Would You Trade in a Favorite Ceramic for Someone’s Beloved Bowl?

Imagine if your next decor score came with a built-in backstory, a new friend, and zero cost to you financially. That’s the thinking behind Swap & Gather, a just-launched homewares exchange from London creatives Cate St. Hill and Laura Gheorghita. It all started one rainy evening at an event about wellness and interiors; the two connected over a shared idea to create something that got people talking about the emotional value behind the objects they choose to surround themselves with. The goal: to create a global community that puts conscious decorating at the forefront. And it’s all starting this week on Instagram. 

The initiative was set to launch in the form of in-person get-togethers months ago—then the world went into lockdown, and with gathering being a core component of Swap & Gather, St. Hill and Gheorghita changed tactics. To kick it off, they’re rolling out a hashtag challenge, asking people to share the story behind their most cherished home items on Instagram, using #SwapAndGatherStories to find like-minded people. 

Over the next few weeks, they’ll expand this to a virtual swap—an international exchange where people from 20 not-yet-decided cities can agree to meet (socially distanced, of course) to trade design pieces. Eventually, Swap & Gather will be an IRL series of events, focused on bringing small groups of people together over the inherent sentimentality of decor. 

“Swapping for us isn’t about throwing things away without thought or seeing our belongings as junk,” explains the duo. “It’s about creating room for the objects that connect with us on a deeper level and talk to our unique story.” There’s a sustainable aspect to their approach—it encourages a circular economy and mindful consumption—but it’s also personal. St. Hill is an avid collector of Persephone books, an assortment of dove gray–covered novels from a small publishing house that reprints work from mostly 20th-century women writers. For Gheorghita, it’s ceramics. She scours flea markets and vintage shops for handmade crafts. 

They’ll be bringing some of these treasures to the first few Swap & Gather meets. Tune into Instagram to share what your favorite painting or hand-me-down dinnerware set means to you, and keep an eye out for the first virtual swap. “More often, people forget about the amount of things they own,” say St. Hill and Gheorghita. “We hope this will encourage a less-is-more approach—helping us slow down, reconnect with our surroundings, and seek a more meaningful kinship with our most-loved objects.” And if this means you get a gorgeous new terracotta vase for your mantel, well, that’s just a fringe benefit.