Ringing in the Lunar New Year with Sandy Liang

Stepping into Heyman’s technicolor home oasis, office chatted with the founder about the transforming cannabis industry, circulating education and heightening accessibility, and her favorite go-to munchies.

Kayla Curtis-Evans— I actually have never interviewed someone after smoking before. This is a new one for me. What are your favorite strains? When you want to relax after a long day, what would you reach for?

Brett Heyman— Really, I'm not so strain-specific. I love our vapes and I love the flavor of the hybrid the most. Usually, the flavor is what dictates what I smoke. But I keep the hybrid and the sativa in my purse. That's such an old lady thing to say [laughs]. But that's what I usually smoke, I rarely smoke indica.

What treat are we making today?

Treat is kind of a misnomer. I don't think of it as a treat exactly, it's just the only thing I can bake from memory. It's a banana bread loaf with flax seed, buckwheat flour, chia seeds, and cottage cheese that I eat for breakfast every morning. It's very high-protein and very filling. What do you eat for breakfast?

I eat a lot of oatmeal for breakfast. Or chia pudding.

I make chia pudding a lot too.

When you smoke, do you have a go-to snack for the munchies?

I love a white cheddar popcorn. That's usually my snack. Although, I've recently learned that some of those popular ones out there aren't really good for you. The best popcorn that's packaged is that Himalayan Pink salt one. So that's mostly what I'll go for.

Do you think that you bake better when baked? Or do you have any other activities that you feel you execute better when that edge is taken off?

Well, I mean that's the thing with cannabis, right? It just heightens all your senses. So I'm of the belief that it makes everything better; it certainly makes eating better. And smelling things. Sex is a big thing for me with cannabis. I am enjoying every part of this. Not that I wouldn't without cannabis, but it just makes everything a little bit better. Having said that, cottage cheese smells disgusting. High or not.

The fact that smoking kind of heightens everything is what freaked me out a little bit the first time I tried it. I returned to it later because I have trouble sleeping and that was the only thing that helped.

It's so personal. So many people have had bad experiences, or maybe they haven't found the right strains yet. It's about testing use cases and finding what's right for you. Because I believe there's something for everybody.

I totally agree. You've created this new frontier within cannabis. When you started Edie Parker Flower, how did you aim to shift some of the stigmas or stereotypes that exist around cannabis? How did you also aim to shake up a very male-dominated industry?

We came in during the California green wave. We thought that cannabis was the new, big business and that there was going to be almost no stigma around it. We really underestimated the fact that the stigma remains and there's still a reluctance. We came into this scene and we found that there were no women in the cannabis space. Or at least very few women in the cannabis space and certainly no brands that were speaking to women on the shelves. There weren't a lot of brands that were approaching it like we did, through accessories first. Our goal was that we wanted people to engage with cannabis like any other product in their lives — as a consumer product. We thought that if we made things that are pretty and not intimidating or overly masculine or medicinal, then we could help destigmatize and normalize cannabis.

When we launched, we had a store on Madison Avenue, and we sold all of our cannabis accessories alongside these expensive evening bags. I think that really helped — just seeing beautiful cannabis-related accessories alongside products that you were used to engaging with. All of this helped with destigmatizing within certain audiences, but as you said, we still have a lot of work to do.

That was my favorite part about the brand when I first discovered it. These are palatable products that you can have on your table and they actually look cute. So many smoking tools or accessories are so ugly. But your approach is super whimsical. I see the affinity for color carrying over, even into your home.

Yes. It's a genuine affinity.

What inspires your playful, colorful outlook?

I think the world can be quite dreary. When we started Edie Parker, it's not like I thought that there was this need for these whimsical acrylic evening bags with your name on them or with fruit inlays. But my philosophy has always been that life is very serious and your accessories don't have to be. I think our surroundings should spark joy. And maybe living in a sea of grey or beige is what makes you happy. But for me, patterns, vintage things that tell a story, things that people are curious about — like this Murano fruit glass chandelier, it's my favorite. Everybody who comes over wants to talk about it. I love having joyful things that make people smile or at least ask questions, which coincidentally is exactly (philosophically) what we thought about the handbags too. These are pieces that will make people engage in conversation with you. So if you're a real introvert, maybe they're not for you [laughs.]

What intrigues you about the mid-century modern era, design-wise? Why is that something that you often revisit?

I like it because it's this really creative time Post World War II, particularly in America, which is where the acrylic bags were created. America was setting fashion trends globally, and other trends within industries like the auto industry with the use of plastics. That was my inspiration for the bags and what initially drew me to mid-century furniture and mid-century handbags. I think it's just exciting to see the development of trends across the globe by means of these little items. They mean more than meets the eye.

What similarities can you draw between what you were doing with the brand when it was strictly fashion-forward and this space you're in now, with functional, cannabis accessories? The products are different, but I still see the overall vision aligning.

Thank you for saying that because it's hard. The purpose of the bags is to surprise and delight. We always say that these are joyful little pieces of art and we don't see the cannabis accessories any differently. It's how we felt justified getting into the business. We already made all these other pieces that are meant to be displayed, so we thought why can't cannabis accessories be displayable and collectible, much like bar accessories? Why do they have to be like your ex-boyfriend's disgusting, gross bong that's meant to be hidden away? And again, we felt like if we could make things that are meant to be shown off, shared, and gifted, it would help with normalization, de-stigmatization, and all of the things that we're up against.

You take inspiration from a lot of food. Where does that stem from?

I just love food. My favorite kind of design aesthetic is something that feels really nostalgic. Something that evokes a memory and that's also a little bit unexpected. So I think food accessories usually feel like that. They're instantly recognizable, but we make it a little bit more unexpected and certainly subversive. We like to make things that make people smirk a little.

How else do you think that we can create more inviting environments within the cannabis industry?

I think there are a lot of ways, but I really think the onerous marketing restrictions around cannabis make it hard to talk to people on social media in a normal way. It also makes it hard to advertise in a normal way. And those are both very valuable things. I think if those were eased a little bit, we could help people see more people who look like themselves engaging in cannabis. I think it's hard to see an entry point if you're curious because of the ‘stoner bro’ archetype. So seeing more people like you, like your parents or your coworkers, engaging with cannabis in healthy ways would be helpful. And then the other way is, obviously, just through having more legal cannabis retail that starts to look like other retail in your life. Spaces that feel non-intimidating and welcoming. And then seeing brands on the shelf that don't feel intimidating. We're still so early in this industry. I hope these positive changes will come.

What are some of your favorite Edie Parker accessories to use when you're smoking? I know you mentioned the pen; do you have any go-to pipes or lighters too?

I love a lot of our other accessories for decor purposes, but I'm also not a good joint roller. So if I am, the cones are great. I love all the pipes. We made a lime pipe when we first launched that I still use. But I think smoking out of a banana is the most fun. I also really like the birthday candle one-hitters that we have.

So far, you've really shaken up the industry and debuted a lot of different funky shapes and ideas. Do you have anything else in the works besides what we talked about that you're really excited about?

We're so excited about edibles. We're 10 women, give or take, in the office. And all of us love edibles. So I really wanted our own but we wanted something true to the brand ethos, which is, simply, to have a good time. We want to give people permission to just get high and have fun. There doesn't have to be an anti-inflammatory component or a sleep aid. So we're designing something that we think hits those marks. The packaging will be really fun and multipurpose. Like most of our products, I don't know if you'd noticed, but we love this marriage of charming form, but also functional form. So everything has dual use. Fun flavors, of course. One day, I'd really love to have a dispensary and I'd love to have an educational aspect there as well.