Journal

Working with clay is an invitation to the malleable. Like everything at its beginning, clay comes from the earth, unformed, elemental, and ripe with infinite possibilities. Like many things, it is shaped by the forces around it—the restorative power of water, the profound force of human intention, the alchemical transformation of fire. Like so few and very rare things, once fired, it holds its form and function for a literal eternity of beauty and use. 

As New York based ceramicist Virginia Sin puts it: "clay really allows for fluidity to be translated." In her hands, the form becomes fixed but the aliveness persists. We sat down with Virginia to talk about the shifting fluidity of creative practice, what feels like home, and (of course) New York vs. LA.

At this time of transition in the year, we often notice the symptoms of the season on our bodies and hearts before we can connect the effects with causality. Though we can just start to feel the days starting to stretch their legs and it occasionally really truly seems like warm breezes and green shoots are right around the corner...there is still the weight of short-day darkness on our bones and a misplaced feeling like we haven't quite gotten in step with the year. 

Thinking about this potent time of shifting and how best to care for our precious bodies and hearts, we decided to check in with Alyson Morgan, a writer, photographer, folk herbalist + mother who gracefully navigates the winds of these changing seasons like a hawk rising on a thermal current. Alyson filters her beautiful sensibility and rich connectivity to the natural world through her background in Climate Studies, Natural Resource, and Global Health and she had some radically pragmatic and generously gentle wisdom to share about care, presence, and finding goodness, peace, and joy amidst chaos.

Who doesn't see the moon and feel the achingly beautiful pull of something mysteriously greater than ourselves? As if we each contain a tide of possibility, an ebb and flow and interconnectivity to things greater and grander than ourselves, a lunacy of potential, simply waiting to be pulled into being by inspiration or the electricity of creation.

In all acts of radical creation, this same powerful and mysterious gravity exists—the tug we feel between ourselves and the moon is the same as the gravity that pulls the enchantress, the mother, and the artist from concept to execution. It is this necessary dance between dreaming and doing that (always, eventually) generates the leap from "the vision of the thing" to its coming into being.

Beloved for her earth-pigment paintings of moons and planets and visionary photography of womanhood in the abstract desert, artist, mother, enchantress, and radical creator Stella Maria Baer lives and makes beauty according to this exact gravitational pull. We connected with Stella to explore more fully her magical world of desert palettes, the cycles of color and memory, and the interconnected constellations of all of our human energies and orbits. We are all stardust.

The most important thing to know about our luminous friend Cat Chen isn't that she's the VP of Marketing for the professional-magic-makers at Amber Interiors. It isn't that she is launching her own wine business or that she makes incredible dumplings. It isn't that her beloved mother, Alice, died nearly three years ago or that Cat has been on a beautiful, aching, and revolutionary-feeling path of processing that loss very openly...creating spaces for connection and vulnerability...spaces that gently and generously invite the sort of shared anti-aloneness-on-everyone's-own-terms that is perhaps the most potent salve for grief. It's not that she has a rich personal style, a great eye, grand adventures, a lovely home, or throws great parties. No, the most important thing to know about Cat Chen is that she is a real human being, beautiful and tender, messy and marvelous, and all of those things that she does, has, feels, and simply...is...that's all just part of the electric realness of being truly and fully alive.

We loved connecting with Cat to talk about the most important things: home and heart, food and drink, style and substance, and, of course, the anchor of love against the drifting tide of loss. Sending gentleness to any of your dear hearts out there navigating a similar path and wrapping them up in a sisterhood bandana.

There is, of course, that resonant old William Morris quote: "Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be beautiful or believe to be useful". We feel this deep in our bones, and yet—the intersection of what is beautiful and what is useful is not a single point on a perfect axis. It's a collection, a constellation of activities and use cases, daily rituals and seasonal intentions, of memory and desire, of what you do, what you love, and how you want your world to feel.

The work of mosaic artist Maxine Midtbo is a living embodiment of this intersected collecting—constellations of found objects and shards, talismans of memory and desire composed and reimagined together into useful and beautiful objects whose purpose is both to conjure a feeling and to do the humble work of its chosen task. We were honored to dream up another future for a crop of our signature damaged deadstock bandanas with Maxine, for them to be "found", repurposed, and incorporated into one of her signature tactile sculptures, a resonant object of ritual that we know to be beautiful and believe to be useful—and everything in between.

We sat down with Maxine to talk about her process, about working with fabric, and the powerful joy of centering curiosity.

In times of transition—from one moon to the next, from this season slowly ebbing or flowing into the one which comes after, or from the liminal leap between one phase of life to another—we always find ourselves coming back to the essentials: focusing with intention on what we put on our bodies (and in them), the ways we occupy or time (or don't), what brings us together around our tables, and the precious spaces where we lay our heads can give us a star-map for navigating through changing waters. 

Whether it's building homes + homesteads that celebrate living simply and well in both Joshua Tree and on a small island in Casco Bay, Maine, launching a celebrated line of small batch California olive oil/elemental oil-based skincare, or making time to attune to her body every day, Alison Carroll—effortless style maven, co-sweetheart with partner Jay/co-founder of Wonder Valley, and almost-mama-to-be—has spent the past seasons focusing on these timeless, alchemical basics. We caught up with Alison to talk about maintaining balance through simplifying, staying in cadence with the rhythms of the sea and sky, and a dog called Lefty who feels like home.

The flavor of a perfectly ripe melon. The way water feels daunting-but-worth-it going in and miraculous-BUT-WORTH-IT coming out. The aromas of dinner made over flame. The boundless possibility of blazing golden afternoons where you have nothing to do and all of your favorite people to do it with…The magic of summer is tantalizingly unique in that fully basking in it asks us to balance a desire for nostalgia (that feeling) with a centering intention of being wholly present in the current moment (this feeling). On one of those recent perfect golden afternoons we packed a picnic, slipped a few of our new favorite pieces from our No Waste collection into our bags, met up with our dear friend Sandy Ho—the generous, genius chef behind Sandita's/of the beloved rainbow dumplings—and hit the road up the coast to make the most of this feeling and that feeling.

If you follow the threads of celebrated hand-embroiderer Marie-Sophie Lockhart's work, the journey takes you on uncharted paths lined with psychedelic botanicals, winding through volcanoes and along mystic seashores, guided by hieroglyphics, and protected by powerfully beautiful shamanic motifs and animal spirits alike. Like an ancient storytelling tapestry woven on a minimalist, vintage-inspired jumpsuit, Marie-Sophie's embroideries feel at once wise and fresh, as richly tactile as they are simply beautiful.

Like all things worth doing, embroidery requires patience, intention, a general plan, and the capacity for wayfinding in beauty when the threads inevitably get tangled. Knot by knot, row by row, Marie-Sophie has been stitching her own map to a sort of revolutionary contentedness—from Paris to Brooklyn to Hawaii where she now lives off grid with her partner Chris and their son Cosmo. We were honored to sit down with Marie-Sophie to talk about the transformative necessity of nature, the benefit of taking things at the pace of handstitching, and the mother's path to (re)finding magic.

Our dear friend Lena Corwin (textile obsessive, pattern-maker, writer, author, activist, artist, mother, dreamer, and ultimate connector of people and good ideas) isn't *just* known for her Peace Cloth Towels BUT—in the same way that we are often linked in the mind with the Sophie Crop and Bias Slip Dress—she is definitely beloved for them.

You may have noticed the word "REGEN" popping up in the names of some of your OZMA favorites lately. Alongside trusted partners, we have been working to integrate regeneratively produced silk into our OZMA collections. Currently, our Classic Silk Noil & Silk Bandanas are sourced from farms following these practices and in the fall we'll be transitioning our beloved Raw Silk Tees Collection to Regen Silk as well (never fear: fit and feel will still be exactly the same).

In theory, this shift towards prioritizing regenerative agriculture practices is in keeping with our OZMA code of conduct: We work mindfully to bring beauty into the world with the most net-positive impact possible, continually integrating new ways to repurpose recycled materials and to create from a place of respect for nature’s finite resources.

In practice, Regen Silk production means starting at the fiber level, choosing textile partners that focus on creating circular, self-replenishing systems within the whole farm ecosystem, cultivating conditions where long-term, self-sustaining soil health is prioritized into the future. This can (and does) mean anything from 90% wastewater recirculation and reuse to introducing hungry birds onto planted terraces for simultaneous pest control and fertilization...and beyond. The result is: the same gorgeous silk we all love, but better for everyone/thing/where.

You may have also noticed the word "regenerative" popping up...literally everywhere else. For us, in the context of our production choices, it's pretty clear what it means, but it can mean many different things to many different people, each relevant to its own context. To demystify and expand on the power and possibility of regenerative tools for building better paths forward, we thought we'd ask one of our favorite thinkers, makers, and doers, Céline Semaan. 

Founder of The Slow Factory (and its sister learning-space, the newly launched Slow Factory Institute), Céline is a designer, writer, parent, advocate, and general white-hot-burning-light of knowledge and power. Their work brings them to a fulcrum point of intersecting crises and opportunities: climate justice + social inequity, decolonization + rewriting of tradition, sustainable growth + self realization. And the medicine Céline gives us is this: a communal portal with access to the tools for learning and unlearning how to work towards addressing them, one choice at a time, for all.

One of our OZMA defining principles is this: we make clothes expressly designed to allow (and encourage) our precious bodies to move, breathe, and simply be our most naturally expressive and freely authentic selves. Unsurprising then, that when we encountered the generous and electric teachings of dancer, educator, and powerful-mover Jules Bakshi we felt a sort of a-ha connection. Founder of NYC's beloved GOOD MOVE dance and mindful fitness studio—a rare nourishing dance-space for movers of all levels, genders, races, shapes and sizes—Jules has a similar defining principle: she wants everyone to access moving and being in their bodies with looseness, ease, freedom, and joy, and is actively working to build a world that makes that possible. We are aligned!

In advance of a (very) loose, easy, free, and joyful upcoming event with Jules + Heidi, OZMA founder, we sat down to get some insight into how Jules creates space for freedom and ease and also to gather inspiration on helping release our own bodies (and minds) further into unself-conscious self-expression. Hint: wear comfortable clothes.

What is a "signature scent"? After encountering the revolutionary, evolutionary scents dreamed up by Patrick Kelly, the founder/perfumer/sweet genius in chief behind Sigil, we think of "signature" more in terms of elemental biology: that we all have a unique metaphysical connection to our own sensual alchemy and when we manifest those connections into the world, we become naturally fluent in both the language of pheromone and personal style.

After all, slipping the merest hint of a scent that truly resonates with your personal alchemy, self-vision, and daily vibe onto wrist, collarbone, or the hidden hollow behind the ear is one of the most subtly radical and deeply sensual acts of self-creation possible. 

We caught up with Patrick in their own moment of subtly radical and deeply sensual self-creation: just at the cusp of moving on from Sigil and buoyed onwards on fragrant winds of possibility of their own making.

When dreaming of colors we often turn our eyes to the coast. Sand as it runs wet to dry, fog as it floats in from the north, golden hour on the cliffs at dusk. Inspiration for our newest color struck, as usual, when returning from the sea: a ruffle of dusty green caught our eye against the rocks. Delicate, yet holding fast in a salt-kissed crevice where nothing else dared to put its roots. Perfect for a bouquet, but don't pick her without asking. Meet Nettle.

Like its namesake, this subtle, fresh, almost-sage green looks delicate and sweet, yet has a serious backbone, a little bite, and is—like the women who wear it—capable of offering great gifts when given proper respect. 

Diving deep into the world of nettle and all of its potent nourishing-flourishing-and-delivering-a-sting-on-her-own-terms possibility we thought, of course, to ask OZMA friend, plant and energy healer, poet, and chief "Botanarchist" Carolyn Barron for a little meditation and guidance on the often misunderstood plant.

Children are always the first to notice the moon. The average/enlightened adult might be generally aware that it may be full or that it might have a special poetic name or rareness (super moon, wolf moon etc) or they might have been compelled to acquire a moon calendar, to fold her miraculous constancy into the required architecture of "the schedule". But. Children will spot Madame Moon on any bluebird afternoon, cresting over some trees, say, with no heed to anything other than the act of noticing, an immediate centering of sheer wonder and the simple truth-ness of it simply being there. I SEE THE MOON! They will shout. And so they do, and so she is.

Thinker, writer, storyteller, and moon-seer Leigh Patterson makes a lot of beautiful magic. Her beloved "Moon Lists" project—an analog undated journal and self-propelled guide to cultivating awareness using the moon as metaphor and catalyst for reflection and expansion—in particular makes us feel like those children: I am here! This is it! What wonder. We talked with Leigh about that wonder, about refining perspective, committing to showing up fully, and the pure pleasure of feeling good in your clothes.

At the heart of the most beautiful and important work is the act of world building. For us, it is the conceiving of the dream wardrobe for our best-imagined lives so that they might be made real, but world building touches everything that truly matters: the parent who creates the universe as they want it to be for their child, the partner who cultivates the soft contours of home, the activist who shows us the worlds that might be possible were we all to be the best versions of ourselves, the artist who captures what it is like to gaze at other stars so that we might more gracefully find our way by our own, and the storyteller who puts it all down in word or vision or labor of love.

The daughter of a powerful storytelling mother and a Native artist, actor, and activist father and grandfather, Tafv Sampson has been weaving together the bracing and beautiful threads of luminous world building for her entire life. Her poignant and aching photographic portraits, her lens-of-truth videography, and her distinctly authentic production design work—most recently on the beloved 'Reservation Dogs'—is the inheritance of generations of potent chroniclers. We caught up with Tafv in a whirlwind between her now-native Brooklyn and the siren's call of work and the road to talk about the value of vulnerability, the sense of longing and memory inherent in a great photograph, and the surprising gifts of blazing her own next steps on an ancestral path towards owning your own voice.

While bringing people together and showing them a good time sounds pretty simple, the perception of effortlessness is itself an impressive act of conjuring. From the light in the air to the chosen abundance on the plate to the heartbeat hum of *just* the right music, there is a specific kind of mystical alchemy to "entertaining"—just swap in the smoking cauldron of a successful incantation for the electric good-times feeling that rises, like bubbles in a champagne glass, to the top of the well-appointed room. As with most magic, it's not hard, per se, but you have to know the makings of the spell, have the words, power, and energy to set the intention, and be a very good witch.

The enchanting Sara Mae Zandi has been brewing just this sort of mystical alchemy at the constellation of charmed upstate establishments she, her chef-partner Sohail, and their young daughter Violet are building together in Bovina, NY. Anchored by their beloved restaurant, Brushland Eating House, and expanding into a patchwork inn and ordinary, a general store and sandwich shop, and, most recently, a newly-launched apron company, her world is a sacred space of lingering memories made, of traditions celebrated and created anew, and of the abiding magic of humans sharing an experience, a meal, a life. We borrowed Sara for a moment on a gilded afternoon to chat about imagining and reimagining what it means to be together and apart, cultivating new reverence for simplicity, and the common thread of a lifetime of "best" meals.

There is much to be learned from humble clay. At its most elemental, it carries a heft, weight, and a deeply grounded sense of place—it is, after all, literally earth. When water and airy intention enter the mix, clay becomes animated by the infinite possibilities of creation, it becomes an earthy elastic shape-shifter that can be formed by the magical working of human hands. When under fire and pressure, it changes again, calling forth reserves of heretofore unknown strength, emerging out of the kiln transformed: matte tactile, diamond-hard, and ready for the task at hand.

At any point along this journey, there are sacred and messy lessons that speak deeply to us, lessons that are thoughtfully channeled into object by Vancouver-based ceramicist Rachel Saunders. In her dreamy island work-space, there is a Lao Tzu quote: "Shape clay into a vessel; it is the space within that makes it useful". We sat down with Rachel to talk about the preciousness and utility of maintaining that space, of the power of molding something out of necessity, and of the magic alchemy of air, earth, fire, and water.

When we were working on our new Fall capsule we envisioned folding in new pieces that captured our core sensibility—clothes made thoughtfully, meant to be worn and loved, worked in and lived in—with an added feeling of effortless expansiveness, an easy comfort in wild, natural spaces interwoven with a sense of possibility. Naturally, when thinking of how and where to best capture that vibe, we thought of longtime OZMA friend and muse Nicole Granato and Holistic Ranch, her home and wide open heart-space/horse haven in Joshua Tree.

A place for beauty and respite, Holistic Ranch is more than a working farm, it is also a place of sanctuary: Nicole and her partner Kahn, with their young son Finn in tow, have dedicated their land and livelihood to saving horses destined for slaughter. Home to permanent equine residents Chief, Chloe, Gigi, Margot, Baby May, and a rotating cast of other friends rescued from unseen certain tragedy and on their way to new forever homes after rehabilitation, the homestead is full of love and animals, creativity and opportunity, a place for healing and renewal. We were able to steal Nicole away from the endless beautiful work of farm life to talk about the quiet mindfulness of horses, the idea of “rewilding”, and how clothes should feel.

Peak summer usually goes in one of two ways for us: either a frenetic, jam-packed, last-gasp-how-is-it-August-already plan vortex OR a gentle leaning in to the long, drowsy swelters of golden lit days, where the only thing (hopefully) on the agenda is tomatoes, a cup of tea, and a swim, if at all humanly possible. As with everything, choosing the latter usually comes when we really tune our ear and listen to what our bodies are telling us *feels* good and just do *that*. This sort of reckoning isn't, at its heart, radical. But in the widening whirlwind of fevered "shoulds" and "musts", reconnecting to the simple medicine of listening to the day's mood and requirements and answering—with something slow, something grown, something green—can feel like a revelation.

Clinical herbalist, Appalachian woodsmaiden, and chief plant mystic behind beloved small-batch herbal apothecary Wooden Spoon Herbs, Lauren Haynes, has built her life and business around connecting and nourishing just these sorts of epiphanies. We sat down with Lauren, writing from her herbalist's tinkerers research kitchen (in a dreamy old converted greenhouse the velvety hills of Tennessee, of course), to talk about the traditions of herbal remedy, how the sacred feminine connects to Earth wisdoms (we were beyond delighted to discover that she and fellow OZMA friend/celebrated plant-whisperer Erin Lovell Verinder took a witchy ladies roadtrip together earlier this year), and the patience and tonic of time as taught by plants.

Last year was the year of the garden. Well...last year was the year of many things and, to be honest, every year is the year of the garden because that is the very nature of both years and gardens. BUT. Last year we found ourselves overwhelmingly, gratefully, almost seismically turning to the quiet certainty and restorative possibilities of green things. What is it about the call of the greening world that we feel so deeply? Something hard to name, a resonance, a physical longing asked and then answered by dirt under the fingernails, the richness of dark earth, sweet blossom, and the music of breathing it in, and the salt of sweat falling into the soil alongside the coneflower seeds. 

Herbalist, nutritionist, energetic healer, and plant whisperer Erin Lovell Verinder puts this longing, this innate kinship with growing things into words better than we ever could: plants offer us great lessons in reciprocity, she says, the sowing of seeds is the giving, the reaping of flowers the receiving. May plants hold you, soothe you, fortify you, restore you, and ignite you. This is a mighty time to be here in the arms of mama earth. And, as always, she has got your back.

We stepped into Erin's garden—peak summer for us, full winter for her in Australia—to dig deeper into her generous sense of the mystical possibilities of allowing ourselves the time and space to align with the green world around us, to heal, grow, and attune.

One of the most miraculous things about the wild interconnectivity of the modern age is the ability to actually forge beautiful, substantive, nourishing relationships literally out of the ether. This has become particularly poignant for us during the past season, where the gift of the internet has allowed us to bridge time, space, and distance to face challenges and fill our hearts and cups—together, apart—as best we can. After all, we are all humans seeking connection.

Writer, entrepreneur, and one of our favorite of those friends across time, space, and distance Courtney Adamo has always built her beautiful life—and recently launched a series of beautiful courses: "In The Loop"—to celebrate making and nourishing those most precious human connections. We sat down—from a distance, of course, Courtney lives in the sun-kissed aerie of Byron Bay, NSW, with her five children and partner Michael—to talk about this cherished and complex modern conundrum: how to maintain connection, stay present, and show up as our best selves as often and authentically as possible.

While this past wild year has presented endless opportunities for illumination and reflection for us, this Mother's Day has us thinking deeply and a little differently about mothering and the value of care. As a tight-knit, women-led team of mamas and daughters, we have always loved and honored the mothers and mother-figures in all of our lives, but over this latest season of upheaval, we have also been deeply humbled and awe-struck by the intense strength and resilient beauty manifested by the mothers in our OZMA universe.

Mothers, by their very nature, are the ultimate world-builders and, with time and hope, the visions they dream and make real for their children become the reality for us all. At a time when uncertainty has ruled, hurts needing to be soothed have multiplied, and joy must be tenderly nourished, we see the mothers stepping up. We sat down to talk with one of our favorite OZMA mamas (AND style maven, dear friend, excellent human, and total BOSS...mothers contain multitudes), Natalie Nelson—who lives and works in Vancouver with her partner and fiercely smart and luminous daughter Nalia—about the beautiful and aching contradictions of motherhood, the value of lightness, and what promises the future holds.

And to all of the OZMA daughters and mamas on Mother's Day—wherever you may be on your journey in, towards, or away from motherhood—we are sending the biggest love!

Sometimes we forget to move our precious bodies. Sometimes we forget that inside our precious bodies there is boundless capacity for freedom and joy and movement and creativity. Sometimes (especially if we've been alone or feel like we've been carrying a lot for a while...anyone else?), we forget that, not only is the freedom and movement and endless human capacity for creativity and joy inherent our precious bodies available to us, but that it is actually an essential part of our authentic selves.

Sometimes finding beauty seems to be about allowing space for awareness of little moments—how the sea shapes the sand, the way grass moves like waves, how the bright dome of sky holds the exquisite curves of naked trees. But—like the sea, the sky, and the wilderness—finding beauty is also about making it, leaning in to the long arc of creation itself.

For California-based artist, designer, business owner, mother, and luminous-mama-to-be Katie Gong—known for her wildly gorgeous bentwood sculptures—it's a combination of the two, the tempering of the raw and untamed with time, desire, intention, and love into something sublime that finds and captures an exact moment of grace. We sat down with Katie—37 weeks pregnant with her second babe at the time of writing (!)—to talk about process, practice, and the transformative power of strength and stillness.

We've always loved vintage. This is, perhaps, unsurprising when you consider that the best vintage pieces are always the truest classics, thoughtfully constructed and eternally stylish. This is, of course, exactly what we're aiming for in our own designs. And, while our intention is for our pieces to be lived in and loved until they're threadbare, we wouldn't be surprised for an OZMA piece to be found on a vintage rack years from now, waiting to become the new beloved favorite of some lucky searcher. 

That's how it's always been for us—from the first perfectly worn leather jacket/made-for-us feeling jeans/treasured timeless tee that caught our eye from among the many, finding a vintage soulmate is like being reunited with a dear old friend. So, when our own dear old friend Natasha Garret—the master of style and maven of vintage sourcing behind Roam Vintage—asked us to tag along with her to the Pickwick Garden Outdoor Vintage Show a few weeks ago, we couldn't contain our excitement. Like old friends do, we chatted about what we're wearing again and again right now, the thrill of the hunt, and the blessings and burdens of being your own boss. Slip into your favorite find and read on!

Now is the time for dreaming. As the twilights begin to stretch out their legs, daring to bare their shoulders and let down their hair in the golden hour, we too begin to feel the tidal pull of a new season. With this sense of coming lightness also comes a giddy expansiveness, a feeling that *things* might be *possible*: that valises might be packed, that long dinners around tables full of dear hearts might be forthcoming, and that dipping our precious bodies into new and far-off salt-kissed seas might be on the agenda. Now is the time for dreaming.

When we dream of this limitless "what might be", it has the sun-dappled, fuzzy-edged quality of snapshots: wet footprints on terra-cotta tiles, wavering palm-tree shadows on washed linen, a rocky cliff that makes its way on tip-toes down to a secret ledge jutting into the emerald sea, the crash of waves, the smell of oranges, the sound of laughter and the wind in the olive trees and Debussy on the turntable. In short, when we dream, we dream of Casa Balandra. 

The sprawling and magical "experiential guest house" and creative artist's residency on the island of Mallorca is itself the dream of two Mallorcan sisters, Claudia and Isabella del Olmo, and their dear friend Cecile Denis—or as the sisterhood calls each other—Clau, Isa & Ceci. Until we can visit ourselves (save some date for us, sisters) we talked with Clau about the connectivity of creativity and ease, the rhythm and pull of the sea, and the powerful woman-energy required to build the beautiful stuff of dreams.

Ally Walsh begins every day with an act of becoming. The hiss of the flame. The hum of the kettle. The bloom of the grounds. The careful alchemy of time and care. For many, the day's first coffee is certainly a ritual, but for the Canyon Coffee Co-Founder, this moment of transformation is a daily opportunity for cultivating mindfulness, for setting intention, for bearing witness to small miracles. We sat down with the businesswoman, model, and all around insanely kind soul to talk about finding space for exploration, balancing passion in a working relationship (her partner, Casey, is the other half of the Canyon Coffee family), and what it takes to feel at ease.

This year has felt like lesson after lesson in letting go—of being tender with change, of relinquishing expectations, of admitting that things we thought were constants are actually always in flux. In this usual season of abundance and generosity, as we approach the winter solstice and the shift back towards the light, we are reminded, of course, that there is a flip side: That being tender with change can also look like nurturing new growth. That relinquishing expectations can also look like rewriting what brings joy. That when we realize that the path we are on doesn't have to to be a straight line, it leaves room for twists, turns, unexpected destinations, and beautiful adventures.

On the stunning surf-report coasts of New Zealand, artists Ophelia Mikkelson Jones and Ryder Jones have been living on the flip side—approaching their summer solstice on the twisting, turning path towards a life less ordinary, one on which they are the authors of their own joy, finding deep meaning in living simply, with intention, and with each other. 

As we are reconsidering how to make the most of this holiday season (and this one precious life), we wanted to step into the flip side, and take a few notes from Ryder and Ophelia on giving beyond the material and celebrating the miraculous in the everyday.

We miss being in other people's houses. Sure, we miss the lingering dinners, the spangly cocktails, the late-night living room dance parties, the first-awake early coffees with visiting far-flung beloveds...we miss the people, dearly and deeply. But. We also just miss being in other people's houses.

You can learn so much from an effortless afternoon basking in the light through someone else’s west-facing windows, from finding the perfect spot to tuck the found wildflower or turkey feather, a host’s talisman, or from hearing how the music makes its way—just so—the sound escaping around ancient casements to fly up and out like so many sparks from the chimney when you step out to admire the moon. You can learn so much from being in other people’s houses. And we miss it.

Luckily, beautiful genius, flower forager, and writer Lisa Przystup is here for us in our time of need. Her new book "Upstate" is an invitation into the varied and gorgeous interiors of homes dotting the rolling green hills and tucked-away farmsteads in the wilds above and beyond Manhattan—right when we needed it most. 

We spoke with Lisa from her perfectly imperfect 1893 farmhouse in the Catskills—in which nothing is exactly straight, everything is beautifully whitewashed, and where we cannot wait to invite ourselves for a long rambling visit sometime hopefully sooner rather than later—to talk about tuning your clock to the natural world, finding glamour where you can, and how, if you can’t be in someone else’s house, being fully present in your own is pretty damn great too.

In the opening moments of her newest song, "Earthy", singer, songwriter, and powerfully mystical mama Lia Ices channels divine intuition with a voice like a morning bell. She never wanted to sing (she sings), she'd rather be a dancer, her body like a language. She never wanted to write (she writes), but sometimes it comes right through her, not a choice but as a duty. These explorations—this search for finding what is true among the great contradiction and beauty of the human mystery and then giving it a path to pour forth in song and word—is the essence of Lia's work. 

The music is itself mystically reverent: the heartbeat of piano like waves against The Lost Coast, the reverb echo like the vast cathedral hush of towering oaks, and the laid-back drum feel is like our old favorite records caught the electric spiritual current drawn forth by the gentle rhythms of ancient California mountains.

But it's the pure, honest poetry of Lia's verse and her crystalline songbird voice that speak straight to our hearts and we wanted to know more. Lia spoke with us from her mountaintop home in Sonoma (her partner, Andrew, is the co-founder of Scribe Winery) on the spiritual practice of creativity, the psychedelic power of the primal feminine, and the value of showing up. Put on a record and read on.

This season, like in all seasons, just try and do what feels right. Maybe that means crossing giving gifts entirely off your list. Maybe that looks like giving your time or resources, for there are many whose need is greater now than ever. Maybe it means giving a few thoughtfully sourced things made locally by real people, or maybe it just means treating yourself to time and space to simply be. Maybe it feels like some combination of all of the above. This season, we're all just trying to do what feels right.

If you're searching for something that checks off a few of those mental maybes, allow us to suggest our OZMA signature 100% silk bandanas.

We have always loved the sea. How the horizon draws the eye to limitless possibility, somehow disregarding the barriers of any intervening waves, how Madame Moon smooths the surface as she cuts her nightly luminous path across tide and time, how the body becomes fully itself within its waters—alternately weightless or as slick and powerful as a seal. The path to the sea is always studded with magic: watery gems of sand-smoothed glass, winking pastel coquinas, glimmering mother of pearl, or other storm-tossed treasures await you at the wrack line if you know how to look and make the time and space to do so.

For Kate Jones (the founder, precious metalsmith, and salt-kissed dreamer at Ursa Major—a beloved jewelry line made in Maine and NYC) the sea is a messenger. From her childhood aboard a sailing ship—called, of course, "Ursa Major"—to her current rock-ledged seaside aerie on the sunrise coast of Maine, Kate finds herself most open to receiving both lightning-bolt inspiration and serenity within striking distance of cool waters. We caught up with Kate to talk about the freedom and joy of making space to create, the power of going barefoot, and the beauty of everyone carving out their own story, wave by wave. 

Our experience with art that has truly moved us has always been about feeling—the heart-rush of seeing some part of yourself reflected back at you, truer than you could imagine, a mirror and a blessing all at once. And yet, how many times have we wanted to actually feel that feeling? To touch it, hold it, claim it as our own, to live around in it for a while? Painter, textile artist, and new-mama Caroline Z. Hurley's work makes that leap between feeling and feeling, bringing that thunderbolt of inspiration into the home-space in the form of beautifully rendered block printed, woven, and quilted textiles that are made to be touched, felt, lived with, and loved.

Ahhhh, “Self-Care”. At its essence, it is much richer and more complicated than long baths (though we DO love long baths—see below!) and fancy candles (ok, ok, we love a good candle too). Like everything, though, truly caring for the self is more about the whole picture: acknowledging and nourishing the entire constellation of necessary human alchemies—beauty and magic, power and vulnerability, community and self, body and soul, mind and matter—and trying to aim for balance as gracefully as possible, every day. 

Sometimes that looks like intentionally making choices in your life and business that support your whole human community, sometimes that looks like surrounding yourself with good people and giving everyone the space to search for their own best way, sometimes it looks like a simple daily ritual of slathering your precious body in intoxicatingly aromatic, richly nourishing oils. For Everyday Oil founder and chief alchemist Emma Allen, it’s all of the above.

We sat down with Emma to talk about the magic of her signature oil (for the uninitiated: it’s sustainably crafted, radically accessible, great-smelling, multi-tasking skin-hair-soul-self-care body oil with a seriously devoted following) and about how she’s worked to build her life and tailor her business to best support the search for grace. Read on for a conversation on the gift of time, what it means to lead, and (yes!) a recipe for taking a better bath. 

OZMA friend and muse Tara Mayer, at home on the North Shore of Vancouver, British Columbia wearing the Carolina Trench, Eve Bodysuit, and Wide Leg Jeans. 

Deeply rooted in the authentic nature of women is this simple truth: we contain multitudes. Like the prismatic spectrum of colors, we singularly embody the entire vast possibility of the human experience—the visible and the invisible, the gradation and the shadow, the light and the dark. It is a lot to carry but, like the spectrum of colors, when held in perfect balance on the right wavelength, the result is pure, shining light.

The women of Orenda Tribe, an Indigenous owned artistic collective based in New Mexico, are living this vision, working towards radiant balance and shining the light. Led by founder Amy Yeung, whose family comes from the Bisti Wilderness-Chaco Canyon region of the Four Corners, in partnership with her daughter and luminous muse Lily Yeung, Orenda Tribe makes beautiful things: handmade, restored and repurposed vintage, one-of-a-kind textiles in a universe of color. They are also a "community of hands", deeply committed to helping Indigenous makers and artists find opportunities to create and also leveraging the beauty of their vision to direct attention and resources from the world outside Dinétah in support of their Diné relatives. Their work feels both especially crucial and especially poignant and especially exquisite in this exact moment and we were deeply grateful to spend some time in conversation with them. Read on for our meditations with Amy & Lily on the vital gift of space and quiet, reconciling connectivity to community and self, and the power of standing together.

Roland Barthes wrote that “in order to see a photograph well, it is best to look away or close your eyes.” Photographer Helen Nishi understands this inherently—photography records a moment more fully than our eyes alone can interpret. Some people are attuned to the physical world in such a heightened way that colors, landscapes, music, and the other sensorial details of life guide their impulses and experiences. Helen brings this intuition into her work, and the rich colors, emotions, and textures she captures animate each image.

Helen extends this curious gaze toward each of her subjects, and the result is a portfolio of images steeped in culture and community. Even her more austere portraits of landscapes or individual women continually portray their essential strength. It is no surprise, then, that Helen tells us she navigates life and motherhood vivaciously and by instinct, or that seeing new places always leaves her perspective profoundly altered and hungry for a change.

Rachelle Robinett is recalibrating what “balance” looks like. Growing up on a farm in the Pacific Northwest, she came to understand the symbiotic relationship between people and the natural world and has spent her career sharpening her understanding of “wellness,” helping people address their health in realistic ways through her multi-purpose company Supernatural, which gives people the tools to live out their wellness ideals through one-on-one coaching, workshops, and a product line of herbal gummies.

We love Rachelle’s approach to cutting out the noise through a no-nonsense ethos: we spoke with her to learn more about what it means to find genuine nourishment, how she is prioritizing immunity right now...plus get a recipe for her refreshing late summer mocktail.

To have a conversation with Amber Lee is to instantly understand what connection looks like — to oneself, to the natural world, to a broader picture. As founder of holistic healing practice Plant As Compass, Amber’s work is rooted in compassionately offering wisdom on how we as individuals can evolve through seeing ourselves as part of a broader narrative. Based in Ojai after splitting her time between New York and LA, Amber was raised in a multicultural household in Hawai’i, Latin America, and North America — a cultural cross-section that’s allowed her to view herself as a citizen of the natural world, rather than limiting herself to a singular community. 

In her work, Amber walks individuals from different paths, beliefs, and backgrounds through nuanced, hands-on healing and group facilitation work. Her ethos acknowledges life’s complete interconnectedness — beginning at birth and extending through all the complicated relationships and seasons we enter and depart. We spoke with her about the large role nature plays in her practice, the value of slowing down, and how healing ourselves allows us to hold space for others.

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This season we were lucky enough to shoot our spring lookbook in Mallorca — in the art studio of our dear friend Vera Edwards. Born in California but raised in Mallorca, Vera has lived around the world (including Northern California where we initially met her!), but returned to Mallorca six years ago. Today, she lives in a small beach town on the southeastern coast, making oil paintings in a studio that was formerly her grandmother’s home. 

Her grandmother Anne is a lifelong artist who has created stone sculptures out of the studio where Vera now paints — it’s easy to imagine blissfully slow days spent here, picking fruit from blooming trees, surrounded by nature and a view of a monastery in the distant hills. No distractions, only quiet. 

Vera is one of the most inspiring women we know, both for her ability to find and create beauty seemingly anywhere, and also for her perspective on living and moving through the world with ease. Amid this moment when the only thing that feels knowable is that all things change, Vera’s perspective on embracing the journey feels just right.