Letter from the dear laine founder, Sonia Attalla, in brown envelope with analog image of Sonia

For as long as I can remember, I’ve been drawn to beauty. What started with the uncomplicated urge to rearrange my childhood bedroom over and over, has over the years evolved into a wider appreciation of beauty and its more intangible forms. The relaxed joy of an evening chatting with friends over boardgames, the simple contentment floating around in my coffee cup every morning and the warm comfort of my own couch at the end of a rough day.

It was during a ‘not-so-fun’ period of my life that I first started to notice these little glimmers. Over time the simple act of noticing them grew into a more intentional effort to seek them out. And then, I suddenly discovered that all the small steps I had taken, had led me to a pretty meaningful life.

This may be obvious to some, but to me it was the most wonderful surprise! For a long time, I was so accustomed to blindly following the ‘expected’ path that I didn’t even realise it was an option to navigate one that aligned with my values and led to my dreams.

While I (thankfully) haven’t outgrown the habit of endlessly redecorating my physical surroundings, I have learned that you can apply this principle of beautification beyond furniture. By rearranging the individual elements of your lifestyle, you can form a landscape that you feel at home in. This, I call the art of curating a still life. I now long to create a life that not only looks good, but also feels good.

dear laine is my best effort thus far in satisfying this pursuit – it’s an opportunity for me to cultivate my own dream life, while at once serving as a gentle invitation for others to explore theirs. Born from a blend of reflective curiosity, creativity and a life-long belief in beauty, is a place for me to share the many practices and insights that I found helpful in finding my way to a lifestyle more reflective of me.

Thank you for finding your way over here and having a look around! I hope you find something that feels meaningful to you in the space that is dear laine.

Love,

Sonia Attalla signature

Each individual lifestyle choice adds up to shape the landscape of your life.

dear laine celebrates the following values

AESTHETIC

Oftentimes the value of aesthetics is overlooked, as it easily gets dismissed as superficial or materialistic. Yet, this feels counterintuitive when in reality life is experienced through the senses. Your daily life is thus largely shaped by your surroundings and how they make you feel, making aesthetics an important tool in taking ownership over this.

CONSCIOUS

As life is by nature a deeply personal experience, it makes sense that there is no one-size-fits-all mould for a meaningful one. Instead, a series of conscious decisions, that are a reflection of who you are and what you stand for, can help lead to fulfilment. Living with intention is endlessly more gratifying than doing things on auto-pilot.

CRAFTSMANSHIP

When know-how of best practices meets the creative confidence to do things differently, that’s true craftsmanship. But when this mastery of the process is met with the passion of a maker, that’s true magic. Letting a bit of this magic into your daily life makes everything feel that much more worthwhile.

WHAT’S IN A NAME?

dear laine is the opening line of a love letter to life. A warm greeting in your own handwriting, it echoes the sentiment of choosing a deeply personal lane in life. As the Finnish word for wave, ‘laine’ is both a subtle nod to my own roots and the balanced eb and flow of life that you find when you curate your own still life.

for brands that want to

LOOK GOOD ON PAPER AND BEYOND…

One of the ways we strive to make an impact is by joining purpose-driven brands in their visual storytelling. In our creative process, the fabric of your brand becomes the canvas and your passion the muse. We create imagery that will do more for your business than just look pretty,  so you can continue pursuing what you love with a renewed sense of inspiration and confidence.

Read more about dear laine’s offering and approach.

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based in The Netherlands,
active world-wide

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