April 10, 2019
The Story Behind the Name…
Kagu comes from the Japanese word for ‘house makings’ or furniture. When I first asked people what should I call my shop they said things like (Shop No 16, Tenterden Design or I even had people saying I should call it after my surname!) but for anyone that knows me this just did not sit right with me. The name had to be about the shop foremost, with design and interiors being of importance, I did not feel the need to highlight its owner.
So it got me thinking one day about other shop names and the one that came to mind, was one of the most famous furniture shops in the world, and that was IKEA. To most people, IKEA does not mean anything but to its founder Ingvar Kamprad it did. When he was 17 (in 1943), his father gave him money as a reward for succeeding at his studies. He used it to establish his own business. The name IKEA is formed from the founder's initials (I.K) plus the first letters of Elmtaryd (E) and Agunnaryd (A), the farm and village where he grew up… interesting yeah?
My shop and its brand message is world's apart from IKEA – as a shop and a company – but I, at the same time have always had a lot of respect for the founder, what he stood for and the company he created from scratch.
This is why I guess I chose Kagu, it was a word that seemed to stay with me, and if anyone wanted to know what it meant it had some relation to what I do and what my passion is but at the same time kept me anonymous.
So… with an interest in furniture design and a brain full of ideas… Kagu the brand was created.
Fast forward to 2019 and we have now offered an interior design service to a number of projects, created many a piece of bespoke furniture and the shop is at its the fullest. We celebrate our two year anniversary in July and are very proud to be one of the independent stores here in Tenterden.
So it got me thinking one day about other shop names and the one that came to mind, was one of the most famous furniture shops in the world, and that was IKEA. To most people, IKEA does not mean anything but to its founder Ingvar Kamprad it did. When he was 17 (in 1943), his father gave him money as a reward for succeeding at his studies. He used it to establish his own business. The name IKEA is formed from the founder's initials (I.K) plus the first letters of Elmtaryd (E) and Agunnaryd (A), the farm and village where he grew up… interesting yeah?
My shop and its brand message is world's apart from IKEA – as a shop and a company – but I, at the same time have always had a lot of respect for the founder, what he stood for and the company he created from scratch.
This is why I guess I chose Kagu, it was a word that seemed to stay with me, and if anyone wanted to know what it meant it had some relation to what I do and what my passion is but at the same time kept me anonymous.
So… with an interest in furniture design and a brain full of ideas… Kagu the brand was created.
Fast forward to 2019 and we have now offered an interior design service to a number of projects, created many a piece of bespoke furniture and the shop is at its the fullest. We celebrate our two year anniversary in July and are very proud to be one of the independent stores here in Tenterden.