Cristy Mantilla and Duda Teixeira are builders, creatives and Miami natives whose inseparable friendship has carried them through various collaborative projects through the years, eventually bringing them to co-found éliou, a brand with its beginnings in jewelry that has expanded into clothing and lifestyle.
Step into their home and be greeted by a radiant space that underlines creativity and a spirit of gathering. On the walls are a constellation of found materials, Duda’s paintings and artworks created by fellow creatives in their circle—“All of our stuff is [made by] friends,” Cristy tells us. Handmade objects, thrifted furniture pieces, personal projects and éliou samples dot the rooms with a sunny aesthetic that is consistently applied to everything they touch, illuminated further by their expressions through dress and independent creative lifestyles. “Any excuse for color,” Cristy proclaims.
We wanted to share some highlights from our visit and chatting with them about their ways of living, the growth of éliou and their creative points of view.
Instead of opting for a living room as a focal point, the heart of their apartment is a massive dining table surrounded by rescued school chairs, a refreshing way to approach day-to-day living. C: We don’t hang out in our living room that much. We have people over, host dinners and cook. So it made much more sense to make the majority of the space be where you gather and socialize. This was Duda’s idea to put these 2 tables here and restructure the layout of the house.
D: I kind of approach (my artwork) like whatever comes out, comes out. Sometimes there's a color palette in mind more than an idea.
C: We had no idea what this place was going to look like until we started living here. This was never the intention to be colorful, our brand never had the real intention to be colorful either. We just leaned into it.
Duda's bedside table, topped with a lamp base and shade she made herself.
Cristy wears éliou. C: We never intended to have a brand—that was never the plan. We had the agency work, which had finally started to take off. Thank God this came into play because with the pandemic I think Duda and I would both be living back at home. The biggest challenge was supplying the demand when we had a big growth spurt in 2019-2020. There was a lot of learning.
D: (The process has been) beautiful. My whole family is involved (in éliou)—All my mom's sisters. My grandmother was a seamstress. She used to make curtains for opera houses and things like that. So I grew up with it. I was far from my family for so long so it felt like I was connecting with them.
C: Duda's mom does all of our production and pattern-making, and her aunts do all the crochet and embroidery. It's all hand done, by women in Brazil. Every piece (of clothing) can take up to 7 days to make.
Duda wears éliou.
D: (The green wall sculpture on the left is) Jimena Montemayor. (The highest hanging frame is) Parsa. He lived in Miami for a little bit and he wrote me a poem once. I thought it was beautiful so I framed it. (The photograph cropped on the right) is Sofi Perazzo. She's a photographer that used to be an intern for us and is doing this beach nude series now. They're all very colorful. (The small frame to its left) was a shipping sticker that we just decided to frame because we thought it was cool.
Cristy's bedroom is characterized by natural materials and organic motifs that flow between the furniture and figurative artworks.
C: Any excuse for color.
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