Hot Interview: Toni and Ben of Hayden-Harnett, Saving the World, One Handbag at a Time

by Myriah Zaytoun • Mar 27, 2007 2:37 PM PDT

About Hayden-Harnett:

Brooklyn is blowing up with Hayden-Harnett and their unique, beautifully constructed handbags. Designer Toni Hacker, and her business-partner slash boyfriend, Ben Harnett, are making a mark with their ever-expanding business. Started in 2005, Hayden-Harnett almost immediately went from selling canvas bags on consignment to wholesaling their luxury leather line, with custom-molded hardware and printed hardware in many well-known stores in major cities, including Japan. Toni grew up playing in several rock bands and she brings her Southern breeding plus rock sensibility with her years of handbag design to the young company. Toni and Ben, who has a diverse background himself, share their passion for form, function, travel, vintage finds, and a rock and roll spirit. Together they give us stylishly edgy bags, while continuing to expand their brand to include apparel as well as opening a retail store in Brooklyn.

Stylehive: How has your background helped to shape the way you design?

Ben Harnett: This is more a question for Toni, as she's the design genius behind everything we do. But I can answer in general - we both come from a non-traditional fashion background. She studied sculpture, architecture and product design. I studied painting, Greek and Latin. We both worked in different areas and came at fashion design from odd angles. I think it's given us both a lot of perspective on people's needs, and really caused us to focus not just on beauty in a sculptural and aesthetic sense, but also, and very importantly, on usability, and practicality. I think anyone who looks at one of our bags, after being amazed by the beauty and quality will come to realize it's an object made for use - pockets, adjustable straps, built to be worn and loved. The same with our dresses, there's pockets in just about every one. We don't stand on ceremony.
I think being outside of the mainstream also made us pretty fearless. We are absolutely committed to trying new things, and going in any direction we feel is right, and not being swayed one way or the other.

Toni Hacker: Well I think Ben said it all. I started out making products and spaces for people to use, like ATM kiosks and storefronts -- and later I worked designing products that were made in tens and hundreds of thousands of units at a very low price. So I really was forced from the beginning to think about the customer, and also to try to craft something beautiful and useful at a very low price. I met these challenges better because of my diverse background and now when I design I still think of it in these terms. It also helps me to take risks, because I never studied fashion design, I'm not restrained by what everyone else has done or is doing.

Stylehive: Have you always wanted to design, and how did you get started? What inspires you?

Ben: I can only tell you that I think Toni's inspired by just about everything under the sun. Whether it's a book of Norwegian Folk Tales she found on my bookshelf and took for her own, or the latest new music she dug up on an obscure indie website and filled both her and my iPod with, surreptitiously, or our trip to the Cloisters, or Brittney Spears's public performance art... or a box full of bakelite earrings we found in Kentucky. Toni tells me a story about her grandparents, who owned a small 5 and dime type store, and how when she was a little girl, she used to take these white sneakers they sold and cover them with her own designs and make a little hangtag for them and sell them to customers. I guess she's always been designing one way or the other.

Toni: I can't believe you told that story! But it's true. For Fall, we wanted to take everything in a really new bold direction - the overall look of the line is definitely more glamorous, but a bit rock'n'roll romantic with modern shapes and exaggerated use of chains and hardware. Silhouettes are much more structured and defined than in past seasons. Materials range from luxe liquid silver anaconda to deep merlot, yam, and eggplant leathers. Black is a focus color in the palette as well as metallic silver and dull gold. Hardware is exaggerated and cast with tonal ceramic overcoat colors. Mood is decadent, yet restrained. Focus on details such as unique stitching and function of straps and interiors. Patent is still hanging around, but definitely understated. We have a laser-cut suede lace that is very romantic, graphic, and raw. As well as being trendy and innovative in your design, you are also socially conscious.