Sarah Falzon and Merryn Paul are the co-creators of Mexsii. Their innovative take on traditional bedheads has found an instant following, and they were the winners of the T&W New Talent award at this year's Life Instyle trade fair.  We are featuring their Wanderlust collection for the first time, so we took the opportunity to ask Sarah (above left) about the ideas behind their business, and the pair's take on colour.

What are your backgrounds, and how did you come to start Mexsii together?
Merryn has a background in upholstery and interior design, whilst I have a background in business and marketing so it's a perfect combination of skills!

Working as an upholsterer Merryn was tired of creating the same bed heads over and over and wanted to create something different for herself. She came up with the idea of a bright, colourful bed head using artwork for fabric and as they say the rest is history.


Mexsii's Icelandic Dream bedhead, which appeared in The Block Glasshouse

Tell us about the creative process behind each artwork/design?
In the Wanderlust collection we worked together to create a series of colour palettes and mood boards that we were inspired by. We brought together our travel pics and little knick-knacks that we had gathered along the way, as well as revisiting travel journals for inspiration. After compiling all of this we engaged an artist to make our ideas come to life. Our artist worked within our colour palettes and mood boards in order to transpose our feelings and ideas into physical art pieces. The art was created with paint and in some cases digitally manipulated to create patterns and reflections.

Are you both equally crazy (in a good way!) about colour, or do you have complementary approaches?
Merryn has a more pared back approach to colour, whereas I love colour on colour on colour!!! More recently I have been drawn to more subtle colour palettes…maybe I'm getting old (haha)!


Coral Earth, styled with earthy neutrals

Do you have any advice on linen choices and bed styling to make the most of a Mexsii bedhead?
Mexsii Bedheads from the Wanderlust collection are statement pieces of art on their own so it's best to keep linen neutral with pattern and colour. Alternatively if you want a big colour hit pop in some linen in a complementary colour chosen from the artwork.

Your bedheads are made by hand in Melbourne. Is this local connection important to you?
Creating locally by hand is very much something that resonates with us. We love the story that each piece will be slightly unique, it's much more personal than mass-produced products.


A sophisticated take on Mexsii's Nomad Heart

Sustainability is also focus for you. How is this translated into your products?
Working as an upholsterer, Merryn saw first hand how much wastage there is in the industry so she was determined to change this when we released our products. We use reclaimed timber hardwood legs, environmentally sustainable foam, natural fibres and print with non-toxic inks.

Your Icelandic Dream bed head appeared in the bedroom of Shannon and Simon on The Block Glasshouse. Did you enjoy this collaboration?
The boys were such fun guys to work with! We mainly worked with Shannon who has a really great appreciation for considered design and great spatial awareness when planning a room…and an entire apartment for that matter. We felt like we were on The Block ourselves as Merryn was up until 2am upholstering in order to get it to them for the room reveal!