Ms Parsons in her ideal home away from home
oes without saying, but some people just have de style.
And there are those who just have de style in feckin’ buckets.
And we came across it today down along the stretch of Wicklow harbour where all the smaller fishing boats come in, and Sammy The Seal waddles up for his daily feed. Having just opened, Distrikt By Mia is one of those curious little shops that somehow manages to be unique and universal at the same time.
Step in through the door, and you could be in Prague, or San Francisco, Katmandu or Newtownmountkennedy. Managing to be both warm and friendly yet exotic with an undercoat of the erotic, it’s hardly surprising that our after-hours interview with proud proprietor Mia Parsons was interrupted more than once by wide-eyed passers-by knocking on the locked doors.
Born out of a kind of necessity, this dream shop come true was finally sparked into reality by personal tragedy. Towards the end of 2020, as Mia found lockdown shuttering not only her music career (both live gigs and conducting singing lessons) but also her jewellery design business, in December, her daughter, Claire, tragically passed.
Suddenly this period of transition took on an unexpected urgency, and Mia knew that now was the perfect time to reinvent the wheel.
Take all that I’d learnt and loved over the years when it comes to interior design, and start unearthing all those quirky and beautiful pieces of home decor not just for myself, but for others.