Our Behind the Design series features author, designer and BECASA founder Emily Raffield a resort-lifestyle brand we collaborated with for our Summer 2023 Palmetto Collection.
About the Heirloomed x BECASA collaboration
Born of a love for Old Florida style, designers Ashley Schoenith of Heirloomed and Emily Raffield of BECASA – both native to Florida’s forgotten coast, created this collection to evoke the nostalgia of time spent on quiet beaches and to celebrate effortless summer living and entertaining at its best.
Each with a standard for simple beauty, they’ve combined their expertise in home and fashion to bring to life their Palmetto Collection – a signature palm frond design exclusive to Heirloomed’s tabletop & home fragrance collection and BECASA’s coastal-inspired apparel capsule.
Meet designer & BECASA founder Emily Raffield
BECASA founder and designer, Emily Raffield honed her signature style between a native immersion in storied Old Florida and an eye for the fashion edge of her favorite global locales. As a result, her apparel and accessories label, BECASA, is unpretentious and rooted in meaningful collecting. The line features classic shapes and fibers of cotton and linen, raffia, and natural textures evoking the genuine feel of The Beach. BECASA has store locations in Apalachicola and 30A, FL, that have captured the hearts of women looking to embrace the same Magic of the Coast — and create lifestyles they’re equally inspired by. BECASA has been featured in Coastal Living, Atlanta Mag, Southern Living, and VIE Magazine. Emily is also an author of the coffee table book Saints of Old Florida – a coastal lifestyle book.
“Emily and I became fast friends from the beginning, sometimes an old soul just recognizes an old soul.”
Emily has an amazingly creative eye and tells the most visual stories around, in the most thoughtful way possible and her written word is eloquent and romanced leaving you captivated to hear more.
My best childhood days were spent on St. George Island and the tiny coastal towns that dot the Forgotten Coast have my whole heart. I raced to purchase a copy of Saints of Old Florida, a nostalgic chronicle that captures the essence of the area. I owned my first stack of beach bangles the moment they were released, black and white, and wear them frequently and have amassed quite a collection of other colors throughout the years.
I visited the very first BECASA store in Apalach, the town of ice and oysters, when Em shared it with an art gallery owner (if I recall correctly) and then again when it moved to its current location in the historic downtown. It was there I spotted the first edition Resort Dress, printed in indigo with Palmettos decorating the whole voluminous dress. I scooped it up at the register, with another stack or two of bangles and two boxy, gauze shirts from her collection. I walked out of the shop that day with a straw hat on my head, an old pair of flip flops and a big bag of BECASA on my arm. I never stopped wearing that dress, and it wasn’t until years later I began reimagining that pattern as an effortless, breezy tablescape. When I began designing our very first Summer Collection (we have always just designed for Spring, Fall & Holiday) I knew immediately who my first call would be to. The rest is history and the collection as it stands today just feels like a full circle moment.
About the Pattern / Palmetto Collection
Adorning the house in small bud vases – the Palmetto’s sharp artful fronds and vibrant color is inviting. The Palmetto symbolizes beach days spent in Old Florida, surrounded by crashing waves, seashells, salt air, and swaying palms.
The Palmetto started as a hand-drawn doodle that BECASA’s designer, Emily, often still scribbles on note paper. The stamp evolved into its finished look through block-print strike-off sampling where smooth painterly edges were added, and a close repeated pattern turned the Palmetto idea into a textile print. Its two-color block-print history ensures that the symbol is easy to see, and the spirit of the coastal foliage is honored in print.
Together with Heirloomed’s designer, Ashley, the Palmetto is being reintroduced for the tabletop in a natural, Oatmeal colorway. These pieces carry you to the coast on hearty linen – tablecloths, napkins, tea towels, and more.
My dad loves to remind me often that I’m an eighth-generation Floridian. In fact, it crossed my mind more than once to travel back to my home state to have at least one of my own children, because goodness knows I love a tradition to carry on. So I guess you could say my Old Florida roots run quite deep. Our ancestors were some of the first to settle the state and they ran wild among the scrubs and long leaf pines, as the stories go. There is something deep in my soul that yearns for and connects with the landscape of the South like no other. I had a connection with the Palmetto pattern that Emily created the moment I saw it.
heirloomed is a lifestyle brand with a mission of “keeping heirlooms around for another generation.” Our blog features stories about family recipes, creating traditions with your family, interior design and entertaining by mixing new and vintage pieces, classic style, and small town + historic travel. Our shop features a collection of “goods inspired by the past, for generations to enjoy” with an array of products and meaningful gifts including linen aprons, tabletop linens, art, ceramics and beyond. Learn more at www.heirloomedcollection.com.
Recent Comments