Some designers chase trends. Byron and Dexter Peart prefer to ask a better question: Why should this object exist at all? That one little question has carried the Montreal-born twin brothers from the polished world of fashion accessories to the warmer, deeper, more meaningful universe of sustainable home design. Their work feels stylish, yes, but never in the “please do not touch the sofa” way. It is design with a pulse, a passport, and a conscience.
Known first as the co-founders of WANT Les Essentiels and later as the minds behind Goodee, Byron and Dexter Peart have built a career around taste that is both refined and human. Their approach is not about filling a room with expensive things and hoping personality magically appears. It is about choosing fewer, better objects: pieces made with care, connected to real makers, and capable of making everyday life feel more grounded.
This “Quick Takes” profile looks at what makes the Peart brothers so compelling: their design instincts, their pivot from fashion to home, their commitment to ethical sourcing, and the way they make sustainable design feel desirable rather than dutiful. Because let’s be honest: “responsible consumption” does not always sound glamorous. In the Pearts’ hands, however, it looks like a beautifully woven basket, a sculptural chair, a meaningful gift, and a home that tells the truth about the people who live there.
Who Are Byron and Dexter Peart?
Byron and Dexter Peart are twin brothers, designers, entrepreneurs, curators, and co-founders of Goodee, a marketplace focused on sustainable home goods, ethical design, and purpose-driven brands. Before launching Goodee, they co-founded WANT Les Essentiels, a luxury accessories label known for clean lines, practical elegance, and a global point of view.
Their story begins in Canada, but their design language has always been international. Raised with a multicultural perspective and shaped by years of travel, the brothers learned early that objects carry stories. A bag is not only a bag. A chair is not only a chair. A basket is not only a storage solution for the mysterious pile of cords every household somehow owns. Objects reveal how people live, what they value, and what kind of world they are willing to support.
That belief has become the foundation of their work. Whether discussing fashion, interiors, or craft, Byron and Dexter Peart return again and again to the same core values: good design, good people, and good impact.
From WANT Les Essentiels to Goodee: A Thoughtful Pivot
WANT Les Essentiels helped define a certain kind of modern luxury: minimal, functional, travel-ready, and quietly elegant. The brand appealed to people who wanted accessories that looked smart without shouting across the airport lounge. But after years in fashion, the Pearts began to feel pulled toward a broader design conversation.
Fashion can be thrilling, but it can also be exhausting. Seasons change. Trends rotate. What felt essential in March may be declared “over” by October. Byron and Dexter saw an opportunity to build something slower, more intentional, and more connected to lasting value. That opportunity became Goodee.
Launched as a curated marketplace, Goodee brings together home, lifestyle, and design products chosen not only for how they look, but for how they are made. The platform focuses on transparent sourcing, waste reduction, upcycling, heritage craft, community impact, and ethical treatment of people throughout the supply chain. In other words, Goodee is not interested in pretty objects with suspicious backstories. Beauty has to behave itself.
The Goodee Philosophy: Good Design, Good People, Good Impact
The phrase “good design, good people, good impact” may sound simple, but it carries a lot of weight. For Byron and Dexter Peart, good design is not just about shape, color, or Instagram-friendly styling. It is about longevity, usefulness, cultural respect, and emotional connection.
Good people refers to the makers, artisans, designers, and communities behind each product. Goodee highlights the human side of design, reminding shoppers that every object has a chain of hands behind it. A woven basket may represent generations of skill. A ceramic bowl may preserve a regional technique. A textile may support a cooperative, a family, or a local economy.
Good impact is where the philosophy becomes bigger than the living room. The Pearts use commerce as a tool for change, supporting brands and products that consider environmental and social consequences. This can include recycled materials, natural fibers, fair labor practices, women-led production, craft preservation, or reduced waste. The result is a marketplace where the “add to cart” button carries a little more moral responsibility than usual.
Why Their Work Matters in Modern Interior Design
Interior design has spent many years flirting with sameness. Open shelving, neutral sofas, anonymous vases, and rooms that look like they were assembled by an algorithm with a beige sweater. Byron and Dexter Peart offer an antidote. Their work suggests that a home should not look copied and pasted. It should look collected, lived in, and connected to real experience.
The Pearts often champion pieces that bring texture, craft, and individuality into a room. A handwoven basket can become a focal point. A well-made chair can become the place where the day finally exhales. A simple object can carry a story from Ghana, Japan, Scandinavia, Canada, or beyond. This is not decoration as clutter. It is decoration as memory.
Their perspective also fits a major shift in consumer behavior. More shoppers want to know where products come from, who made them, and whether their purchases support or harm the planet. Sustainable design used to be treated like the sensible shoes of the interiors world: admirable, but not always exciting. Goodee helps prove that ethical products can be beautiful, elevated, and deeply personal.
Quick Takes: What Inspires Byron and Dexter Peart?
1. Objects With a Long Life
Byron and Dexter Peart are drawn to pieces that last physically and emotionally. Their design choices lean toward objects that can move with a person through different homes and stages of life. Instead of buying disposable decor every time a trend changes, they encourage people to invest in items with endurance.
2. Craft That Carries Culture
Many of the products associated with Goodee celebrate traditional techniques, from weaving and carving to ceramics and textile work. The Pearts understand that craft is not nostalgic decoration. It is living knowledge. When shoppers support these products thoughtfully, they help keep skills, communities, and cultural stories alive.
3. Design Destinations With Soul
The brothers have frequently expressed admiration for places where design is woven into daily life. Tokyo, Montreal, Stockholm, and New York all appear in their broader creative universe. Their inspiration comes not only from showrooms, but from cities, rituals, architecture, travel, and the small details of how people live.
4. Homes That Feel Personal
One of the strongest lessons from the Pearts is that a home should not be stripped of personality. A perfect room without a human fingerprint can feel like a luxury hotel lobby: impressive, expensive, and slightly afraid of laughter. Their preferred interiors feel layered and intentional, with objects that reflect travel, memory, family, and taste.
The Power of the Peart Brothers’ Twin Partnership
Creative partnerships are not always easy. Add family into the equation and things can get spicy fast. Yet Byron and Dexter Peart have turned their twin dynamic into a business advantage. Their work suggests a rare balance: shared values, complementary instincts, and the ability to challenge each other without losing the bigger mission.
Their partnership also brings a distinct rhythm to their curation. They are not simply choosing products because something looks nice on a pedestal. They are building a point of view together. One brother may notice the emotional pull of an object; the other may sharpen the business or cultural context. The final result feels considered from multiple angles.
This is part of why their brands have resonated. WANT Les Essentiels spoke to modern mobility and quiet utility. Goodee speaks to conscious living and the emotional value of home. Both ventures reveal the same underlying Peart signature: elegance with purpose.
Goodee and the New Meaning of Luxury
Luxury used to be measured largely by price, rarity, and polish. Byron and Dexter Peart help redefine it around meaning. In their world, luxury is not necessarily a shiny object guarded behind glass. It might be a basket woven by a skilled artisan, a blanket made with natural materials, or a household tool so beautiful you stop hiding it in the utility closet.
This shift matters because modern consumers are increasingly skeptical of empty status symbols. A logo can still impress, but a story can connect. A handmade object with a traceable origin may feel more luxurious than something mass-produced and wrapped in prestige marketing. The Pearts understand that the future of luxury is not only about having more. It is about choosing better.
That idea has practical value for homeowners, renters, and design lovers at every budget. You do not need to replace every object in your home overnight. The Peart approach encourages slower decisions. Buy one excellent piece instead of five forgettable ones. Learn the story behind what you own. Choose materials that age well. Make room for objects that spark conversation without requiring a museum label.
Lessons for Anyone Creating a More Thoughtful Home
Start With Meaning, Not Matching
A room does not need to match perfectly to feel harmonious. In fact, too much matching can make a space feel oddly lifeless, like a furniture catalog that forgot humans shed socks. Start with meaning instead. Choose pieces that connect to your values, your travels, your family, or your daily rituals.
Let Craft Add Texture
Handmade objects bring warmth because they show evidence of touch. A woven basket, carved stool, ceramic lamp, or textured textile can soften a modern room and make it feel more alive. The Pearts’ work reminds us that texture is not just visual; it is emotional.
Ask Better Shopping Questions
Before buying something new, ask: Who made this? What is it made from? Will I still love it in five years? Does it solve a real need, or am I just emotionally vulnerable in the sale section? These questions can help turn shopping from impulse into intention.
Mix Global Influence With Personal Honesty
Byron and Dexter Peart often draw from global craft and design traditions, but the goal is not to create a showroom of borrowed aesthetics. The goal is to build a space that feels globally aware and personally honest. Respect the origin of objects. Learn the maker’s story. Avoid treating culture as a trend.
Experiences Inspired by “Quick Takes With: Byron and Dexter Peart”
Spending time with the ideas behind Byron and Dexter Peart’s work changes the way you look at ordinary rooms. Suddenly, the things around you stop being silent. The chair has a posture. The basket has a biography. The blanket on the sofa has a job beyond rescuing you during a dramatic air-conditioning moment. You begin to notice which objects earn their place and which ones are just loitering.
One experience related to the Pearts’ philosophy is the simple act of editing a room. Not redecorating, not renovating, not starting a three-month project that ends with everyone covered in primer. Just editing. Walk into a room and ask what still feels meaningful. Which pieces do you use every day? Which ones make the space feel more like you? Which items were bought because they were on sale and now sit there like tiny monuments to questionable judgment?
This kind of editing reflects the “fewer, better things” mindset often associated with the Pearts’ design worldview. It is not minimalism in the cold sense. It is not about living with one spoon and a morally superior lamp. It is about making space for objects that carry usefulness, beauty, and memory. A room becomes calmer not because it is empty, but because it is honest.
Another experience is visiting a craft market, design fair, museum shop, or independent home store with slower eyes. Instead of scanning for what is trendy, look for evidence of handwork. Notice the uneven glaze on a ceramic cup, the rhythm of a woven textile, or the tiny variations that prove a person made the object. These details are not flaws. They are fingerprints. They remind us that design is not only an industry; it is a relationship between maker, material, and user.
The Pearts’ approach also makes gift-giving more thoughtful. A good gift does not have to be loud, expensive, or wrapped in enough ribbon to restrain a small canoe. It should feel considered. Fresh flowers in a lasting vase, a handmade bowl, a beautifully crafted broom, a small textile, or a book about design can communicate attention. The best host gifts say, “I noticed your taste,” not “I panicked in the checkout line.”
For anyone building a home from scratch, the Peart-inspired experience is especially useful. Start with one anchor piece that means something. It could be a chair, a basket, a lamp, a rug, or a piece of art. Let that object set a tone. Then build slowly around it. The goal is not to finish the room quickly. The goal is to let the room become more layered over time, just as people do.
Ultimately, the experience of learning from Byron and Dexter Peart is not about copying their taste. It is about adopting their questions. What deserves to be made? What deserves to be bought? What deserves to stay in our homes and become part of our lives? Those questions make design more responsible, but they also make it more interesting. A home shaped by those questions will never feel generic. It will feel awake.
Conclusion
Byron and Dexter Peart have built more than stylish brands. They have built a design philosophy for a world that needs beauty with better manners. From WANT Les Essentiels to Goodee, their work shows that luxury can be quieter, sustainability can be more elegant, and everyday objects can carry stories worth keeping.
Their “Quick Takes” perspective is refreshing because it makes design feel both aspirational and accessible. You do not need a mansion, a private curator, or a sofa that requires emotional distance. You need curiosity, patience, and a willingness to choose objects that mean something. In the Pearts’ world, a home is not a showroom. It is a living archive of values, memories, makers, and moments. That is the kind of design that lasts.
