Wake and Bake with Edie Parker

October 21, 2024

Edie Parker was always all about elevated fashion. The brand’s founder, Brett Heyman, started the brand as an homage to the mid-century modern era and her inner child, rolling out ornate evening bags that were the perfect cherry on top to standout looks. But after spending some time in the elevated fashion lane, the label began a new chapter as it evolved into high fashion — literally.

Taking a leap of faith and unveiling Edie Parker Flower, Heyman decided to stand her ground in the heavily male-dominated cannabis industry. And she really puts her money where her mouth is, with a women-led team and products that personify her bubbly outlook. Through her color-explosive products and imaginative perspective, she has found a way to make weed accessible and welcoming, no matter how you identify.

Interview by Kayla Curtis-Evans
Photos by Matthew Kappas

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.

Culture

Mowalola x Miss Sixty Launch with H. Lorenzo

I swing my legs over the ropes that guard the VIP entrance. Always over (I’m 5’10), never under. I’m late to the H. Lorenzo x Mowalola event, and the line is wrapped around the block. I don’t want to be an asshole, but I hate waiting in lines; it just ruins everything.

“Hey, my friend is DJing right now. My name should be down,” I say.

The youngish security guard looks me up and down. I have made an adventurous choice for this type of crowd. Neon pink hoodie, bright orange vest, my Raimundo jeans, and Jeremy Scott animal print sneakers. I let him take me in and look over his shoulder. Hmmm… I will be swathed in darkness when he lets me in. Dark night, dark clothes, dark makeup, furs, hoods, leather accessories, and sunglasses. I don’t recognize anyone, but it’s hard to tell who anyone is because I can’t see after 8 pm without my glasses. Night blindness. I can still catch a vibe though.

“She’s in the bathroom,” Mr. Guard says, interrupting my squinting.

“Who?,” I ask.

“The woman in charge of the list.”

That’s a drag. I want to dance. Lately, I am going out in the name of music.

“So…can I go in?” I ask.

“Just wait for her to get back.”

That sounded fine. I wait. The outdoor smoking area is packed. I imagine the inside to be a mirror of this, hopefully with people dancing instead of blowing smoke in each other’s eyes.

“You got instagram?” The guard asks me after about ten minutes of flirting.

“Can I go in?” I said.

He laughs. He lets me in the event without a wristband.

Inside, I understand why the other guard was gone for so long. I made a mental note to not drink too much liquid, the bathroom line is almost as long as the line outside. The party is popping, far from a flop.

I push through the crowd solo, following the speakers to the DJ booth. The immersive visuals provided me with enough light to make out Mowalola in a gold bikini and her low rise denim. My pulse races like the horse printed on the front of her coochie. That’s the point of the collection, obviously.

My hips swing around before I head towards the open bar. I smile to myself, noting that it’s a mezcal forward menu. I see a drink that disgusts me so I order it without hesitation. It’s a mezcal coffee concoction. My heart ’s ran through already, why not go all in? I head back to dance when I hear Shigecki’s set start. I’m jumping around, sweating, and when I pause for a beat I let out a yelp. There are strippers working poles opposite and behind the DJ booth. Good. Events should be sexy.

I end the night smoking my friend’s Korean strawberry cigarettes taking in the air of cool- when a man comes up to me wild-eyed exclaiming that we look just like one another. I look at him- no, not at all. I turn slowly, remembering what I should be doing: listening to DJ G2G’s set. Back inside, she is playing reggaeton type beats with lasers beaming out of her headphones (I want these). A rave in it of herself.

Too bad all the events end at 2 am in LA.

Culture

Vans Pipe Masters 2024

On the first night, Steve Van Doren and the Vans team hosted the heat draw for the competitors at a casual backyard barbecue. The son of Vans’ co-founder Paul Van Doren, Steve has worked in the family business for decades, and is now known as the Ambassador of Fun. Wearing a Hawaiian shirt and a cowboy hat made out of old shoes, he was definitely dressed for the part. The surfers, along with family and friends gathered in a relaxed setting as 40 men’s and 20 women’s names were drawn from a shoebox. The competition would run in 3 rounds, the top 4 men and 4 women with the highest scores moving onto the finals. When asked about their strategies, most gave answers along the lines of “get waves.” Refreshingly simple.

After waiting a few days for favorable conditions, the first day of competition kicked off with Women’s Round 1. It was finally time to see Pipeline in action. Banzai Pipeline is known as one of the most dangerous places to surf due to the powerful waves breaking over shallow and sharp reefs. With the potential to crash into the rocky edges or have leashes caught in caves, it takes a ton of skill–-and even more courage–to surf here. No stranger to these risks, the first heat included favorites Caity Simmers and “Queen of Pipeline” Moana Jones Wong, who showed off exactly why they’d been successful here in the past. Midway through the heats, Mother Nature decided to throw in another element as a light drizzle turned into a proper downpour. Rain or shine, the athletes went out unfazed, focused on getting their first points on the board.

After another short day’s break, the competition continued with the women’s second round and the men’s first. The beach was filled with spectators, locals and tourists alike, as the competition was free for all to attend. While fans rooted equally for the women and men, the most popular were the local Hawaiian athletes, which made up about half the competition. The women started off the day again, hyping up the crowd with incredible rides. One ride by Bettylou Sakura Johnson earned the first Bag of Cash of the day– a cash prize (of undisclosed amount) awarded in a brown paper bag to any surfer that pulls off a wow moment, excites the crowd, and pulls off something spectacular regardless of what the conditions might look like.

Winds picked up as the men’s competition began and two strategies quickly emerged: an aggressive approach, targeting any decent waves to build small scores; and a patient approach, waiting for the perfect wave to chase a high single score. Even the waves that were unrideable were a spectacle in itself. The sheer size, illustrated by the length of surfboards riding up and over, and the following crash of white water spray was hypnotizing. Then imagining having to experience it out on the water, duck diving under or being lifted over, brought a renewed respect for the surfers.

After watching these early rounds, it was time for office to head back to the cold. With the competition officially spanning from December 8-20, it seemed the forecast was gearing up for some massive waves— and it didn’t disappoint. Following from afar through Vans’ Instagram and live updates, we saw the full extent of what it means to surf at Pipeline. After a series of electrifying and daring surfs, the 2024 winners were crowned: Erin Brooks and Nathan Florence.

The thrill of watching top athletes compete at the highest level of their sport, even remotely, never fails to inspire. Few sports surrender so completely to the forces of nature as surfing does. And at its core, surfing is all about having a deep respect for the ocean—its unpredictable whims, its immense power, and its ever-changing moods.

Culture

The Cost of Queendom

December 17, 2024

One summer afternoon in New York, a few days after their New York premiere of the acclaimed documentary Queendom, office met up with documentary filmmaker Agniia Galdanova and producer Igor Myakotin at a tattoo parlor on the west side of Manhattan. While Agniia received a tattoo of the portmanteau “DOCU CUNT” across her fists, she — unfazed by the needle on her knuckles — answered our questions alongside Igor about the making of the stirring story that has traveled around the world.

One of the opening scenes of Queendom depicts a ritual many of us are all too familiar with in the 21st century. Jenna Marvin, the documentary film’s central subject, takes her friend along with her to take photos for Instagram. When she finds a suitable backdrop, she poses, poses, poses, and then reviews the photos. Dissatisfied, she gives her notes, and then returns to pose, pose, pose again.

By Brook Aster
Photos by Liv Solomon

The ritual may be familiar, but nothing else about the scene — from its setting to its stakes — is ordinary. The backdrop behind Jenna is a sweeping expanse of ice and snow in a small Russian port town called Magadan. Jenna is dressed in drag, but not drag of the Rupaul’s Drag Race variety; her drag has been referred to as “creature drag.” Her signature white face paint, platform heels and surrealist costumes, with their exaggerated sculptural proportions and use of duct tape and repurposed items, catches the ire of her neighbors and the love of online admirers alike. Jenna eventually accrued a following on social media for her public and technically illegal drag performances, which often involved little more than her walking or being in public spaces but nevertheless were often met with abuse and threats of imprisonment.

But when Agniia first encountered Jenna, she hadn’t yet reached the level of virality that would eventually come in the years to follow. The filmmaker was researching different drag performers in Russia for her sophomore project, which she thought would be a docuseries, when she heard from a friend about a young drag queen from Magadan. “I was like, this is impossible. I have to meet this person,” Agniia remembers. “And I could not actually go meet her because I was in Moscow and she was in Saint Petersburg, so I sent a friend of mine with whom I’d been studying with in film school, and she went and filmed the sample.” The simple video, showing Jenna and her friend getting dressed up for a party, struck something in Agniia. The drag was an earlier, more prototypical version of the style Jenna is now known for; less duct tape and ornamentation, but still that signature striking makeup. “Something sparked. I knew I just had to stick to this feeling,” Agniia says. She decided to turn the docuseries into a documentary solely focused on Jenna.

Around that time, the entire world came to a grinding halt: the onset of COVID-19 pandemic had just led to lockdowns around the globe. With only a couple thousand followers on social media at that point in time, Jenna had tried to branch out and connect with other drag artists in Moscow and Saint Petersburg, but faced rejection; her drag was extremely unconventional, and not even other drag artists quite understood it. “I think we found each other at the right moment, because nobody knew what to do, how to cope with all this,” Agniia says. “Jenna was saying that she was lost, and she also didn't know how to develop her art next.”

Unlike some of the other artists Agniia had initially researched, Jenna didn’t need much convincing to allow the camera into her life. “[Especially] after COVID came, there wasn't really [any] drag in my life,” Jenna recounts when I speak to her later over Zoom. “I realized that what drag is for me is not just a costume, a dress, something that you leave, that you take off and then in the dead of the night you put back on. Later, I understood that this is who I am, that I am art and I am drag, and that this is way bigger and more important than just clothing or costume.”

[LEFT TO RIGHT: Agniia Galdanova, Jenna Marvin, Igor Myakotin]

When it came time to move into production stages, Agniia sent a clip to Igor, who had been referred to her by a past colleague. When Igor saw the footage, he was similarly struck by Jenna — and even more struck to find out she shared his small hometown of Magadan. “It was just so fateful to know that I also come from this town, and I've never seen it through this cinematic lens, through the vision that Agniia has,” he says. “I was mesmerized by the footage, mesmerized by Jenna. I thought to myself, I have to do everything I can [for us] to work together, whatever the collaboration is gonna be.”

The two followed Jenna for over three years; Agniia first relocated to St. Petersburg, where Jenna had taken up residence after leaving her grandparents’ home in Magadan, and later Jenna moved in with Agniia in her home in Moscow. All the while, Igor and his team worked remotely from the United States to meet Agniia’s production needs. Inevitably, with all their time spent together, Agniia and Jenna became close.

“There is an unspoken rule in documentary filmmaking that you have to keep this line, and you can’t overcome certain boundaries,” Agniia explains. “In my first film, it was not an easy subject [to do this with] as well. I was following a family for seven months, and [we became] close, but I always was trying to keep my distance, and was constantly thinking about it. How much should I say? How much should I give?” But as she got to know Jenna, it became clear that this time, that distance wouldn’t be possible. “With Jenna almost from the very beginning, I was like, fuck it. That’s not going to work with this one. I'm going to break this rule 100%. I never regretted it, because that's actually what built up the trust that is there.”

As Jenna's public performances continued and began to garner more public attention, her online audience multiplied. Among her virtual admirers was French fashion maven Michèle Lamy, who would eventually sign onto Queendom as an executive producer. Lamy's discovery of Jenna led to an invitation to walk in the Rick Owens show in Paris — her first time modeling, and her first time leaving Russia in her life. Of course, Agniia and her camera followed. But most of their excursions were not so glamorous; many of Jenna's performances shown in the documentary were undertaken at a real risk to her physical safety, and by extension, to the safety of Agniia. But neither of them were daunted.

I remember who I am. And this is what carries me through this life.

After all, Jenna was used to both taking risks and documenting them well before she was the subject of a film; she and her friends long filmed the often impassioned, sometimes violent reactions of strangers and policemen to their mere existence in public spaces in drag. And after a protest performance in which she wrapped herself in the Russian flag, Jenna was kicked out of beauty school, her last attempt at a practical route before pursuing her drag as a full time venture.

The only time Agniia tried to dissuade her was on Paratrooper’s Day, a Russian military holiday often characterized by the drunk soldiers roaming the streets. The risk for violence was especially high. “On Paratroopers Day, people say you can't come out in skinny jeans or with nail polish,” Jenna describes. “[I think] you should do the opposite. You should really make a statement and come out wearing what you want to wear. I think that clothes, what we wear, is really at some point beyond our psyche, our mind, our understanding. It is as if it's a certain kind of spice that is enticing you and you follow the scent of that spice and you don't see anything else except that scent and you follow it. That's how I see it.”

“I was like, ‘girl, maybe we should not do that,’” Agniia says. “Igor was stressing out and she told us, ‘well, you don't need to follow me. I'm gonna go and do it. I don't care if you're coming or not.’” In the end, Jenna ventured out for her performance anyway, protesting the then-recent invasion of Ukraine. Agniia followed. Not shown in the film is that the two were arrested, and managed to talk the police out of their arrest.

Not too long after, she would have to leave Russia again, this time moving for Paris for good; the film follows her struggles to get a visa in time to leave the country after the onset of the war. “It's already been three years that I've been in France, and it is important for me to understand and remember who I am, and to remember that pain, those moments when we were back in Russia doing drag, fighting with the police and law enforcement,” Jenna says. “It is important that this resistance continues and that those voices are not being silenced. Yes, here there’s much more freedom, there are pride parades and queer people can get married, but this is an illusion because there are also places where you cannot get married and you cannot enjoy the same freedoms. I cling to who I am, who I was from the very beginning. I remember who I am. And this is what carries me through this life.”

“Meeting Jenna gave me hope for the future of the country, because governments come and go, people in power come and go, but the generations change at the same time,” Igor says. “So it warms my heart to see that someone like her came from somewhere like that. If I saw her back then at a similar age, it would be even more personal. I think I would’ve accepted myself as gay quicker, and I wouldn't be nervous or closed and not open to the world or myself… Working with this project also meant that we were amplifying the voices of many, many people who couldn't speak like Jenna could.”

For Agniia, the honor of telling Jenna's story is only paralleled by the honor of having her in her life. “We found each other,” Agniia says. “And what I learned from Jenna is so precious; about life, about art, about surviving. And I appreciate it a lot. This film grew so much larger than just a documentary, because I have a family now, a working family.”

Queendom is now available to stream on Apple TV.