Since 2014, we have been creating spaces for people to connect, gather, learn, and share. From neighbourhood cafes to pop-up shops, online care packages full of sustainable goods to our current community studio in Kirkcaldy, these three words have always been at the heart of what we do:
care, intention, community.
OUR STORY
Century was inspired by a serendipitous trip to a shop in Paris in 2013. Crammed full of thoughtfully chosen products, with a fine eye to design and a few seats for customers to share a coffee and pass the time of day, the shop felt a world away from the streets outside. It made us smile.
We opened our first store in 2014 at 100 Marchmont Crescent (where our "century" comes from) in Edinburgh’s southside. In January 2016, Century took up residence at Montrose House in Abbeyhill, Edinburgh. For summer 2020, we also opened our temporary pop-up sister store within the courtyard at Eyam Hall in the picturesque Peak District in the north of England.
2020 brought some big changes to our little business. After a happy five years nestled under the eaves of our turreted building in Edinburgh, we began to operate exclusively online, determined to make our virtual spaces every bit as mindful, community-centred, personal, and intentional as our bricks and mortar stores.
As a small, independent business, we wear our hearts on our sleeves. We have spent the last few years slowing down and learning to bring more nature into our days. That's why so much of our ethos focuses around care, respite and nourishment. With the climate crisis comes a responsibility to extend that care to our planet.
Our shop was an antidote to mass production, and we celebrated the unique, diverse stories that each maker brings to their work. From the products we chose to stock to the people we collaborate with, from the resources & voices we celebrate in our newsletters to the way we approach our community studio and wellbeing, we are committed to creating spaces with care, nuance and a passion for social justice. We know that the terrain is not level for everyone, so we place equity and inclusion at the heart of everything we do.
When the global pandemic first closed our bricks and mortar shop, we worked hard to create Care Packages that could be sent to NHS staff, key workers and anyone who was struggling. We've sent out hundreds of surprise care packages through our Gift It Forward project which celebrated the kindness of strangers. We made up bundles to Nourish, to Refuel, to Surprise, to Celebrate, to Thank, to Console, for Moments of Calm, for Birthdays, for Just-Becauses. It was a joy to be able to put together something special for someone knowing it'd give them a bit of love.
We made the decision to close our shop in 2022, ready to focus more on people. Since then, we have been working hard to renovate our wee studio in the bustling creative Merchants Quarter in Kirkcaldy. We've stripped back the wallpaper, trying to guess at the stories beneath each layer, and have slowly created a beautiful space full of love, care and calm. We're so excited for all the good that's going to be created here, by everyone who hires the space.
Life has thrown its curve-balls, but this current incarnation of Century feels the closest we've been to recreating that feeling of a warm, understated, purposeful space that can affect people and our planet in a positive way. We’re all craving that connection and conversation, a chance to find common ground and press pause for a while. An excuse to daydream. Events in the world would have us believe that we're becoming more fractured, more divided, but it's community and care that will see us through.
Our studio in Kirkcaldy is a calm haven, that you can hire to create events, workshops, meetings, pop-up events, and anything else you can imagine. We'll be as enthusiastic about your ideas as you are.
Come and say hello,
Stevie & the Century gang