Boyy

When did the two of you meet?
We met one winter evening in NYC in 2004…
How did you decide to go into business together and make BOYY?
Jesse: Wannasiri had a deep obsession with handbags, I was producing music at the time, and basically loved working on anything creative, having a sound or vision and turning it into something tangible… I proposed to Wannasiri let’s design a bag rather than talk about existing bags … the rest was history.
What’s behind the name BOYY?
Jesse: Wannasiri is a Thai native, all Thais have peculiar nicknames, Wannasiri’s happened to be Boy. We have a masculine style philosophy, then we thought we won’t be able to trademark “Boy”, so we added the 2nd Y; also signifying two people.

Jesse, what’s it like working with your girlfriend?
Jesse: I guess good enough since we are now married with a child!! Truthfully, it has it’s advantages and disadvantages… we get to live through life in parallel and evolve together, but quite often work dominates and hard to break free from/separate from.
And Wannasiri, What’s it like working with your boyfriend?
Wannasiri: They say love/ hate relationship, haha. We always manage to disagree on everything, which amazes me how far we’ve been able to go with this surreal dynamic.

If you could describe BOYY in three words?
Both: Masculine, timeless, understated
Favorite fashion moment since your brand launched?
Jesse: We’ve had a handful that are dear to me… one that sticks out immediately was when we had a cover story in NYTimes Style section thought.
Wannasiri: For me, It’s when I first saw a paparazzi shot of Lou Doillon rocking our “SLASH” bag on the streets of NYC, in 2010 (before Instagram days), and in that moment, that image summed up BOYY perfectly how I always envisioned it.

We heard you produce BOYY in Italy, what are your favorite things about Italy?
Our shoes and sunglasses are produced in Italy, our bags are made of all Italian materials but produced in Bangkok, we like being close to production. Bangkok is currently our home. Italy has played such an endearing role in our brand and lives, it’s like our second home, we love the people, food, endless beauty within and incredible landscapes/environments in such a small proximity… we can go on for a while on this topic….
What is your favorite city in Italy?
Jesse: I’m currently really loving Milano, I love City’s with mystery and secrets, I find Milan to be a labyrinth of such and I think it’s the epicenter of design, I’m currently super inspired there…
Wannasiri: I’m going to hop on this bandwagon, during our recent travels we have been spending the most time in Milan so it’s closest to my heart at the moment. I find Milanese people are very friendly, fashionably understated and they possess great individual style. There’s also seems to be an innate sense of quality which gets translated into all they do.
Top songs on your playlist?
Jesse : “if you’re happy and you know it…”, “wheels on the bus…”, basically toddler music…
Wannasiri: Madonna, Borderline; Amy Winehouse, Just Friends; Domenico Modugno, Volare
You have a free Saturday, how do you spend it?
Jesse: thinking, daydreaming, stressing
Wannasiri: All over my son, checking Instagram and currently reading “Audrey in Rome”