In our latest instalment of Curated By, we catch up with Jess Stern, co-founder and managing director of Mustard Made, the interior storage company known for their distinctive colourful lockers.
Created by two sisters, living on opposite sides of the planet – Becca, who lives in Newcastle, Australia and Jess, who lives in London – the idea for Mustard Made came about whilst walking together on the beach in Australia. Having always dreamed of starting a company together, they decided to take the leap into the world of interiors – inspired by Becca’s unique vintage locker collection – and Mustard Made was launched in 2018. Now a global company, Jess and Becca are brightening up homes with their playful storage solutions, aimed at making your home a little tidier – and a lot more fun.
We chatted with Jess about her design philosophy, the hotels she rates for seriously good interior design and her advice on starting a family business.
I launched Mustard Made with my sister Becca, in February 2018. Prior to that I worked in fashion buying with large retail brands such as Primark and BHS for over a decade. My background was very much in bringing a product to life – from concept to creation – and then out into the world. These skills were invaluable when bringing our Mustard vision to life.
How do you both juggle family life and running a business from opposite sides of the globe?
We’ve lived on opposite sides of the globe for over a decade, and starting Mustard Made together (alongside raising our families) has made us so much closer – we talk every single day! Trust is essential for running a successful business, and being sisters gives us a huge advantage. We work to each other’s strengths, and we are aware of our weaknesses and allow each other to have autonomy in our own worlds of Mustard. However, every long-distance relationship has its challenges, the time difference being our most obvious one. As I start my Monday morning, it’s Becca’s evening with her family, so it definitely forces you to be more organised with your time and considerate of others.
What advice do you have for siblings/family looking to start a business venture together?
Identify your skill set and take ownership for it. I truly believe that living in different time zones has allowed us to appreciate each other’s abilities rather than trying to “own” all elements of the business alone. It’s one of the main reasons we work so well together – because we know what we can bring to the table and where our individual talents lie. We’ve always been each other’s greatest cheerleaders and being able to go on this journey together is amazing. Knowing each other so well, and trusting each other’s expertise means that we always back each other – especially at times when we may not have felt confident enough to back ourselves. It’s a learning curve for sure, but being able to do that for each other has given us the confidence to push Mustard further and beyond our biggest expectations.
I would also say to anyone looking to do the same thing to enjoy it! When we look back and see how far we’ve come as a business, being able to say we’ve done it together is such an incredible feeling. What started as two sisters running a business, has turned into a family business with both our husbands working with us too. This does mean that you need to make sure to schedule non-work family time, time together where you can catch up on life-events and things that are happening outside of Mustard – we love our ‘sister chats’.
What is your design philosophy?
Something we’ve always tried to stay true to at Mustard Made is creating products that we would want to have and use in our homes. We don’t create seasonal collections, so each time we launch a new product it’s something that becomes a permanent part of our product family. This means we’re really considered in our product development approach and have a strong focus on timeless designs.
How would you describe your aesthetic?
Our products are colourful, functional and fun. They have an industrial feel, being made from metal, but our beautiful powder coating gives them a softer finish. Our lockers are inspired by the vintage metal lockers Becca had in her home, so they definitely have a retro vibe, but the clean lines and on-trend colour palette also gives a very cool and timeless feel.
Which piece of furniture is your favourite/which are you most proud of?
Family is at the heart of our business and to be able to launch a “Poppy” colourway after having my daughter was really special. An iconic red that adds a pop of colour to any space, the colour combos are also endless. We’ve recently designed Poppy’s new bedroom with Poppy, Blush and Berry lockers and stripes all over the wall. It’s awesome! The Twinny in her room is my favourite piece, it’s full to the brim with colourful clothes and shoes and, of course, our iconic hangers and baskets to help keep everything tidy.
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How does travelling influence your designs and tastes?
We recently returned from a trip to Mexico. We travelled around from city to city, but it was Oaxaca city that I really fell in love with. It’s a small city and so easy to walk around and explore. The streets were lined with colour, from the traditional street decorations to the colourful houses, I later found out that all the houses had to get approval from the mayor on what colour they could choose.
Which hotels do exquisite interior design? Why?
In Oaxaca we stayed at Hotel Escondido Oaxaca, it’s part of Design Hotels and you can feel it as soon as you walk through the door. It has terracotta hues throughout the property, tiled floors and uses materials from clay to stone and concrete to wood. The mix was beautiful. It was quiet and restful and somewhere I would love to return to.
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Your favourite place to source inspiration for your designs?
A walk outside, take me to Hampstead Heath any day of the week. I like to have space to work on new ideas.
What’s next in the pipeline for Mustard Made?
2024 was a really exciting year for us, launching both The Standard and The Glass Collection across the globe. We’re still very much on a high and bursting with new ideas of how we can spread Mustard even further. This year, we’re focused on supporting our retailers and continuing to spark joy with our rainbow of coloured lockers. We have a few new product launches in the pipeline too – follow us on Instagram to stay in the loop!
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