Âme Atendre: Interview with Designer Ashley Gould
Âme Atendre is a luxury design brand that specializes in home goods and accessories. Among their most popular offerings is the gifting tote bundle that features two gorgeous bags — one a deep navy blue and the other a mustard yellow — that walk the line between a fashionable tote and an everyday shopping bag. Soft and easy to wash, these elegant and sustainable bags can also serve as nice gift wrapping for a present. The totes are made out of a sustainable deadstock cotton-based fabric that is sourced in Los Angeles. Minimizing waste is prioritized throughout the production and design process.
Ashley Gould is the founder of Âme Atendre. Ashley started out practicing law in California and she also served in leadership positions at extremely successful startups such as JUUL and 23andMe. The pandemic led her to move to Utah with her family where she reflected on the lack of communication and empathy between people and started musing on the importance of dining tables…which quickly led to her turning her focus onto household goods in general. From this interest, Âme Atendre was born!
Ashley recently granted an exclusive interview where she discussed her career and more.
Meagan Meehan (MM): How did you get interested in law and, from there, how did you start working with brands like JUUL?
Ashley Gould (AG): Growing up both my father and stepfather were lawyers. While I did not know I wanted to be a lawyer from a young age, discussions of law were always around me, and when I was graduating from college, I was interested in pursuing a career in law. I started my career at a large Silicon Valley firm (Wilson Sonsini, Goodrich & Rosati PC) and loved the melding of law and business. I worked with start-up companies and mature companies doing contracts, helping to manage capitalization tables, working on public filings and financings (venture capital, public market equity and debt) and mergers and acquisitions. I decided to move in-house in the pharmaceutical industry after my father was diagnosed with a rare cancer with a goal of helping improve patient’s lives. After working at several small public rare disease companies that were sold and 23andMe, I took a role at Juul believing I could have a bigger positive impact working on a product with harm reduction as its mission given how many addicted smokers there were (and are) and the significant healthcare impact of cigarettes on smokers and their family members. The significant backlash I experienced working at Juul alongside the growing inability to respectfully disagree in society, all combined with my creative side, led me to create Âme Atendre and our related podcast On the Table with Ashley.
MM: How did corporate life in California influence you creatively, if at all?
AG: I wouldn’t say corporate life influenced me creatively, but I would say that all the creativity in my family — from my Mom who was always artistic and opened a stationary and gift store to my Dad who wrote and composed songs for family life events on his guitar to my older sisters who also write and compose songs for family events and my little sister who is a graphic designer — all were there in the background while I focused on my corporate career and inspired me to take on my own creative challenge with Âme Atendre. My mom always set a beautiful table and created a welcoming and warm environment for friends and family and I wanted to take those memories and bring them into the present with well crafted, thoughtfully designed products for today’s world (dishwasher and microwave safe), setting the table for the conversations we need to have to build back our human connection.
MM: When you moved to Utah, did you ever imagine that it would end in you starting your own company?
AG: I moved to Park City with the intention of making both a professional and personal change, though at the time I was not sure what my new path would be. During the pandemic, I spent a week quarantining at home while my youngest son had COVID, and my husband and oldest son went to visit family. That week gave me time to reflect on what was next for me and what had been missing from the past decade of my professional life.
My mother had a stationery and gift business when I was growing up, and she had a natural gift for hosting and bringing people together. As I entered this new phase of life, I knew I wanted to embody that sense of connection and community that my mother had fostered. The name Âme Atendre translates in French to ‘tending to, or taking care of, your soul or spirit,’ which I believe is a practice that involves openness and curiosity toward new perspectives. When we approach different viewpoints with vulnerability and a willingness to understand, we often deepen our human connections and our sense of self.
After spending over a decade working as a lawyer and executive, and observing an increasing sense of detachment among people, I realized that revitalizing our collective, even global, sense of kinship required more than just a mindset shift. It starts by strengthening our core — the spaces we feel most supported, our homes. The more present we are in our spaces and personal lives, the more we can extend curiosity and empathy toward others. Rather than reacting with annoyance or anger to those with different values and perspectives we can seek to sit down across from each other and be curious.
MM: How did you meet Dylan Williamson who became your main designer?
AG: I met Dylan through a mutual friend, and we immediately knew it was a perfect fit. We work well together because we both believe that good design is closely tied to interpersonal care and share a common goal of making people not only happier but also more connected. Our practice is very collaborative in the sense that I have products in mind and changes I would make to existing versions, but Dylan has the technical and conceptual skills to bring those ideas to life and develop them. I also believe that Dylan and I share what people described to me I had when I was growing up, which they called, “an old soul.” We each bring a depth of empathy and vulnerability to our lives and we bring it to Âme Atendre, which I believe makes for a beautiful canvas on which to collaborate and create new products and content to increase human connection.
MM: Out of all your products, do you have any special favorites?
AG: It’s hard to pick just one! Each of our pieces is special for different reasons. Our Crystal Tumblers and Appetizer Bowls, for instance, are made in collaboration with KLIMCHI, a renowned glassware studio in the Czech Republic. We began designing our own glassware collection, crafted by hand in partnership with them, after meeting at Maison & Objet in Paris, and it’s a relationship we truly enjoy. Our crystal tumblers offer a full sensory experience, from the way they feel in your hand to the way the design enhances each sip. We create them in a range of beautiful colors, with more options coming soon! The fact that our crystal is dishwasher safe makes them a perfect everyday object.
Our Wooden Serving Board is produced in Indiana by a skilled woodworking studio that combines traditional handcrafting techniques with CNC-driven precision to create each red oak serving board. Additions, such as cut-outs on the bottom, a half-inch juice groove, and a beautiful border that matches the optic design of our glassware, along with their commitment to quality from start to finish, make these some of the highest-quality cutting boards on the market.
Every piece in the collection reflects an artisanal, handmade element that embodies not only our design process and values but also our close relationships with skilled production partners around the globe.
MM: Which products were the toughest to design?
AG: Interestingly, some of our simplest products were the hardest to design. When you strip something down to its basic form, even the subtlest details become increasingly important. Our mug is a great example. From initial concepts and sketches, to prototyping, sample firing, glaze tests, and ensuring each piece is microwave and dishwasher safe, we’ve spent over 400 hours developing the mug alone. We’d like to believe that’s why it’s a best-seller, but we’re also firm believers in creating objects with integrity and intention. Our quality control process is rigorous. We’ve designed, developed, and sampled many pieces that never made it to production — not because they weren’t interesting, functional, or of high quality, but because they didn’t meet 100% of our standards.
We’re always seeking to improve our existing designs. Even when we feel something is perfect, we value our customers’ feedback over anything. After the 400 hours we’ve invested in the mug, we’re now working on a slip-cast version. While we love the craft and artisanal nature of hand-throwing, we’re open to the idea that our ergonomically informed mug might also benefit from a more consistent process like slip casting. Just as connecting with others is about the little moments that spark curiosity and presence, we believe connecting with objects and spaces also comes down to those subtle, meaningful details.
MM: When did you decide to create totes and how did you pick the two beautiful colors?
AG: Nobody really talks about how much waste a brand can produce just in packaging alone. From the beginning, even before we received our first shipments from production partners, we’ve been committed to minimizing waste as much as possible. While we’ve managed to eliminate almost all non-recyclable packaging for our orders, we knew we could do even better — not only by reducing waste for our customers, but also by adding more value.
Much like the Âme Atendre ethos, which emphasizes that elevated items can and should be used every day, our Gifting Totes embody the balance between special occasions and daily use. Designed, patterned, and sampled in-house by Dylan, our Gifting Totes are a practical and elegant gift in themselves, serving as an elevated alternative to single-use wrapping paper. They’re easy to wrap and are made from 100% deadstock cotton — unused fabric from mills that would otherwise end up in landfills, to which 92 million tons of textile waste are added each year. The colors were sourced from an LA warehouse that specializes in deadstock fabric. We chose each shade with the bag’s long-term use in mind — neutral, elevated tones for everyday use and non-seasonal, versatile colors for gifting. Our totes are designed to serve first as elegant gift wrapping and then as a versatile companion, whether you’re heading to the grocery store, the coffee shop, or the office.
MM: What has been the best feedback that you’ve gotten about your products so far?
AG: Initial feedback we often hear is along the lines of, ‘Your pieces are beautiful’ or ‘Such great quality,’ which we take great pride in. But it’s only after speaking with customers who have been using a product that they start to resonate with and understand their experience with the pieces on a deeper level. We’ve heard comments like, ‘I never understood why you needed a special glass for cocktails until I tried your tumblers — now I realize that drinking a cocktail is a multi-sensory experience,’ or ‘Drinking coffee from your mug while listening to my kids eat breakfast has made me more present in my mornings.’
Our aim is to help customers reach a deeper sense of presence in their spaces, something that goes beyond just joy. We always welcome and appreciate feedback of any kind because we believe it’s essential to offering unique, functional, and high-quality products. We see our process as cyclical, and our small-batch production style allows us to adapt based on user feedback. For example, after speaking with some interior designers we are in the final prototyping phases of a new waste bin that will hide the bin’s liner and which we can customize in color with designers. We look forward to continually hearing from our customers, as our ultimate goal is to offer products that truly meet their needs and desires.
MM: What are your ultimate goals for the future of the company and is there anything else that you would like to mention?
AG: Our main goal is to inspire individuals to increase their human connection through our objects and the conversations we bring to people through our podcast, On the Table with Ashley, which recently entered the top 5% of podcasts. In September, we announced our podcast series titled Death + Dying, where we explore end-of-life experiences, the impact of loss, and how facing mortality can lead to deeper connections and greater peace. In tandem with the series, we’re launching two new products: a box designed to hold wills, trusts, and other items you can pass down to your next of kin, and custom blankets crafted from the clothing of loved ones — either those who have passed or to preserve memories in life transitions. We’re also excited to continue collaborating with interior designers and cultivating more trade connections. We believe our soon-to-be-released stainless steel waste bin in custom colors will be a great addition to any interior designer’s repertoire. Although it hasn’t even been a year since our launch, we’re proud of all we’ve accomplished and are excited to keep growing.