Our Friend of the Week - Eviana Hartman
Your City: New York and Los Angeles
There's no better friend to represent the 420 Issue than Eviana Hartman. She's smart. She's chic. And she's a style writer/entrepreneur of high fashion smoking accessories at Tetra. We love her thoughtful answers to our 11Qs below.
Eviana's What - “Plants! I find that I need to be surrounded by them at all times, and the more I learn about the beneficial compounds they produce and the way they communicate (my two brothers are both environmental biologists) the more astonished I am. We're just beginning to scratch the surface in terms of understanding how they can help us. Today is the perfect opportunity to learn about a certain plant. My favorite plant-centric Instagram feeds are @metafloranyc, @hotcactus_la, and @heavynettlegathering.”A few personal favorites from Tetra - The Kugel Ashtray (This is the Tetra item I use most--it's functional both as an ashtray or for holding keys or jewelry, it looks amazing on a coffee table or shelf, and it feels more expensive than it is.) and the Voltaire Pipe, which is handmade in Oregon from gold-glazed porcelain and comes in the prettiest colors.
FRIEND OF THE WEEK: 11 QUESTIONSWEBSITE: TETRAINSTAGRAM: @TETRA_SHOPFACEBOOK: @SHOPTETRA
- Nickname Some people call me Evie, but I hate it and I’m always trying to get them to use my full name. My other nicknames are friend-specific and too goofy to list here.
- What’s your short story? I consider myself very lucky that my first "real" job was as editorial assistant at Vogue, where I started in 2000. I stayed for three years, becoming a fashion writer, then was an editor at Teen Vogue and Nylon. I got to travel the world for work and cover not just fashion, but music, interiors, culture… then I took a trip to India that upended my perspective and made me want to work towards sustainability, so I started a writing column on it for the Washington Post. And started experimenting with making clothes using organic cotton, and that became Bodkin, one of the first sustainability-focused fashion lines, which I ran from 2008-2012. Alas, fashion is a tough place for independents and I felt uncomfortable with the prevailing model of more shows, more styles, more stores, more stuff. (There’s been a shift since then toward a more sane system, one I’m in favor of.) So I went back to writing and editing—I worked at T Magazine and now I’m with Vogue.com, which is amazing because it allows me to work remotely and spend time on both coasts. I’m also a cofounder of Tetra, which is an e-commerce site for design-forward smoking accessories launched in the fall. My partners are two amazing journalist-curators, Monica Khemsurov of Sight Unseen and Su Wu of I’m Revolting. It’s a platform for interacting with artists, designers and makers, and it’s really fun.
- What’s your jam? I go through phases of being obsessed with specific things. Right now I’m bingeing on Paul McCartney’s early solo records, especially RAM, and Jacco Gardner, a new Dutch singer-songwriter who makes gorgeous psychedelic pop that sounds vintage.
- What motivates you? There’s a line I love from the brochure for visitors at the Eames Case Study House No. 8, loosely quoting Charles Eames: “Life as work, with nature as a shock absorber.”
- Who do you think you’d have great friend chemistry with? Eva Hesse is my spirit animal—sometimes I glance at pictures of her and for a second I think it’s me—and she’s also my favorite artist.
- What qualities do your favorite friends have in common? Intelligence and wit, an open mind, a yen for travel, and—this is crucial—not taking oneself too seriously.
- What’s the smartest, most inspiring, awesome thing you’ve read, watching or listened to lately? Lately, In Praise of Shadows by Junichiro Tanizaki, which is a book-length essay about Japanese aesthetics. It’s an amusing ode to the poetry of nuance and imperfection.
- What whets your appetite? I’m a sucker for good bread and cheese. And beautiful vegetables, well-seasoned and drowning in olive oil and sea salt. Preferably accompanied by a glass of Barbera or a mezcal cocktail.
- What’s next on your To Do List? Travel! I’m planning visits to Mexico City and Greece in the coming months.
- How are you friends with Gina + Amy? We were introduced by Chloe Harris, one of my San Francisco friends. I consider myself an honorary San Franciscan. I spent last summer there, and I have family in Berkeley, and it's my dream to live in Bolinas or on Mt. Tam someday (at least part of the time). No landscape on earth is as deeply inspiring to me--even the smell of the air gets me every time. I love how closely connected the community is - I've made friends in SF that I plan to keep for life, and in no other city have I found friends of friends so willing to meet and hang out. Which is why I'm excited to be part of this circle!
- Who would you nominate for our next Friend of the Week? I would recommend Joanna Williams of Kneeland Co.. She’s AMAZING and has built a really interesting, unusual, globe-trotting life.