A Conversation with Behind the Hill
This month, I'm delighted to share another interview with you, this time with Maud Lerayer of Behind the Hill. I have been following Maud's brand for quite some time. What caught my eye was her focus on working with one artisan enterprise in Guatemala and going deep with storytelling as well as her focus on sourcing the highest quality materials that she is able. And of course her line of products is absolutely stunning too!
Maud was born and raised in France but a journey to Mexico in 2003 was life-changing. That was where the seed to start her business was born. She now has a blossoming brand, creating contemporary textiles using a variety of heirloom cotton which grows naturally in shades of pink, terracotta, green, and more. She works with indigenous artists who still grow, spin, and weave the cotton the same way it has been done for centuries.
Read on to learn more about her experience growing a brand, what she wished she knew when she first got started, her fave sources of inspiration, and more.
To start, could you tell us how you got into this field?
I was born and raised in France and in 2003 I went to Mexico for the first time as part of a college exchange program. I was supposed to stay for nine months but ended up staying for nine years. It was in Mexico that I first got to know about handwoven textiles and beautiful handmade products. At that time, I didn’t think about working with artisans, I was just personally very interested in their work and was buying one-of-a-kind pieces for myself. All those years I was working in marketing for big corporations in Mexico City (The Coca-Cola Company, Sony, Mercedes-Benz) but on the weekends I was able to travel to more remote places to experience Mexican culture firsthand.
In 2012 I arrived in New York. I was working for a marketing agency where I was in charge of their clients from Latin America. At that time, I barely spoke English and felt quite lonely in New York. I also didn’t share any of the values of the company where I was working. I felt the urge to stay in touch with the indigenous women I knew in Mexico who were so much more connected to nature; they’ve always kept me grounded.
Around 2015, I started to develop a business plan. I traveled to Mexico and Guatemala to figure out a business model I could be proud of. After working for the biggest brands in the world, I really needed to work on a project that made sense for the planet, my team, and myself. I met like-minded people and slowly found my place in New York. In 2017, Behind the Hill was born.
What was the ‘ah-ha’ moment that made you start this business?
I remember that moment very well. It was 2015 and I was living in the East Village in Manhattan. Around the corner from my apartment there was an amazing home décor store where I would often go and look at beautiful hand-crafted pieces from around the world. I remember thinking “I know where I could source very unique products as well. I could connect the artisans I know in Guatemala and Mexico with these kinds of stores in New York”. Rather than sourcing I ended up designing the products for Behind the Hill, but at that time I didn’t know what would be possible or where to even start.
What are the biggest challenges you face running a small business and some ways you have overcome them?
There are so many challenges! I work by myself, from home. That is probably the biggest challenge. I do absolutely everything: connecting with the artisans, designing the collections, quality control, photography, shipping, accounting, marketing, trade shows, etc. Plus I do it in English which is my third language so sometimes a simple task like sending a newsletter might take more time just because of the language. And I want everything to look great.
Doing everything by myself is not sustainable and my skills are limited as well! So I am working more and more with professionals who can help me where I feel it is the most necessary: photography, copywriting and accounting for example.
The power of community is real! I have found that the more I meet like-minded people, the more doors open and the happier I feel. To get out and meet other makers, retailers, small business owners and customers is a game changer. I am planning to start sharing a retail space in Brooklyn with four other makers soon. The space will be used as an office but is also a photography studio and a shop. I’m so looking forward to this new adventure.
Another challenge is cashflow management, of course. It’s usually necessary to take some financial risks to be able to grow a business. But you want to make the right decisions and it’s not always easy to find the right balance.
And perhaps the most unique challenge for my specific project (and also the most beautiful!) is working so closely with nature. This company totally relies on nature, so if it’s too dry or too wet, the cotton is not good enough.The climate and the altitude of the fields alters the color of our cotton from one harvest to another, which is not easy to manage when creating a collection. One collection might stop unexpectedly, for example whenever the pink cotton starts turning beige again. But to be honest this challenge is what excites me the most in this entrepreneurial adventure.
What do you wish you knew when you first got started?
That you can’t please everyone. And that’s totally ok.
What do you think is easy to overlook when running an artisan business, that you wish you paid more attention to?
I think that the nine years I spent in Mexico in my twenties where preparing me for working with artisans in Central America a decade later. Even though I was not working with artisans yet, I got to work in Spanish very early on and I got to know about Mexican culture which I think is the most important. I really feel at home when I’m in Mexico and Guatemala as I have lived there for so long. I know the artisans I work with, their families, their village, their culture, their pace.
What has been the best way to grow your following and brand?
I really believe in the power of community: cross-marketing and recommendations. I have been growing slowly so far because my inventory was too small to communicate to a large audience. The heirloom cotton I work with is very rare and difficult to weave so advertising was not really for us.
Last year I started to work with new groups of artisans and I will soon be able to grow the brand’s offering with new products that have shorter lead times. I will probably start marketing ads this year.
To grow the brand directly to customers, the best has been through the community, whether it is online (via Instagram or recommendations) or IRL through pop-up events. I have also participated in Shoppe Object in New York to grow the brand with retailers.
What helped you get through the crazy days of the pandemic?
I was lucky because during the pandemic sales were strong! The issue was that during the first six months of the pandemic in Guatemala and Mexico, people were not allowed to travel from one village to another. While my textiles were being woven and sold, it was so difficult to get the products to a shipping center and have them shipped to me! Also, the raw cotton was not reaching the weavers for a while, so the whole production process was very slow and I was out of stock on so many products, which was not good.
In 2020, after a few months of lockdown, I was seriously craving interacting with other people so I decided to start a pop-up right outside of my house on the sidewalk. It was just for a couple of hours on Saturdays so I could attend to both my family and my business. And it went SO well! I live on a beautiful block so I keep doing these sales sometimes on sunny days, mostly to meet new people and introduce them to new products.
How do you keep your business strong and competitive? What keeps your brand unique?
The material we use is what makes the project unique. We make products for home decor using heirloom color-grown cottons which grow wild in shades of terra-cotta, pink, green, beige and white. We totally rely on nature and on each harvest. I work directly with Indigenous weavers for whom these heirloom cottons represent their cultural heritage. We strive to keep their ancient traditions alive.
I think the passion I have for the cotton I work with - its history and its meaning - is a central part of the project. I keep researching about colored cotton. I’m constantly trying to talk to as many people as possible from farmers to weavers.This is the part I love the most. Designing objects is an extension of that research. I think that my customers know how dedicated I am and also that I’m always willing to share the information. I’m eager to tell my story and the story of the people I work with. Transparency is key when you work with Indigenous artisans.
Tell us a bit more about your workshops!
Being transparent with your customers is so important. As soon as I launched Behind the HilI, I started to organize “workshop tours” to visit the people I work with in Guatemala.
Twice a year I travel with customers, designers, artists, and retailers who are interested in knowing more about our production and our cottons. The idea is to learn from each other with the artisans and to spend time together. I always include elements of Mayan culture as well. I usually travel with small groups of 6-8 people for a week, typically in February and November.
What is inspiring you these days?
My biggest source of inspiration is definitely Nature herself. The natural patterns that the wind makes in the sand, the shapes of rocks, the textures of tree barks, the colors of the earth. I take so many pictures of all these things, all the time! Inspiration is everywhere.
I also love design magazines (MILK, Kinfolk, Wallpaper*). For textiles, I love Selvedge magazine.
And traveling is fundamental to me. It doesn’t need to be very far, but I feel very alive when I travel somewhere new. If I get lost it’s totally fine and ideally I travel by myself so I can meet locals easily.
For more info, please visit: https://www.behindthehill.com/