This week we are delighted to show you around Leven, a beautiful store located in Cambridge. The incredible founder, Kath discusses her favourite NZ made/designed products (available to shop now), home renovations and much more! Cooper Interiors loves the space Kath has created for her customers. It's comfortable, stylish and full of incredible products!
Hi Kath, thanks so much for joining us! Can you tell us a little bit about Leven and how you started? Hi Robyn, thanks so much for having me! I had always dreamed of opening my own store - a wonderful space filled with beautiful objects and clothing from both NZ and around the world. I had been a stay-at-home Mum for 6 years and was ready to do something more. My husband convinced me to take a chance on my dream so after 18 months of planning the doors to Leven opened in April 2014. I am not a huge online shopper myself, and while we do have an online store our main focus is our bricks and mortar store - giving our customers fantastic service in a wonderful relaxed and inspiring space. What are some of your favourite NZ made or/and designed products? I find this such a hard question to answer as a huge amount of what we stock is either made and/or designed in NZ and everything that we stock is in the store because I love it! If I had to choose then I would say that right now I am loving the Hobbs & Co Cushion range - these are a gorgeous mix of digital printed covers in silk velvet backed with natural linen. Now that Summer has arrived my Marle Gemma Jumpsuit has been on high rotation. I love the simple design with the tie straps and wide legs, plus the stripe is a nice change from my usual black!
You have such a wide variety of brands available, how do you decide who to stock? To be honest I just go with my gut instinct and stock what I love and what I think our customers will love. We have a very loyal and amazing customer base and I am always thinking of them whenever I purchase for the store. We are very lucky that our core suppliers are always bringing out new and exciting products that fit really well with our overall look and feel.
What do customers love most about visiting your store? We are constantly being told that they just love the feel/vibe of the store, which makes my day as we try very hard to make it a relaxing welcoming space. We want people to be able to browse at their own leisure, without feeling pressured in any way. They also compliment us on the way it flows and the way it smells - all those candles and home diffusers create a unique and delicious scent that people love.
How would you describe New Zealand's Art & Design culture? I think that there is real strength in New Zealand's Art and Design culture and it is just getting better and better. The quality of work produced by NZ artists is simply incredible. I especially love supporting young artists and designers who are slowly but surely stamping their mark. What inspires your interiors style? Nature, books, magazines, Pinterest, Instagram and design bloggers all inspire me on a daily basis. I love seeing how other people put things together to create a certain look/feel of a room. Relaxing with a pile of books and magazines is bliss for me.
What does your home look like? Is your work space similar? I am not a huge fan of colour, which I guess is reflected in both my home and work space. We are currently doing up our home slowly but surely - the kitchen was finished recently and has gone from being dark green with a horrid wooden roller door on the pantry that everyone jammed their fingers in to a bright white with a huge expanse of black pantry cabinets along one wall. The exterior is almost finished also, this has gone from brown with burgundy joinery to all black and I really love it. Part of the exterior of our home is corrugated iron and it looks so good next to the matt black. My work space is similar - very monochrome. The indoor plant movement that is currently happening is fantastic. I am slowly getting a great little selection of plants happening at home. Fingers crossed I can keep them alive as I tend to have a black thumb rather than a green one!
And finally, what is your favourite part of living in New Zealand? I love that we live in such a beautiful country. For us as a family living in a small town surrounded by wide open spaces, the fact that we can easily be at the beach, mountain, forest or large city within a short space of time is wonderful.
All imagery is credited to Kath Pilcher and Photographer Naomi Jorge. To support Leven and shop their amazing products please visit their website. You can also follow them on Instagram here.
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