Olaf & Shirley's picks
◦ bedMATE Sky Blue
◦ Fitted sheet Camel
◦ Duvet cover Inca Gold
◦ Pillowcases Dusty Rose
◦ bigDOT Jade Green
Every month we visit a creative and inspiring person. She or he is the 'bedMATE of the month'.
The bedMATE is the most iconic item in our collection. The extra long cushion serves as a headboard, but also as a cuddle buddy, a friend who provides support.
We crawl into bed with the 'bedMATE of the month'. We take a look at their home and their colorful (bed)rooms. In conversation we discover how they experience the SUITE life. What's going on in their heads? Where do they get their inspiration from? And what color do they dream in?
This month, all-round creative Nicole Huisman visited none other than Olaf & Shirley , the founders of SUITE702. High time to portray the colorful world of team SUITE.
The spark flew in Berlin. Shirley also happened to go on the outing of Olaf's mother's company, an architectural firm, where Shirley worked - they had the most fun together in the turbulent nightlife of the German city.
Olaf comes from the advertising world and has worked at national and international agencies for about 20 years. Shirley worked as an independent designer. She started with interior fabrics and has been a teacher at the Design Academy in Eindhoven for many years. The couple saw possibilities in the very boring world of bedding that could use some color and they can also combine their expertise beautifully here. They decided to join forces and start SUITE702: 5-star bedding, but accessible.
'SUITE702 is the Suite where John Lennon and Yoko Ono had their 'Bed in' in '69,' say Olaf & Shirley. 'They stayed in bed for a whole week at the time to draw attention to world peace, in the Hilton Hotel in Amsterdam. World peace, which John Lennon and Yoko Ono drew attention to, is a high ambition. It does have some Mrs. Universe pretensions. As far as we are concerned, this involves some self-reflection and humor. John Lennon and Yoko Ono did that too.'
'We believe that if you spend more time in bed, you will be nicer and better-tempered. If everyone is a little nicer, the world will be a better place. Our goal is to get people to bed earlier, to enjoy it more and to stay in bed longer. We do this with irresistibly nice bedding. It really doesn't hurt to stream less or spend less time on your phone. Long story, but it's all about what we call 'Bed Peace'."
Who better to ask for tips on bedding & color combinations than Olaf & Shirley themselves? Shirley begins: 'A dirty, saturated, relatively dull color can be enhanced very nicely with a brighter accent color, so that they challenge each other. Think grayish brown with a current favorite: jade green.'
Olaf adds: 'Equal is unequal. If you have a certain color wall or bed, don't try to find exactly the same color bedding. It's never really equal.'
'We recently introduced a bedding configurator on our studioSUITE website where you can visualize the combinations yourself and then immediately purchase them as a bundle. That's a kind of game, very addictive - you immediately see what colors do with each other, highly recommended to try!'