If you’ve been on the look-out for interior design inspiration over the last few years, there’s a very good chance that you’ve come across April & The Bear .
Former fashion buyer Siobhan Lam started the business online six years ago after she and her husband Jamie Hughes, who also works in retail, found it hard to source the kind of unique, affordable pieces they wanted for their new home.
“From work, I would travel to other European cities like Berlin and London and there was a lot more choice there,” Siobhan explains. “So I thought about possibly setting up my own store.”
She chose the name by combining her favourite name and month – April – and her nickname for her “very tall, hairy” husband Jamie – Bear. From the beginning, the vision was simple – to enable her customers to fill their houses with objects that make them smile every single day.
“We don't hold anything that we don't love ourselves,” Siobhan says, “and that's something that we always say to our customers – you should fill your house with things that you adore, because it's your home. You don't have to please anyone else but yourself.”
Siobhan was all-in from the start, quitting her job in fashion and looking after everything that needed to be done to set up a fledgling online retailer – from building a website to photographing, editing and uploading the product images – without any prior expertise.
“I didn't know how to edit pictures,” she says, “so before I started the business I sat down with a friend and we went through exactly what I needed to do and I learned those skills.
“It's just about identifying what you need in this business and upskilling, because otherwise you're not going to get anywhere.”
The online store became an occasional pop-up shop in the city before Siobhan opened her own permanent store three years ago on Cows Lane in Temple Bar. Then, appropriately enough in April this year, she moved to a much bigger new premises in Rathmines.
“We’re really pleased with the space,” Siobhan says. “We can now fit in really beautiful pieces of furniture which we were never able to physically have before.
“As well as that, Rathmines is absolutely buzzing at the moment. There's a real energy in the neighbourhood, and there's a real sense of community as well which we didn't have before. We're really excited with the new space and I think our customers are too.”
At the moment it’s a team of two – Louise Ryan manages the shop, acts as front-of-house and, Siobhan says, does “kind of everything”. Recently, they have diversified into offering consultancy services and putting on special events or “experiences” instore – and there’s more to come.
“We have a lot of plans, we hope to be moving into new directions in the next few years,” she says. “I'd just love the business to grow and I'd love us to continue pushing what it means to be a retail or design store in the city.”
