Interview with BAINA Co-Founder Anna Fahey
We connected with Anna Fahey, Co-Founder of BAINA, to hear about her design inspiration and bathing as ritual. BAINA is an Antipodean brand of curated toweling, founded by Bailey Meredith and Anna Fahey. Their contemporary, organic cotton towels are designed to elevate your daily bathing routine.
Read more below!
BAINA has stood out to us right from the start because of its elevated aesthetics to an everyday ritual. Can you share how your design brings mindfulness and beauty to the bathing routine and why this is important?
Bathing is a daily ritual, a form of subconscious meditation and essential time with self. We see that BAINA serves as a gentle reminder to take your time, to be present where you once moved absently through routine. Our designs are intentional, evoking certain moods or feelings. The Ivory collection is an example of calming design, inspired by the reverberations of skimmed water, or our Clay collection, which is reminisce of combed sand.
What are your biggest design inspirations for your current line? And what are you excited to work on next?
We have developed our collection with the intent to curate sets that reflect mood or personality. We love the challenge of designing to remain within these confinements. Building our colour palette to breathe fresh perspective into existing sets. Traditional towelling sets can be monochromatic and quiet, BAINA is about an individual approach to bathrooms to be an extension of one’s personal aesthetic.
This year will see BAINA step outside of our current product offering, we have a new product launching in July that will further enhance the individuals bathing experience. But I can’t give away more than that!
Baina sources 100% organic cotton - can you go into how this sets you apart in the market and how this impacts the world of textile design and the supply chain of sourcing ethically and sustainably.
Organic cotton is soft, durable, natural and biodegradable. A fibre that becomes stronger when wet, which makes it ideal for towelling. Compared to other common towelling fibres, cotton is preferred due to its superior absorbency, hand-feel and environmental impact.
While there are many sources of organic cotton, and has become a ‘buzz’ word in production, the Global Organic Textile Standard regulates the entire supply chain of organic cotton, from harvest to production, while also guaranteeing socially responsible manufacturing. BAINA as a company is also GOTS certified, meaning we are audited annually in order to make such a claim. From a personal vantage point Bailey and I are actively seeking improvements in how we operate, to ensure we are doing our best to contribute to a more sustainable future.
How did you two meet and decided to focus your design efforts on towels?
We both met at high school in New Zealand, becoming good friends from the age of 14. Our paths have intertwined ever since. We both worked extensively in the fashion industry, working together at a womenswear label then again in Melbourne at a design led homewares and furniture brand. We both regularly discussed our shared vision on how we would create our own business. Towels was something we both felt we could passionately speak to, we both share a love of bathing, and felt there was no towelling that spoke to our personal aesthetic. So BAINA was created.