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Q&As

Anna Heyd of Flax Sleep on Bedding, Books and Best Trips

by Joy Pecknold

Before launching the linen bedding brand Flax Sleep with her friends Oana Papuc and Vivian McCormick, Anna Heyd (pictured centre) worked in hotels and restaurants. That makes her precisely the right person to ask about getting a good night’s sleep while traveling, among other things.

Q Why are good bed sheets so important?
A

Good sleep plays a huge role in good health. Most people who understand this are willing to invest in a quality mattress to help aid in getting better sleep. The investment shouldn’t end there. Having beautiful, comfortable sheets that make climbing into bed every night a delight is also an important part of achieving good overall health.

Q What do you love about linen?
A

Everything! More specifically, we love the fact that linen is more breathable and longer lasting than cotton. I also love the effortless lived-in aesthetic it creates.

Q When you’re travelling, do you have any bedtime or morning rituals?
A

Getting enough sleep and a militant skin care routine are the two things I will not compromise on at home or away. I have a collection of mostly natural beauty products that are massaged into my face using the principles of Chan’beauté and do a little face rolling to finish things up.

Flax Sleep
Q What are your tips for getting a good night’s sleep away from home?
A

If I’m not staying at a Kiwi Collection hotel or comparable property, I actually pack my own Flax Sleep bedding—sometimes even when I am flying. I need to make sure I always have at least two pillows and I stick to my rituals.  I also don’t think about time change when I travel. I commit to going to bed when it gets dark and getting up when it gets light and I can usually avoid any jet lag.

Q If you and your co-founders took a holiday together, where would you go that you could all agree on and why?
A

A villa in the South of Italy with all our family and friends. We are all born in the same year and we have a milestone birthday coming up in a couple years. I am already scheming on how to make this dream a reality.

Q You worked in hotels before starting Flax Sleep. Which one would you book for your next staycation and why?
A

Whistler counts as a staycation, right? If so, the Fairmont Chateau Whistler. It was the first luxury hotel property I ever worked at and it will always have a special place in my heart. The lobby is such a grand communal space and shuffling across the third floor walkway in your bathrobe to the pool deck is one of my very favourite activities. If I have to stay in Vancouver, Rosewood Hotel Georgia no contest, it’s stunning.

Q You also managed restaurants. Tell us where you’ve had the best dining experience.
A

That is a tough one. I have been lucky enough to have many to choose from. But I think I’d have to pick Nobelhart & Schmutzig, a ‘brutally local’ Michelin-starred restaurant in Berlin. The three-hour tasting menu experience flew by and had us sending a hand-written thank you letter the next day. Every detail, right down to the silencing sliders on the bottoms of the chairs, was perfection.

Q Flax Sleep loves to recommend books—which one would you suggest we take on our next vacation?
A

For a light read on a relaxing beach vacation, the Crazy Rich Asians trilogy. More modern tomes to keep you company through solo dinners and long train rides are Freedom by Jonathan Franzen and The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt. The whole Flax Sleep team is also super obsessed with Work Wife from Erica Cerulo and Claire Mazur, the co-founders of Of a Kind.

Flax Sleep
Q What’s the best trip you’ve ever taken?
A

In the Spring of 2016, I spent two weeks between London, Copenhagen and Berlin. London had the perfect balance of breakfast at Ottolenghi in Notting Hill and late nights at trendy breweries in Hackney Wick. In 48 hours in Copenhagen, I ate as much smorrebord as I could manage, had my second-most memorable meal ever at Baest and shopped my favourite designers, Hendrik Vibskov and Mr Larkin, at their flagship studios. Berlin was full of fantastic food and wine, including the best dining experience of my life, and too many Aperol Spritzes to count from the rooftop bar at the 25 Hours Hotel Bikini Berlin where we were staying. It was a magical trip to be sure.

Q Do you often buy souvenirs of your travels? What’s the best souvenir you’ve found.
A

My souvenirs almost always come in the form of a piece of clothing from an admired designer’s flagship shop—I once went to Stockholm just to buy pants. But when the Flax Sleep team went to Hong Kong and Shenzhen last year to meet our manufacturers, we brought back so many beautiful linen samples we couldn’t fit them all in our suitcases. So it was off to Causeway Bay to find the largest bubble gum pink suitcase I could to get the goods home and forever remind me of that life-changing journey the Flax Sleep team took, every time I travel.

Q What do you splurge on when you’re traveling?
A

Meals and fashion. Similar to when I am not traveling.

Q Where do you dream of going next?
A

As Flax Sleep continues to expand our product lines, we have grand plans of sourcing trips in our future. Portugal is somewhere I have always dreamed of going for food and wine so it’s safe to say I am thrilled that there is also a great deal of linen production there.