A Look Back at 2021
At Freedom Tree, we look back at a whirlwind year that brought out the best in us all.
We look back with a lot of gratitude. We found the resilience and will to support each other, and in the face of great tragedy, we witnessed great sacrifice and solidarity.
We engaged in global debates around climate change and social justice, and embraced our interconnectedness. Through it all, we picked up, went to work, took care of the mundane and superhuman, and still found time for a moment of joy and connection.
We love design, creating, making, and being bold. Our in-house design team takes inspiration from global and local trends when creating a new collection, and this year was no exception.
We had so much to say and reflect on as we created four distinct home collections to celebrate each season. Along with the hundreds of new designs we introduced this year, these collections offer different takes on living with bold and joyful color.
Our spring collection Unbound is all about returning to a simpler way of living that frees us but also reiterates our sense of home and belonging. Inspired by the resilience of our collective communities, Unbound takes inspiration from tribal motifs and elements to create a rooted and connected textile collection for the home.
As a few months later, the clouds broke into rain, our Rainshine collection harmonized the moods of the monsoon. Taking design cues from the metropolitan city that’s cast in sunlight and rain to the enchanted garden that comes alive after rainfall, Rainshine celebrates nature, renewal, and lush color in the home.
By the time fall arrived, we were reflecting on the designer’s journey of creation and the constantly evolving paths of our lives and cities. Our Blueprint collection honors the beauty of a work in progress with urban elements and spontaneous compositions that ultimately realize the joy of living in the moment.
Inspired by tradition and cultural motifs, our Stepwell collection offers a rich and textural setting for revelry and connection. Released during the festive season, it romances the past to bring artistry and fantasy to a new series of furnishings.
Reaching out and growing with others was a big part of our mission this year. Over the last few months, we grew our collaboration with Circulation Mission, Ugaoo, and Vista Rooms.
Run by a dynamic young entrepreneur, Circulation Mission works hard to make products that are good for the planet. The social innovation startup creates beautiful handcrafted products out environmentally sustainable recycled plastic. Together, we curated a special collection of recycled planters, baskets, and home accessories to sell at Freedom Tree - a pioneering effort towards a zero waste, circular economy.
Next, we teamed up with Ugaoo, a thriving online garden centre. Pairing up our planters with their plants, we made it easy to build a happy oasis at home. Ugaoo believes in a cleaner, better, and greener tomorrow. Through customized gardening solutions and indoor and outdoor green spaces, they strive to make the concrete jungle a more sustainable space. Look out for more collaborations between us in the next year!
In celebration of creativity and self-expression, we collaborated with the Pehlay Akshar Foundation to transform colorful paintings by under-privileged students into limited edition table linens and accessories for the home. A portion of all sales through this campaign went towards the Pehlay Akshar Foundation. It was truly art that sparked joy and for a good cause!
Our most recent partnership was with Vista Rooms, as we redesigned their Broken Banyan property to create a boutique resort feeling. In sharing a passion for creating cherished experiences, we re-envisioned their space into a boho tropical paradise. Whether or not we’re travelling, people want that resort feel!
A year of Real Homes
This year, our FT Tribe brought our pieces into their homes and showed us how they used them in real ways. Whether they whipped up cakes and tarts with our charming bakeware, or converted their bedroom into an oasis with tropical textiles and clusters of planters, we loved seeing people make our products their own.
When designing or refreshing larger spaces, it can help to have the guidance of a designer to turn your home into one you love.
That’s why we launched Design Services, a special service to create a personalized Freedom Tree look just for you. We transformed people’s homes into spaces that suited their lifestyle and that were a true expression of their personality.
Our key ingredients? Bold color, joyful prints, and a free-spirited sensibility!
A year of Solidarity
It was a challenging year for all, and filled with great tragedy for many. In the midst of this, we remain awed by the coming together of humanity to help and support as COVID raged across continents and every corner of this country.
We remain incredibly fortunate that our staff stayed safe and well. We are particularly grateful to our warehouse and store teams for coming to work every day (when permitted), and some for even staying on site for weeks at a time before vaccinations were available.
This was a year all about thinking about others. We sought to do better and give back whenever we could.
One of our favourite projects for the year was our work with Pehlay Akshar Foundation. The other was a fundraiser held for the non-profit Cuddles Foundation to feed children with cancer when they were especially at risk to Covid’s second wave outbreak. With everything going on this year, we were reminded of living in solidarity with the less fortunate.
A year of Human Connection
One of the joys of this year was the chance to spend more time together as the vaccine became more readily available. Slowly and carefully, we returned to the office. Some of us had a chance to meet in person for the first time, even though we’d been working together for over a year!
We started recording our time together in our Studio Monday stories - a snapshot of the fun we’ve been having behind the scenes. Whether that involved getting crafty for a shoot or picking color palettes for a new collection, great design got done, great ideas were shared, and great fun was had by all.
Our New Year’s Wish
As we end the year spending time with our nearest and dearest, we send out a New Year's wish from our family to yours!
May the New Year bring new happiness and cheer. May our spirits overcome any obstacles and grow with them. And, may your homes be warm and bright, filled with laughter, beauty, and Good Design Everyday!