Christmas Gift Guide

Following the announcement that we're closing our shop to sell online only, we wanted to share some of our favourite memories from our time here.

A note from Hetty:

274 Hackney Road will always be such a special place to me. This bitesized shop (and studio) has given me purpose and a place of belonging over the past 4 years. It has enabled me to build a business based on meeting my customers face to face, making solid friends in the neighbourhood and being in the hustle and bustle of Hackney life.

While the past year posed so many challenges, it brought with it new possibilities. The long spring lockdown gave me a taste of life without the shop and I was able to put more time into the things I love doing. I suddenly had time for creative thinking, sketching, business planning, sourcing, style development, online workshops and it even left me with some free time. These are all the reasons I started Henri in the first place so it felt natural to make that our future.

I will cherish my memories of this shop forever and digging out the photos below reminded me what a huge journey it has been. I hope you enjoy a scroll through what the last 4 years at Henri has looked like.

Those who have been following us for a long time will remember our very first pop-up in this shop. We loved it so much that we came back again... and again (!) with our wonderful friends from Pico, Ottowin, ZM Jewellery and Ren. What a team. The golden days.

We decided to take the shop full time in April 2018. But before opening it needed more than just a lick of paint... so many lovely friends came to the rescue on this one. I'll always remember that celebratory pint at the Marksman after my university pals helped set up the night before opening.

And soon we were open for business...

As the seasons changed so did our collections...

The absolute highlight of having the shop was that it brought together so many inspiring people and bonded deep friendships and amazing working relationships. This is the ultimate reward which motivates me to keep on working.

After the first year we also opened the shop next door as our studio. From here we worked, designed and hosted sewing workshops. It truly became the heart of the business.

We have found a lovely studio near by and we're so excited to get set up in a beautiful new space. We'll be selling online only and I plan to expand our clothing range and develop on online workshops even further (big news coming for that too). Seeing our customers regularly is something we'll miss a lot but we plan to hold pop-ups in the future and perhaps some open studio events too.

A huge huge thank you to everyone who supported us from our tiny corner of the Hackney Road. Every single visitor made it so so special. But time to move on to new things and it's certainly not goodbye...

H

x