Five Questions for Anais & I Designer, Jane D’Haene

I'm crazy about Anais & I's super-fun balloon animal theme this season and wanted to get to the bottom of what inspired it! I was lucky to catch designer Jane D'Haene this morning to get the scoop. 

What's your favorite balloon animal & why?  

Hmmmmm.  This is difficult questions… My personal favorite will be

elephant.  I just really like the color choice and I really like elephant.

If you ask my Anais, she likes poodle, Lucas likes Dinosaur and Nicholas

likes Elephant too.:)

Why did you decide to do balloon animals// & do you know (this is a

tribeca question) Raggidy Supreme (the balloon animal maker who entertains

at Cirque Rouge? (just wondering!)

No. I didn't know about it.  Balloon Animal serious idea came from my dear

friend, our illustrator, Maia Larkin.  She gave me one sketch and I thought

it was brilliant and that weekend we went to Tribeca Film festival.  I saw

so many children lining up to get balloons and thought this is just perfect.

I ended up taking crazy amount of pictures of every children's balloons.  

Why did you decide to go into home goods/pillows, etc.?

As you know, I have an interior/architecture background.  Home goods are the

area I always wanted to get into.  I also would love to design furniture for

children's room.  I made one stuffed animal chair for my son and I would

love to continue developing this area.

What are you most looking forward to this season (in general – a trip,

event, etc.) 

Right now, I am looking forward to our family trip next week.  I've been

working so hard I feel I could use little break to get inspiration for my

next collection.  But most of I miss being silly with my children.  I just

want to stay in bed, cuddle, kiss my children as long as I can.  I want them

more than anything.  They are my inspirations.

What do you like best about springtime? What do you like best about

designing a spring collection.

I'm definitely a spring/summer person.  It makes me happier.  Being in New

York, I really enjoy four seasons but I like Spring and summer most.  Love

seeing more people on the street, love seeing trees, flowers and just more

energies everywhere.

Spring/summer collection is in some ways more challenging because I prefer

to design much simpler body.  And I pay much more attention to comfort.  My

children's wears my design.  I have to make sure they are comfortable and

looks great.  Spring/Summer is about lighter fabric, lighter colors, simpler

design.  

Check out the new Anais & I collection here and be sure to send us your feedback! We hope you love it as much as we do!!!