Welcome back to our “Redefining Luxury” interview series, where we contemplate the essence of luxury and explore its many forms and definitions. Through open conversations with creators, entrepreneurs, and passionate individuals, we talk about the process behind designing luxurious, pleasurable, yet thoughtful creations and their importance in the modern world. In search of joy, marvel, and inspiration. 

In this edition, we talked with the co-founders of the lifestyle and design brand Totum Project - Ria Dunn and Alexandra Normand.

Meanwhile, Alex was in the process of stepping out of her corporate job in tech and becoming more and more environmentally aware. She enrolled in a sustainability management course, which opened her eyes to the challenges we’ll have to go through over the next 10 years. There is a infinite amount of time to make a change, and it became a priority for her to contribute to that. After meeting with Ria, it became clear over time that they are on the same page regarding vision and values in life. Together, they decided to grab this opportunity and summon the courage to start building Totum step by step.

Developing the project is something that took a lot of exploration in the first stages, and the quality of the materials was of utmost importance. Alex and Ria are very aware of the fact that you can’t produce anything without having an impact on nature. Acknowledging that humans will always be making stuff and doing it in a way that’s mindful of our environment and how it impacts our surroundings is more than crucial, so they make sure the product adds value somewhere.

“We can’t change all of the dynamics in the world, but it’s good to think about how we can change our personal lives, slow down and change how we wake up in the morning. The way we have our first coffee, our first meal, our first interaction of the day… Making those small meaningful changes is what it’s all about.” says Ria. 

Totum is all about having the courage to flip the script and make sure the business model works for everybody. Obviously, the environment, the final customer that’s buying and also the people that are working on the project so that there can be more balance in general.

First of all, Totum aimed to focus on the bed and the quality of sleep as sort of the first part of the development. Ria was speaking with a herbalist, and he said something to her that was important and meaningful: “You can come up with all the natural medicines you want, but the bottom line is that if someone is not sleeping well, that’s the first thing you have to fix.” And that stuck. The idea is to make people want to stay in bed, sleep well and cultivate intimacy within that sacred space. Goal number one was to develop beautiful sheeting. For example, the bedsheets are made of satin on one side, which is the side that touches against your skin, and linen on the other side. And what is beautiful about these sheets is that the more you use them, and the more you wash them, the softer they get. 

But really, Totum transcends way beyond the bedroom.  

“It’s a lifestyle, really. And so, the creation of these sacred spaces and quality is something that kind of permeates your whole life. So we started a small capsule collection of wearable things because it was a natural thing to do, obviously, considering my past, but also these beautiful natural materials kind of becoming your second skin. It just seemed very natural to  extend our concept into wearable things as well.”

At a time when everyone moved towards comfort during covid, spending more time at home, the timing of creating for that environment specially made sense. However, the cuts are slightly different from your standard loungewear. They’re unique in a way that you can really make them into a sort of second skin of yours that you wear all the time, and you can dress them up or down, which makes them universal. By carefully doing only one collection development a year, instead of the normal fashion cycle, Totum aims to bring back the business model of producing quality, durable items that don’t need to be constantly updated because they are timeless in their essence. 

Ria says: “I want to create things you don’t want to live without. Things that make you feel good. That’s really important for me. It’s all about letting you shine, feel amazing and also look good while being comfortable. That’s always been my motto when it comes to clothing.”

Totum is fully devoted to structuring itself in a way to be truly sustainable and to give back from the start. Joining One Percent for the Planet is just the beginning of the journey, a show of commitment. The next step would be working out a system for measuring the lifetime impact of products. For example, based on the Higg Index, polyester can have a really good score if it’s recycled, even though it might wear out and become worthless very quickly. Silk, on the other hand, is durable, you can keep wearing it for ages, yet it doesn’t have a good rating based on the same index system. Totum would like to initiate a conversation with the community about the materials and choices that are being made daily. With the unsettling amount of greenwashing these days, it’s important to navigate your way through all of the schemes that recreate materials only to make them look sustainable. Still, the deeper you go, you find out they’re actually not. Justifying the excessive production of plastic is by no means an option here. 

“We as a company have decided to go with just pure natural materials. For us, recycling plastics is not a solution, so we’ve kind of decided not to be using these recycled polyesters, which are trending right now. Taking a plastic bottle and making it into yarn is actually not very healthy whatsoever. And in that specific case, to be able to make recycled yarns out of plastic bottles, you need to have certain conditions for plastic bottles. What often happens is that the recycling of bottles themselves are not always in perfect conditions, they’re not always bottled water, so they end up producing the plastic bottles just to reuse it, just to make the yarns.”

Hemp yarn has shown to be a great option because even though it’s not certified organic, it grows organically naturally. You don’t need pesticides to grow it, it’s a very thriving material that doesn’t need much water. It’s a plant that was very popular before World War 2 that sort of disappeared, and it’s making a comeback, even though it’s still quite hard to get. Ria and Alex believe in hemp and its many applications and will continue investing in it in hopes of it becoming more of a staple in the fashion industry in general, also to be able to restore good balance in the pricing.

Currently, Totum is working on further textile and colour developments, experimenting with bedsheets that are made of a blend of hemp and cotton, which is quite an unusual combination in the world of bedding at the moment.