At Home With Designer Heidi Baker
Images by Serafina LoGiacco
This week on the Journal we’re back in Los Angeles visiting the sunny home of designer Heidi Baker. We came across Heidi’s fashion label Ozma through our regular contributor, Serafina LoGiacco, who photographed this story for us. We immediately resonated with Heidi’s approach to production and in particular her views on sustainability and wastage within the fashion industry. Heidi was kind enough to allow us into her home to talk more about consciously building her brand and also bringing her own space to life with intention, and the help of family and friends.
“I live in a 1920’s cottage in the Eagle Rock neighborhood of Los Angeles. We moved in just under two years ago, just a few months before the lockdown. It’s a small house, two beds and one bath, but with beautiful light throughout and a big yard with orange trees and a mature California Live Oak. The yard was a mess when we purchased the house, so our first project in moving in has been landscaping, fixing up a dilapidated garage, and adding garden boxes. Not only has it been wonderfully transformative in the way we can enjoy our home, but all of the help of friends and family and DIY lessons learned along the way has given the space a warmth that makes it feel like home. We really love to both entertain in our back yard or just enjoy the solitude it provides in the middle of the city.”
Heidi’s bed is dressed in an IN BED 100% linen duvet cover in white and pillowslips, fitted & flat sheets in dove grey.
“Our bedroom is warm and simply decorated, with just a Shaker style dresser, a Kilim rug, and our bed. I have one piece of art in the room, a small painting by my friend, Vera. There is a connected smaller room off of my bedroom that shares it’s floor to ceiling corner windows and view, which flood both rooms with light. One side of the window looks out onto a Valencia Orange tree in the yard, and the other has a backdrop of climbing ficus and grape vines that I can see from my bed. It’s unbelievably peaceful. The small room we’ve nicknamed the ‘zen zone’ … I like to stretch, do yoga or write there. In the main part of my bedroom, I mostly just sleep, give my pup belly rubs, and read as much as I can before I inevitably fall asleep on my book.”
“My most cherished possessions are the art and handmade objects gifted to me from people I love. Top of mind, the painting of a girl in my bedroom by my friend Vera, a goodbye gift when we thought we’d never see each other again, the char on silk piece in my living room by Natasha that I spend hours admiring in her home, the ceramic lamp my boyfriend gave me and was sooooo proud of himself to have picked out, and the gorgeously imperfect hand carved wooden bowls that my mom found at a craft fair near their home in southern virginia.”
“Eagle Rock is like a small town within L.A. It’s not much of a destination for the rest of the city, which keeps it feeling quaint. We have a nice cheese and wine shop, a local outdoor bar we walk to and always seem to bump into a friend, and a good italian spot that never has a wait. All of our neighbors look out for each other and are really friendly. My street dead ends into a public park that leads to a short local hike, so my pup and I can get our nature fix really easily.”
Eagle Rock is like a small town within L.A. It’s not much of a destination for the rest of the city, which keeps it feeling quaint.
Heidi founded OZMA in 2015 with the goal of designing and producing with the environment in mind and promoting the idea of conscious-consumerism.
“OZMA is consciously-made clothing and accessories inspired by the idea that life expands when we live with less. We focus on what really matters in our design and production process and don’t bother with anything that doesn’t sync up with our values. This means pared back silhouettes that feel and look good on the body, high quality natural fibers, manufacturing done in such a way that respects all people, and kindness in every aspect of our business. The OZMA customer buys only what they absolutely love, pieces for a curated wardrobe that makes them feel great in body and heart.”
“We create items that are timeless, not trend-driven, and super wearable. We are intentional in our sourcing and selling, which is ever-evolving as we continue to find new and better resources along our sustainability journey. Our textile sourcing focuses on biodegradable, natural fibers including linen, silk noil, alpaca, and deadstock bull denim; dyed in Bluesign and GOTS certified facilities. Most recently, we adopted a regeneratively-grown silk quality for our bandanas, and are doing the same for our classic silk noil (already a waste-product of traditional silk) for our spring season of this next year as well. Quite notable is also our gorgeous alpaca sweater collection which is artisan-made in Peru.”
We are intentional in our sourcing and selling, which is ever-evolving as we continue to find new and better resources along our sustainability journey.
“In the end of 2019, we decided to exit the wholesale model of selling, for many reasons, one being the inherent waste that results inevitably via traditional product cycles, seasonality, overproduction, and markdowns. A direct-to-consumer model allows us to be more in tune with our customer demand for our products. Sometimes this means that we sell out of products quite quickly between re-stocks, but I much prefer that option over excess inventory.”
“I design very much from the heart, in that I add pieces to a collection that I can either see myself wanting to wear often, or is based off of a vintage piece that I’ve loved for quite a while and would like to share with others.”
Heidi’s bed is dressed in an IN BED 100% linen duvet cover in white and pillowslips, fitted & flat sheets in dove grey.