The How, Why, and What of House of Kook

I had taken time off work to welcome my second child, a much-needed break from being a business developer at one of the top corporate design firms in South Africa. Kirst was at her own crossroads in her career. Running on fumes after too many years in the corporate design & build industry she too decided an immediate exit was necessary. We were both ready to pivot, and you know what they say about timing being everything? It was clear that if we were going to take the leap it was now or never.

Kirst and I have studied, lived, and worked together for many years. We always knew there was more we wanted and needed from our careers, we just didn’t know what, or how. When you’ve been in the working world for long enough, the inevitable happens – colleagues leave to start their own businesses. And then one day we jumped off the hamster wheel and thought –

“If they can do it, why can’t we?!”

In the beginning, we were adamant that we no longer wanted to do interior design projects. It may have been where our training and experience lay, but the passion had vanished. Designing and creating our own furniture range? Now that was something we could get stuck into!

Reality is a b*tch though, and we needed money to survive.

What feels serendipitous in hindsight, at the time was a begrudging next step in our journey. We were approached to undertake an interior design job through a word-of-mouth referral. Knowing we needed the money, we took it on, even though we were so vehement about no longer doing interior design work.

It sounds obvious, but working on a project as your own ‘boss’ vs being an employee is an entirely different experience. The autonomy and independence that came with it was refreshing for us, and we quickly felt the passion for interiors come back.

Fast forward one short year and we have over 10 successful interior projects (and counting) under our belts. We also launched our first furniture range, called Kook Me Up, which we are incredibly proud of! (*unashamed pat on the back).

So what’s next for the Kooks? We are continuing to work with incredible clients on interior projects, our passion has been reinstated!

We also have our second furniture and homeware (hint!) range in production, which will launch in early 2023.

Amy x