Search

A Day in the Life of Howkapow

Today we head to Bristol, England to follow the dynamic duo behind Howkapow, an online shop run by the husband-and-wife team known as Rog and Cat How. The couple met 2002 at Bristol University and their diverse careers took them around the world before returning them to the city they love. Their goal was to work with each other on something that was full of fun, honesty, and integrity, so they set up shop together in 2010 and Howkapow was born. The super fun and quirky shop sells a curated mix of smile-inducing goods, including kitchenware, ceramics, lamps and lights, prints and posters, accessories, jewelry, and gifts made from a series of independent designers and illustrators. Let’s see how this spirited pair spends their day in this month’s Designer Dailies.

Dailies-Howkapow-1.Breakfast

Breakfast
Cat: Our alarm goes off at 7:30 AM. Breakfast is always in bed on our favourite Mexican lady tray. I don’t tend to have much appetite first thing so it’s a black coffee, no sugar, and a juice for me (today it’s carrot and beetroot from our allotment and fresh ginger), while Rog always has a double espresso and muesli with home-made yogurt. Yum.

Dailies-Howkapow-2.Feeding-Chickens

Feeding Chickens
Rog: After breakfast it’s chicken feeding time! Our two ladies are called Cilla and Mrs T. and they give us two beautiful eggs a day. They love worms from our wormery but go wild for cheese and, er, curry.

Dailies-Howkapow-3.Morning-Earring-Choosing

Morning Earring Selection
Cat: Decisions! Decisions! I’ve been collecting earrings for a few years now… I’m building up to wearing a new pair of earrings for every day of the year. Almost there. Today it’s some big gold scarabs from Rosita Bonita…

Dailies-Howkapow-4.Tandem-To-Work

Tandem To Work
Rog: Although we have a car, we rarely use it. We cycle our tandem “Carol” to work every day. We love her.

Dailies-Howkapow-5.Artwork-On-The-Way-To-Work

Artwork On The Way To Work
Rog: We pass by this painted door every day on the way to the studio. We don’t know who painted it, but we love the colors. It’s been there for years.

Dailies-Howkapow-6.Our-Studio-Road

Our Studio Road
Cat: Our studio is located on Backfields Lane in the artist quarter of Bristol, England known as Stokes Croft. It’s a lively little street packed with other product designers, architects, video producers and dress makers. We have a street party every year with a hog roast, lots of booze and a brass band.

Dailies-Howkapow-7.Our-Studio

Our Studio
Rog: Hello! It’s Rog and Cat and Jess, our lovely PR babe!

Dailies-Howkapow-8.Rog-testing-ceramics

Rog Testing Ceramics
Rog: We design and manufacture a range of products. We’re currently designing a range of ceramics in collaboration with Australian designers Inaluxe. Here are some very rough mock ups! Our table is designed and made down the road by our friend Charlie Crowther-Smith.

Dailies-Howkapow-9.Tea-Towels-&-Bowls

Tea Towels & Bowls
Cat: We love big bowls and we cannot lie! And we like nice tea towels too – especially these ones by London-based designer Stuart Gardiner. They’re ace info graphic towels about wine matching, tea and coffee and seasonal guides to fruit and vegetables. We heart a bit of form + function.

Dailies-Howkapow-10.Choosing-ceramics

Choosing Ceramics
Cat: When orders come in, we like making sure all our products are close to hand. Our Jansen + Co ceramics come to us directly from Amsterdam and we love their bold colours and simple styling.

Dailies-Howkapow-11.In-the-shelving-aisle

In the Shelving Aisle
Cat: Oh the glamour!

Dailies-Howkapow-12.Choosing-Prints

Choosing Prints
Cat: We have large print browsers around the studio as we’ve found it’s the best way to store our lovely prints. We end up buying far too many of these ourselves but what can you do? You can’t go wrong with a good handmade screen print we say.

Dailies-Howkapow-13.Lunch

Lunch
Rog: Lunch is always something nice and simple like a crab salad, bagel or a little medley of cheese, fruit and crackers. When the weather’s nice we sit outside in the park down the road. Most often we eat at our table in the studio. It is England after all…

Dailies-Howkapow-14.Packing

Packing!
Rog: Hard at work making sure the orders are nicely packed up with our smashing intern, Siobhan.

Dailies-Howkapow-15.Poco-Bar

Post Work Drink
Cat: A post-work pint at Poco around the corner from our studio. They do super-duper tapas and a lovely Elderflower & Cucumber Gin Cooler. Mmmmmm.

Caroline Williamson is Editor-in-Chief of Design Milk. She has a BFA in photography from SCAD and can usually be found searching for vintage wares, doing New York Times crossword puzzles in pen, or reworking playlists on Spotify.