IN CONVERSATION WITH PIA MANCE

interview by NIA TOPALOVA

Pia Mance is the founder and creative director of the cult accessories brand Heaven Mayhem. Growing up, Pia found herself rummaging through her grandmother’s jewelry box and obsessing over vintage accessories. Inspired by the timeless keepsakes, the brand was born out of the love for heirloom-inspired pieces and the belief that you’re never fully dressed without a classic statement. Pia’s work takes her across the world’s leading cultural and fashion capitals, including Paris, Milan, and London.
Heaven Mayhem’s NYC pop-up opens this Friday, September 18th, while their FW26 Objects of Desire collection just launched exclusively on heavenmayhem.com.

You seem to have a very clear visual instinct, and I’m curious whether your creative process is actually as clear and straightforward as it looks from the outside, or if it’s messier in the beginning?

If you know me, you know my brain goes a million miles an hour. I constantly have ideas, references, and visual inspiration swirling around, and what I usually like to do is spend a huge chunk of time (this usually comes once a month) organising it all into different Canva decks for different collection launches (whether it’s images from magazines or Pinterest, iPhone photos I’ve taken in the wild, sketches, or anything else that catches my eye). I essentially brain-dump everything that’s on my mind, then get in a meeting with my team to comb through it all and figure out what’s feasible and makes sense for the visual world of each collection.

What is something you were completely wrong about when you first started your business?

I’m very in tune with my business, so I wouldn’t say I’ve ever been completely wrong about something. If anything, the thing I have to remind myself of is that I know the vision, and ultimately, I know what’s best for my business. Sometimes having too many cooks in the kitchen, especially when those people have a higher pedigree or years of experience, can make me second-guess my own instincts. I’m always open to learning and hearing different perspectives, but I’ve had to learn that expertise doesn’t necessarily mean someone knows my customer, my brand, or my vision better than I do.

We also really value listening to feedback from our community. We often host community design panels, where we invite members of our community to hop on a Zoom and help us co-create and inform our next Office Essential drops. They’ll pick colorways, give us feedback on designs, and share what they’re excited about,  and I always find that incredibly insightful. There’s something really valuable about listening to the people who are actually spending their hard-earned money on our products.

There’s a lot of pressure now for founders to be “chronically online”, and constantly visible. Do you ever wish people could experience your work without having access to so much of you, or do you actually enjoy that part of the work? 

I’m in a position where my presence online and my business have kind of become intertwined. I feel like people either discover my business through my online presence, or they discover me as a person and entrepreneur through the business. 

I do enjoy that part of the work. I’ve been on social media longer than I’ve had my business, so posting my outfits, doing GRWMs, and sharing all the different things I’m into has always been fun for me. It doesn’t really feel like a chore or something I have to force myself to do.

What I’ve come to love now is that I’ll often get DMs from customers sharing really sentimental stories about how my accessories have changed the way they approach getting dressed, or sending me photos of our pieces they’ve spotted out in the wild. Those moments are really special to me. I think my content, no matter how silly or random it gets, gives people a window into who I am beyond the business. They get to understand my personality, my sense of humour, how I think, and ultimately why I make the decisions I do. And I think that naturally makes them feel more invested in the brand and curious about what we’re building. 

So for me, being “chronically online” doesn’t really feel like a burden. It’s something I genuinely enjoy, and it’s become a really meaningful part of how I build the business and community around it.

What’s the difference between the Pia people see online and the Pia who comes home at the end of the day?

I would say I’m quite an open book. What you see is pretty much what you get with me. But since having my baby boy, I do find myself going home and switching my phone off a little more so I can properly unwind and spend quality time with my family.

Another thing that people probably don’t see as much online is my personality. I’m trying to do more funny TikToks to let that side of me come out a little more, lol. I think sometimes people see me as the serious businesswoman, and I know I can come across quite blunt, especially over email or online. But in reality, I’m always cracking jokes and I don’t take myself too seriously. I do love being efficient and getting things done, but that doesn’t mean we can’t have some fun along the way.

Who actually is the Heaven Mayhem woman to you? Is she a real person you have in mind, or more of a feeling?

The Heaven Mayhem woman is the modern woman you see on the street. She’s determined, hardworking, has a strong sense of self and personal style, and has a real curiosity about the world around her. She knows who she is, has her own point of view, and isn’t afraid to express it. 

She has taste, but more importantly, she’s cultivated it. She spends time travelling, going to art exhibitions, watching films, discovering new places and immersing herself in culture. She has a natural sensibility and an appreciation for the details around her, and that ultimately informs the way she dresses.

Have you ever designed something you loved that didn’t work commercially? What did that teach you?

I would say our brooches. We launched them just over two years ago, and I think we were just a little early with them. At the time, people didn’t necessarily understand the vision, and brooches weren’t really a “thing” yet, so I did have some hesitations around launching them. I’m really glad we went with it anyway.

If I were doing it again now, I think I would have put more storytelling and education around the product,  showing people different ways to style brooches and how they can completely transform an outfit. I think they feel much more relevant now, and there’s definitely a renewed interest in them, so in hindsight, we probably just got there a little ahead of the trend.

What is the hardest part of maintaining a strong point of view when you’re also running a business that needs to grow?

I think it’s all the noise from outside. People will always try to give you their point of view or tell you what they think you should be doing, but I think it’s really important to use your own critical thinking and, ultimately, trust your gut instincts. My instincts have never really failed me. I always joke with my friends that I’m a little bit “witchy” in that sense.

Do you think Heaven Mayhem would look different if you had started it before Instagram and TikTok became such a huge part of fashion?

I think it would probably look different, but I don’t necessarily think it would be a completely different brand. The core idea behind Heaven Mayhem, that accessories can really transform the way you dress, would still be there. 

If we had started before that, I think we probably would have relied more on traditional ways of building the brand. But I also think I would have found a way to build the community regardless. That part feels very fundamental to what Heaven Mayhem is.

Do you ever see your own designs styled in a way that completely changes how you think about them?

I’ve seen someone stack our earrings, wear one of our watches as a choker, or even swap out the lenses in our sunglasses for coloured ones. Those are the moments I love most about the brand…  there’s something for everyone, but people also get to interpret each piece in their own way.

It’s always so fun to see how people style things, especially when they’re wearing them in ways we never intended. I think that’s ultimately what dressing should be about: having fun, experimenting, and making something your own. There are always so many different ways to style a piece, and seeing people play with our products and make them their own is genuinely heartwarming.

What are you chasing now that has nothing to do with numbers, followers, sales or the next collection?

Our next collection will be so fun. It’s our holiday collection, and it’s something we’ve never really done before. The idea actually came from our community, who kept telling us that Heaven is the perfect place to shop for gifts, and we just ran with that.

The whole collection has been such a fun one to work on. The shoot was really playful, we have so much good content coming out of it, and the products themselves are unexpected but make sense.. It feels like a slightly different side of Heaven, but still very much within the world we’ve created.