Inspired by a lifelong passion for craft, artisanship and beauty...
a brand for the ages
Remember when you were a child, and life was peppered with a constant feeling of awe and magic? When was the last time you had that feeling?
A Woman Called Amanda
My mother had a friend called Amanda who, if I were to describe her as a fictional character, I remember to be like Carmen Sandiego. I lived in Rotorua, a small town in New Zealand, and one day she visited from London with her husband, delivering me a selection of hats and her textured silk wedding dress for my dress-up box. The most fabulous things I'd ever seen. The second time she visited, she visited with a wife, and I remember her being the most exciting and worldly person I'd ever met.
I can't remember what Amanda looked like, other than that she had long brown hair, but it was her energy and her injection of foreign-ness that left a permanent mark on my spirit — she made me feel different, inspired and curious. I still have her wedding dress in my wardrobe. I thought of her when designing my first products.
Three Years of Rest
The desire to create something uniquely mine has always been an undercurrent as I focused on commercial work for others. It wasn't until the abrupt end of a long-term relationship and a year of rest that the idea to start my own brand began its rise to the surface.. I asked myself if the life I was living was truly a reflection of me, it wasn't; it was a list of "one days" and creativity that had been stifled, a life that had very much been swept up in practicality and logic, not led by the heart.
"Where are all the beautiful things?" - a question my friend Polly and I ask often. At times, we are so frustrated by the lack of beauty-led objects that we debrief, comparing modern-day crafting capabilities and our technological expanse to those of past generations. How did they make so much beauty with less, while modern day delivers basics in grey? So, I started to change my approach, beginning with the redesign of my bedroom. I went back to when I was young and what would have filled my heart, vintage movies, glamorous characters, colour, lushness. I designed my first bed, "Bones", because I couldn't find a bed that didn't look like everything I'd seen before. This was the beginning of my journey.
During this process, I couldn't find a stool I liked either, or bedding that wasn't plain, or even worse, not plain but very fashionable or on trend. I developed such frustration, I made them myself, and now they're available not only for me, but for all the people like Polly and I, who want to lean in and have a life surrounded by beauty.
Where are all the beautiful things?
It Always Starts With What It Could Be
K.Thompson is an extension of myself, the incarnation of a craving, a desire for a more meaningful, romantic life. In our desire to tick life boxes, we sometimes lose sight of the little things that make us feel alive - an unexpected finish, something that invites a second look, details. These are the underpinning necessities of this brand; it always starts with what it could be, not what it should be, I hope you enjoy.
