Even before we moved our design studio across oceans, Paris had always been a special place to us. After all, while we were born in Hong Kong, our background has always been deeply French and it’s contributed greatly to an ethos that’s guided everything we do. Now that we’ve been settled in the second district of rue Montmartre for a few years, even more so is Paris’ creative influence at the forefront of the way we create.
We’ve paid tribute to the city we love before, seeking inspiration from traditional leather goods and vintage French design for a capsule fittingly named the Heritage collection. With sunnier months around the corner and this summer in particular promising to be even more vibrant and spirited, our creative juices were craving an updated toast to Paris – this time, tapping into the contemporary playfulness of young Parisian design. Put simply, we wanted something that felt more fun and more summer.
To capture that quintessential Paris-in-the-summer charm, we sought the talents of Emilie Sarnel, an artist we initially connected with over a decade ago in our other home city of Hong Kong. With her penchant for vivid imagery, Emilie first collaborated with us on a special edition of our inaugural product, the Native Union Pop Phone, so it comes with happy nostalgia to be reconnecting with Emilie in such a different stage of our brand’s journey – and on the other side of the world, no less.
Emilie, too, reflects on how life has evolved since we last teamed up. “A lot has changed since then,” she says. “I moved back to France after living in Asia for nine years to reconnect with my family, my culture, and therefore myself. I like the challenges France can bring me, it pushes me on a creative level since it’s a place of incredible talent.”
Still, she remembers her time in Asia fondly. “I worked as an art director, graphic designer, and illustrator in Shanghai, Tokyo and Hong Kong and I do sometimes miss the excitement of living abroad. I can’t pick one city I like the most, but Hong Kong is dear to my heart since I lived there the longest. I love the city’s design – it’s an urban jungle. Very vertical, but also very green and by the sea.”
We share parallel journeys with Emilie, moving from Paris to Hong Kong and back. Yet while we similarly draw from our times in these cities, our design preferences stand apart. But again, that’s exactly why we love collaborations like this.
Just as Emilie brought out a more lighthearted side to our Pop Phone, she worked the same magic on some of our newer solutions, pushing us to explore new colors and a brighter dimension of our minimalist style that we wouldn’t usually gravitate towards.
For this capsule, Emilie shares that she “wanted to bring a bit of poetry, playfulness, color, and mystery to Paris.” Though remarking that it’s hard to illustrate Paris without being too cliché, we think she surpassed the task.
Rather than lean on monuments and common French motifs, Emilie adopted a more nuanced approach to capture the city’s underlying courage and daring spirit. Combined with her cool-toned color choices, Emilie shares three unique illustrations that bring a fun-loving energy to the way you carry, charge, and organize your tech.
Paris is ripe with inspiration and endless possibilities for how to channel the city through design. When lacking motivation, Emilie shares that a day out is a quick fix. “I walk for a couple of hours, go to my favorite café, printer, or art supply shop, meet a friend for Chinese dumplings, or visit a gallery. Then I head back to Pantin, where I live and work, happy again to have this beautiful and quiet studio.”
With dynamic illustrations, bold typography, and colorful whimsy, we hope this capsule brings even a little bit of the vim and vigor we feel from the city to your essentials – and by extension, to you.
