Hei, hei. (Finnish for hi.)
Hi, I’m Traci — a lifelong design lover with a soft spot for bold prints, chilly coastlines, and an outrageous number of stripes.
My Nordic design spiral started at my first architecture job, when a Finnish woman named Tuuli introduced me to Marimekko. Cue love at first print. I’d take the T to Cambridge, Massachusetts, walk 20 minutes to the shop, and float around like it was a sacred space. A quiet little seed was planted.
An Etsy purchase soon led me to someone who’d change my life. She and I founded FilzFelt, turning a new-found love of German wool felt into a business. We started in a Boston cellar, cutting samples and orders by hand, and eventually joined Knoll, then Herman Miller. I spent over a decade as VP of Marketing, collaborating with talented designers and geeking out over natural materials like leather, cork, wood, and (of course) felt.
It was exciting and full of big ideas. But part of me kept dreaming of something slower. More me. A little shop filled with color, pattern, and joy.
Enter Hei-Day: my dream shop, now open and fully stocked with bold Nordic prints, timeless materials, cheeky details, and practical beauty. Many pieces with Nordic roots. All chosen with care (and a little designer glee).
Where Maine meets modern.
We believe everyday things should pull their weight, and then some.
The mug that kickstarts your morning and feels just right in your hand. The blanket that hijacks your winter evenings. The dish towel that dries fast and brings a pattern pop to your kitchen.
Why settle for boring basics when your everyday things could spark joy and bring a little magic? We stock only the good stuff: thoughtfully designed, sustainably made, and timeless in form and function. From bold Nordic prints to quiet, considered pieces, we believe even the most practical things can have personality.
No clutter. No filler. Just hardworking, good-looking goods you’ll actually reach for. The kind you’ll quietly brag about, give as your go-to gift, and wonder how you ever lived without. We’re not here to fill your home with more things, we’re here to fill it with better ones.
The keepers. The favorites.
The ones that make the everyday feel just a little more Hei-Day.
A Little Name Story for You
It’s a two-for-one origin story.
First: back in the 16th century, “hey-day” was an exclamation of pure delight, basically the Renaissance version of “OMG.” Fitting, because that’s exactly how I feel about the pieces I’ve chased throughout my design career: thoughtful, colorful, uncomplicated, timeless, authentic, witty, and just odd enough. Those are the objects that spark joy and sparked this whole shop. Building Hei-Day has felt like stepping right back into the work that lights me up, my design happy place.
The bigger twist is hei (h-e-i), the Finnish word for “hi.” Years ago, a Finnish friend opened the door to Nordic design for me, and I’ve been smitten ever since. Last year, while wandering around Helsinki for her birthday and being greeted with “hei-hei” in every shop, it finally clicked: Hei needed to be part of the name.
And now here we are. Hei-hei, and welcome to Hei-Day.
Our founder has a soft spot for stripes, a crush on whimsy, and a lifelong love of Nordic design. If there was ever a fire, she’d scoop up the cats — and then these can’t-live-withouts.
