Saasha Burns & Sammy Leetham, Byron Bay NSW
Images by Amelia Fullarton
Saasha Burns & Sammy Leetham, co founders of BEAR, live just outside of the relaxed coastal town of Byron Bay with a British Shorthair named Dallas and a Siberian Husky named ‘Minnie’ Minnesota. We visited them at home to talk about their many travels, daily rituals and their experience building a wellness brand from the ground up.
“We live on a Queenslander style property surrounded by nature. We both grew up in Melbourne, but have always been drawn to this part of Australia and we moved up to Byron just over two years ago. We love waking early, making a coffee and spending slow mornings in bed before heading to the BEAR studio. We have also recently renovated our bathrooms and it feels like such a luxury to have a long soak in our concrete bathtub in the evening with a good book, ahead of the arrival of our little one.”
“Our home is full of pieces collected on our travels together that all tell a story - handwoven rugs from Marrakech and Istanbul, ceramics from Copenhagen and Positano, wooden pieces from Bali, vintage finds from Joshua Tree. We have a custom McTavish surfboard in our living room that we had made ahead of our BEAR Leaders of Style launch event in Byron Bay. It’s always such a great reminder of where we started and brings back such special memories of that time.”
Our home is full of pieces collected on our travels together that all tell a story - handwoven rugs from Marrakech and Istanbul, ceramics from Copenhagen and Positano, wooden pieces from Bali, vintage finds from Joshua Tree.
[When home in Byron] “we have a few little weekend rituals including visiting Harvest in Newrybar with Minnie for a macadamia milk latte and loaf of seeded sourdough, before visiting our local farmers market for fruit and veggies. You’ll find us at Wategos or Tallows beach when the sun is out. We also love Sparrow in Bangalow, Topshop, Doma, Supernatural, and Fleet.”
Wellness has always been so important to us, both physical and mental. We love traveling to stay grounded and open our minds to new perspectives, reading and expanding our knowledge, and eating a balanced diet of nutritious, plant-based food. My grandparents immigrated from the Netherlands to country South Australia and were surrounded by farmland. I have memories of picking vegetables from the garden for dinner, composting and recycling everything with my Oma. Nothing ever went to waste. Sammy’s grandparents were doctors and pharmacists, and also instilled the importance of good health from a young age. BEAR started organically, when we were searching for high quality, therapeutic vitamins. We are now approaching our third birthday, and are proud to be a certified B-Corporation, with a collection of modern wellness essentials and clean, natural skincare to support a holistic wellness journey.
My grandparents immigrated from the Netherlands to country South Australia and were surrounded by farmland. I have memories of picking vegetables from the garden for dinner, composting and recycling everything with my Oma. Nothing ever went to waste.
Saasha & Sammy’s bed is dressed in IN BED’s heavy linen bed cover and pillowslips with stripes in natural and khaki linen fitted sheet & flat sheet. Linen bedding collection
“We have a minimalist approach to beauty and wellness, and live by the philosophy less is more. We have always had a fascination with ingredients, and discovering the unrivalled benefits of a specific plant is usually the starting point for all of our product development. We are committed to researching and producing our products with great care and integrity, free from harmful and toxic ingredients commonly found in many luxury wellness and beauty products on the market. All of our products are vegan, not tested on animals and made in Australia.
We have always had a fascination with ingredients, and discovering the unrivalled benefits of a specific plant is usually the starting point for all of our product development.
“Last year we traveled to India, the home of wellness, to celebrate our second birthday for BEAR. We held our third Leaders of Style event, hosting an intimate group of like-minded creatives at Aman-i-Khas on the border of Ranthambore National Park. We were so fortunate to see three Bengal tigers in the wild when on safari with local Naturalists. It was such an incredible few days, and we fell in love with the people, landscape and spirit of India.”
“In 2020, we can’t wait to welcome our first baby into the world, any day now. It’s such an exciting year full of celebrations, including weddings and milestone birthdays. We have recently moved into a new studio space and look forward to evolving it into a showroom, so we can meet more of our wonderful BEAR community. We are working toward becoming carbon neutral and have some exciting new products launching throughout the year. We are looking forward to continuing to innovate, grow, travel and enjoy each moment.”
Saasha & Sammy’s bed is dressed in IN BED’s heavy linen bed cover and pillowslips with stripes in natural and khaki linen fitted sheet & flat sheet.