Tell us about your background and what got you started in Furniture Design?
Hayden’s background is in carpentry, while mine is in brand management. A friend came to us, with her rapidly approaching wedding, wanting sleek, modern furniture for both her ceremony and reception as she could not find anything in the Bay of Plenty that met her needs or price range. She asked Hayden to custom build trestles and bench seats for her, and the idea stemmed from that. It all happened within the space of about 2 weeks.
As a husband & wife team do you both have certain roles within the business?
Lucy – Â I look after the day to day running of Louisiana Lucy, from the client interactions to booking and scheduling. While Hayden is focused solely on the design and development of furniture, while running a very successful construction company, Fenton Building.
What do you love most about what you do?
The interaction, a wedding is such a huge day in a couples life and we like to try and make it as special as we possibly can, being able to be a part of our clients day is really incredible. We always develop a connection to each couple, especially the bride, so to see their dreams become a reality is the best part for sure.
I see you do custom design, have you had any stand out requests?
We are just so happy that our table and bench seats are now the dinner tables for a bunch of amazing people and that they are building memories and eating together on them! We also have worked with some incredible local businesses to create their signage, we love driving down the street and seeing our work, it’s the best feeling.
Providing furniture hire and custom design, how do you divide your time between the two?
99% of our days are dedicated to weddings and event hire. We make time available when it comes to custom builds and as these are so personal to each customer we work closely with them to get an end result they are really happy with.
Where do you find inspiration to keep your designs creative and unique?
Our designs are simplistic, yet practical. Trestle tables have been used and redesigned for many years, but we worked hard to research and find the right recycled wood for our tables that would stand the pressure and the right coatings to ensure a practical table. No wine spills are a problem round here!
We also took a lot of time to get our bench seats right. We trialled and designed until we came up with the right concept. Bench seats need to be extremely durable and also with the trestle method to our bench, they flat pack for easy travelling, while also being aesthetically pleasing and durable.
What is the most memorable wedding you have styled?
Each wedding has been quite different and unique so far. Our clients think outside the box and we love that our company attracts those kind of couples.
We love that you source materials locally, tell us a little bit more about that?
This is a huge priority for us. We try extremely hard to live as sustainably in our personal life as possible, so this needed to step over into our business as well.
With Hayden having his own construction company, this gave us an inside into some incredible mills and suppliers in the Bay Of Plenty.
We have also met some incredible designers who we are beginning to work with as well. With the latest being JG Custom who has built the steel framework for our bar leaners. We are passionate about the area we live in and want to work with as many like-minded people as we can to achieve our dreams.
Where do you see Louisiana Lucy five years from now?
Five years from now we want to have organically grown a successful and sustainable business that is constantly growing and reshaping to the market while staying really true to our core beliefs and values.