Like most great partnerships, it started with a tweet. When Kith founder and clothing designer Ronnie Fieg tweeted a photo of a new New Balance sneaker collab, actor, producer, and all-around cool-guy stoner Seth Rogen commented they were “fire.” A free pair of shoes and nine years of friendship later, Fieg and Rogen collaborated for the first time on a collection of Fieg-designed Houseplant ceramics, the latter’s brand of attractive, high-functioning home decor and weed-toking accoutrements.
A collaboration between Fieg, a non-smoker, and arguably Hollywood’s biggest pothead (sorry, Snoop and Willie) might not seem like a natural partnership, but it fits squarely with the design-forward progression of weed paraphernalia that’s been happening of late. Sure, Rogen’s Houseplant started out slinging the actor’s cult-favorite ashtrays, but it’s now become a place where you can shop a unique pour-over coffee kit or candle set alongside an incognito weed grinder or side table that doubles as a rolling tray. Houseplant has actually become a store not unlike Kith, which houses its own in-house line of apparel and other brands that Fieg would (and does) incorporate into his own wardrobe. And from what Rogen says, Houseplant might not be the hit it is today without Kith.
“Honestly, [Fieg] was one of the first people I started talking about launching Houseplant,” Rogen tells GQ. “I remember showing him early versions of the logo and the name and some of the first stuff we were talking about making. He’s someone who I obviously respected what he’s done and built in the lifestyle world—and that was something we were looking to do with Houseplant.”
The collaboration between the two brands comprises three re-workings of existing Houseplant products in Kith-exclusive designs. As Ronnie tells us, he’s always designed products
“through the lens of filling a void in the marketplace, or even just my own closet.” It’s potentially why, as Rogen says, there was a decent amount of “back and forth” at the beginning of the partnership. The result of the pairing were darker, muted versions of Houseplant’s marble rolling set, gloopy candle, and ashtray set (which quickly sold out).
“So a lot of stuff we do is very colorful and crazy and wild, and it was cool to do a pared down kind of version of some of the stuff,” Rogen says, going so far as to saying the new collection is “some of our coolest stuff.”
What didn’t make it into this collaboration (at least not this go around, Rogen teases) were some larger ceramic pieces like vases and centerpieces, because of the years of production logistics that need to go into them. The end result of Fieg and Rogen’s collab and the general audience reception seems to hint that more will come in time. Especially since, as Fieg explains, when you want the best, you collab with the best.
“If we work on a tennis collection, we work with Wilson. Or if we work on a car, we work with BMW. This partnership falls in line with that same vision. If we work in the ceramics space, it’s with Houseplant,” he says.
