We interview one half of Mustard, Rebecca Stern and chat about their trendy range of lockers – a surprisingly versatile piece of furniture that can be used in almost every room of the house.
1. How did Mustard come to be?
Mustard was founded by myself and my sister Jess we always wanted to start a business together and decided that living on opposite sides of the world wouldn’t stop us. Seven years after I moved from London to Newcastle, Jess came over to meet my new baby. It was then, while walking along the beach, that the spark of an idea was born. I have always had a thing for lockers and other rusty old industrial pieces of furniture and Jess had a career in buying, so the idea became a plan and a plan became a business within a year.
The product range is defined by trend led colours but the lockers themselves are excitingly versatile. Whether they are in a hallway, kids room or stylish design studio, The Skinny and The Shorty are designed to be both beautiful and functional.
“Mustard is now sold in 6 countries and is a truly international small business so we get to see each other a lot more often!”
2. Tell us a little about your lockers and what people may not know about them.
The lockers are made of steel which means they are magnetic so you can use it as a magnetic notice board. Inside you’ll find our little handy hooks on the door to hang a mirror, headphones or a necklace. Then on the back is a hole so you can thread through your cables and chargers to keep them all tidy. My favourite little detail has to be the little matching keyring that comes with each one, it’s the small touches that make them feel special.
3. Lockers are so versatile – what rooms have you seen them end up in customer’s homes?
We love how versatile they are and that they can be used in different spaces in homes, work places or even pilates studios and hotels! A few Skinnies lined up make fantastic storage for all the kids school stuff or as a low key, flexible wardrobe for kids or adults. It’s been exciting to see our customers use them as pantries for extra storage in the kitchen and a few customers have told us they took out some shelves and use it to store their vacuum cleaner!
Being lockable adds functionality that would appeal to many parents who want their homes to be kid safe or don’t want little hands ripping through their paperwork but also makes them really practical for co working spaces, boutique gyms or airbnbs.
4. Do you have any future plans for Mustard in terms of product/colour selection?
New to our range is our baskets which are designed to maximise the space inside the lockers and come as a set of three in our six colour ways. Next year the plan is to introduce a few limited edition colours and some new style lockers but I have to keep the details secret for now…
