A welcome years in the making,
When I think about why creativity matters so much to me, I often find myself going back to childhood. So many of the things I’m drawn to today have their beginnings in the people and experiences that influenced me early in life.
For me, creativity has always been closely connected to home and to welcoming people into it.
Growing up, I remember my mother making an occasion out of having company. Someone dropping by might mean coffee and cake at the table, or wine, cheese and something good to share. There was a pleasure in receiving people, in making them comfortable and giving them a reason to stay a little longer.
I especially remember Friday evenings with a dear friend of hers and her two daughters. Seafood nights: coquilles st-jacques, the occasional lobster tails, or seafood pasta. Those dinners with our mothers and us kids have stayed with me all these years. I remember what we ate, but just as much, I remember the feeling of being together.
Mom knew how to make people feel welcomed, cared for and comfortable. Those evenings became part of how I would come to understand the art of welcoming, and how much thought and care can mean to people receiving it.
That influence runs throughout Ames & Holt, alongside everything I learned from my English and French grandmothers, distinct in their own traditions but common in how they loved, cared and welcomed everyone. I return to those stories because they explain so much of what is behind it. Family, creativity and the art of welcoming are deeply connected for me.
Working with colours, textures, greenery and beautiful things, and bringing them together in ways that make a home feel inviting is something I practice all year round, but it’s extra special around the holidays. Thinking about the space, considering the details, trying different elements together and seeing an idea take shape. Creativity gives me a way to express things I care about, and I have come to realise how important it is to make room for it.
Ames & Holt brings together so much of what I love: nature, beautiful things, hospitality and the pleasure of making someone feel welcome. It is filled with memories and care, and with the hope of helping others enjoy their homes and the time they spend in them during the holidays.
I think about the memories that might happen in those spaces. Coming home and feeling yourself relax. Sitting down with family. Inviting a neighbour in. An evening that leaves room for conversation, laughter and care.
Those moments belong to the people who share them. Through seasonal styling, I hope to help create surroundings where people feel comfortable, warm and at ease enough to settle in and enjoy one another.
It’s why I want to share Ames & holt with you, to make it easier for you to create considered, memorable, warm moments to share with those you cherish. It’s an extension of me, for you, to create your own moments of joy and memories that last long past the christmas tree lights and garland.
