Interiors

From pop-ups to standalone store – how a home renovation built a thriving interiors business

April and the Bear have become a go-to for eclectic home decor, and have added interior design to their multi-platform service

‘What we discovered was that there was a real interest in what we were selling, but there was also an appetite for a physical store’

Setting up an interior business during a serious home renovation project may not seem like the wisest idea, but for Siobhan Lam, founder of April and the Bear, it turned out to be worth the effort.

Lam was working in the buying department in Arnotts when she first bought a house with her now-husband nine years ago. “It was a serious fixer-upper,” she laughs, “and we decided to remodel it ourselves because we had zero ...