When Gemma and Kestin Hare left London to move to Edinburgh – a city they both spent time in growing up – they did so with a child on the way and with a new life to carve out, including launching their own menswear brand, KESTIN. Juggling a new-born baby, a new business and a significant relocation might not be everyone’s idea of a smooth transition, but neither would moving to a new house – half of which was uninhabitable – a couple of days after they had their second daughter three years later.
Now, with their renovation work to their Victorian family home complete, Gemma and Kestin reflect on the work they’ve done, the perks of life in Edinburgh and how the city’s emerging design and creative scene is taking shape.
Gemma: “We were in a flat in Marylebone and I was pregnant with our first baby. We quickly realised our lives in London were going to change quite radically and because we didnt have family in London, or friends who had children, we decided that moving closer to family and friends here in Edinburgh was going to be a huge benefit in the next chapter of our lives.
“It was a bit of a leap of faith. We always knew that we wanted to come back to Scotland, but it seemed slightly earlier than we perhaps felt ready for. It was the shock that comes with expecting a child, I suppose.
“That was 2010, but we didnt leave London until Skye, our eldest daughter, was born. We packed up all our stuff and did a mad dash to the border! Kestins from Edinburgh, I spent my last two years of school here, so it does feel like home, and quite quickly it just felt normal.”
Kestin: “Gemma was working for WGSN, a fashion forecasting company, at the time, and I was trying to get my label off the ground, doing a lot of freelance work for Margaret Howell and Burberry to finance it.
“We moved back up here and I think when you have a baby you do these sort of mad things, like we moved city, started the label and Gemma quit her job to come on as Brand Director. There wasnt really a sense of ‘this could fail’, it was more ‘we have to make this happen and make it work’.”
Gemma: “I think that theres a huge range of people in Scotland who want to follow their dream, want to do it themselves, and there is almost a freedom up here where you can try something without having the huge pressure. In London, I dont know if we would have been as successful as we have been.”
Kestin: “The financial benefit of not being in London is a massive thing. Its cheaper to buy a house, and to have a garden, and we felt we needed the support of family and friends, not only for our personal lives but for the business as well.”
Gemma: “There’s lots of support from the Scottish government too – they know its more challenging being based up here, particularly in our sector. Were not in the heart of where everything happens.
“So its swings and roundabouts: some things have been much easier, some things have been more challenging. But it was worth it. We both feel its a differentiator, and theres almost a sense of pride and peace that weve come home now.”
Kestin: “Us being proudly based in Scotland and the designs drawing from my heritage has become a bit of a USP for our brand and what were doing now. The challenge has become our strength, I think.”
Gemma: “When we first moved back it was to a typical New Town apartment on the edge of Stockbridge. Think Royal Circus, sweeping crescent, double-height ceilings, ornate cornicing, huge windows: the Edinburgh New Town dream. I think we wanted the romantic version of life in Edinburgh.
Kestin: “It’s like living in a loft if you moved to New York – you just have to get it out your system.”
Gemma: “When we were that age with one baby it was perfect and we were in the heart of everything.
“Quite quickly, though, when I was pregnant with our second child, the reality of still living in a flat in the centre of town – the noise, the lack of heating, those sort of things – meant we had to be a bit more practical. Although, we didnt want to move to suburbia – we were fighting against that!
“It also became quite frustrating in the summer when it hit six oclock and we’d put Skye to bed, watching everyone else drinking in the sunshine. We were sat inside thinking ‘I want to be in the sun. Especially in Scotland, when theres good weather you want to make the most of it. So we were determined to have some outdoor space.
“We were the first people through the door here. I saw it online and you know when you get that feeling? As soon as we walked in, we saw there was a lot of work to do but I just said, ‘Get me that house, were not mucking around! And we did.
“Edinburghs very competitive in terms of the market, particularly at that time and in this area, although I think its even more so now. You had to really fight for sales and wed missed out on quite a few, which got really frustrating. It’s so disheartening because you have to fall in love with somewhere to put an offer in only to lose out.”
Kestin: “I remember when we came in here originally, it was a beautiful sunny day and we came out into the back space here, which was very strangely laid out with a horrible old-style conservatory and a galley kitchen with really low ceilings, but the light was fantastic. Its a real sun trap here in the summer. It can be 15 degrees outside, but it can feel nearer to 20 when you sit out here.”
Gemma: “We got the keys three weeks before our due date but there was quite a lot of work we wanted to have done before we moved in. The first stage of the work we did was to remove the window and the wall at the back so at least we felt we were working towards having a more free-flow layout, and then there was a lot of carpets and horrible bathrooms to get rid of. We moved in the day I came out of the hospital with Indigo, our little one, and it was complete bedlam – there was a bathtub in the front garden Kestin and my brother had thrown out of the first-floor window. They were in complete demolition mode and I was just thinking, ‘Where is the building part?!
“We were here for three years from 2015 before we got it looking like it does now. We worked with architects LBA, which is headed by Lindsey Bell, an amazing architect and a friend of ours.”
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发表于 2020-8-4 01:30:17
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