever you can. If there is an easy and accessible sustainable option I will alway pick it! We consume so much and if everyone was a little bit more careful it would make such a difference!
In three words, how would you describe L’effrontée?
Cute but psycho
You have recently released a range of up-cycled Terry cushions, what is next??
Well I can’t say too much but we have decided to really embrace the creative and arty side of our business and develop some products around that. They will come in larger numbers which is exciting as right now we only have one of a kind items.
We want to thank Hélène for these images and this very special feature. If you would like to check out more from L’effrontée click here for their website and here for their Instagram. You won’t regret following these peeps, they are so inspiring and their colourful feed will certainly brighten up your day!
