Katie Lockhart's new online design store features simple, well-made products that will stand the test of time.
Fashion designer Vivienne Westwood once said, "buy less, choose well". Stop spending and really think about what you're consuming. Quality over quantity. How much "stuff" do you really need?
Westwood's manifesto neatly sums up the ideas behind Katie Lockhart's new online design store, Everyday Needs, which aims to bring together "all you need and nothing more". In Lockhart's mind, what the world needs is well-made, quality products that will stand the test of time. As the interior designer and stylist explains, "I generally prefer a few good things rather than a pile of average things".
If you aren't aware of Lockhart's work, let me remind you. She has worked closely with the Karen Walker brand and all that's associated with it for several years, adding her signature to the fit-out of various Karen Walker boutiques, as well as the creative direction on the Karen Walker Paints for Resene and the celebrated Karen Walker Jewellery campaigns.
This followed on from a stint as Walker's design assistant after graduating from design school in 1999, before moving to Milan where her focus changed from fashion to interiors. While in Milan, she began contributing to Casa da Abitare magazine, and has since contributed interior-orientated editorials to magazines like Wallpaper, Home and No.
She was co-founder of cashmere label To Sir With Love (no longer being produced), and works on various residential and commercial interior projects. She also designed the fit-out of The Department Store, a big job that she counts as one of her highlights to date. "Getting The Department Store open on time with the spiral staircase installed with only a 15-week turnaround was a pretty huge relief.
"Lockhart's latest venture brings together these various talents and past experience; an online space to showcase her favourite pieces and present them to like-minded people.
"It seemed like a natural next step for what I do and will not only aid the other projects that I have on, but it makes me really happy to support boutique artisans who create really thoughtful product," she explains.
It's this well-made, thoughtful product that Lockhart says is Everyday Needs' point of difference; it could also be the beautiful way in which it is displayed, photographed and showcased.
Lockhart has become known for her distinctive aesthetic, described as "simple and pared back"; ideas that are reflected in the way that the product is showcased on the website.
"I like my work to feel grounded and have a certain wholesomeness to it, and for it to be calm, not chaotic," she explains.
"I have always appreciated well-made, everyday household items. I often come back from travelling with tea towels, dishcloths and beautiful knives which might seem a bit crazy but I kept not being able to find what I wanted locally. I like buying things that work well and will last a while."
The "all you need" in the store's tagline is focused on design and homewares.
"My work has meant I have always kept lists of favourite designers, craftsmen and products. I'm always researching and spend a lot of time travelling for jobs, which means that I am always sourcing."
For the website's launch, Lockhart has sourced a range of beautiful pieces, including an Aubock polished and patinated brass bell with bamboo handle ($650), a Richard Orjis ceramic candlestick holder ($150), a Japanese hand-made Shuro Hoki broom ($55), Khai Liew Gillian sideboard ($19,050), Swedish-made oak and goat-hair face brushes ($45), moulded plastic Arnold Circus stools ($195), and a vintage Arabia brown teapot ($150). Some of Lockhart's favourite pieces include the Heath Ceramics "Rim Line" flatware range, and she describes the Francis Upritchard table lamp and Franz West pendant lamp as "my equivalent of a Celine handbag".
For Christmas she says friends and family will be getting hand-made straw trivets and copper scissors. Everything in the store comes with the Lockhart seal of approval.
"I always think about whether I would want to live with it in my own home."
Inspirations
The list is endless, she says, but Lockhart tells us about the top four creatives she respects and admires.
Jarvis Cocker
"How cool that he has just released an album of birdsong with the National Trust in England!"
Miuccia Prada
"I love everything she does, that she was a professional mime and that she works across fashion, architecture, product and art seamlessly."
Dennis Paphitis
Aesop founder. "I think that he has grown a brilliant brand in a thoughtful, considered and design-led way."
Mikhail Gherman
"He is a huge inspiration for me, alongside Karen [Walker], and a very generous creative. I love working with him.
