Cranfields is a store I’ve known and loved since I was a small girl, growing up in Wellington. Home to a wide range of beautiful, quality home interior items that are carefully curated, this family owned business is now run by Nicola Cranfield, daughter of Cranfields founder Valerie. The items from Cranfields adorn the shelves, pockets and cupboards of my own home.
Nicola Cranfield loves what she does; working with customers in the store, representing craftspeople and sourcing new collections. Before COVID-19, she regularly traveled to hand-pick beautiful, intelligent pieces that have integrity - just like the business owner.
Nicola was born in Canterbury. “Yes - cards on the table. But I got here by the age of two so I consider myself a pretty old school Wellingtonian” she says. Growing up, Nicola’s mother first worked as a teacher and a home-maker, before opening her iconic Wellington business. Her father ‘did all sorts of things’ but mostly sold insurance. “He often had his own business so I grew up when people had their own gig going on. My mother started Cranfields when I was a teenager, so I was always surrounded by business.” Nicola went to school at Karori Normal and then Samuel Marsden. She loved art history, but didn’t enjoy art classes as much. “I’m more a curator than a creator” she explains. “That’s probably why I’m doing what I do.”
In 1992, Nicola’s mother started Cranfields because she was uninspired by the shopping scene in Wellington. “She went to the bank and was turned down. So my mother got creative, hocked off some furniture, and began our family business all on her own. She developed great relationships with local craftspeople, paying them upfront rather than on consignment, and brought new international homeware craftspeople to New Zealand for the first time.”
Nicola left school and then qualified as an accountant before moving to London. “I worked for some creative companies, such as Heals. They’ve been around for hundred of years and sell furniture, gifts and homeware” she says. Eventually Nicola realised that instead of being in the back-room, she wanted to be in the store front. “I realised I was ready to follow the seller path, like Mum, rather than being the accountant.”
After having a discussion with her mother, Nicola decided to move to Auckland and set up a Cranfields store there. She then followed that up with another store in Melbourne. “Being in Melbourne was great fun. Australians are much more upfront than Kiwis” she says. “They’d come in and tell me how much they loved the store.”
In 2009 after the financial crisis, Nicola decided to close the Melbourne store and travel the world, studying at the Natural Gourmet Institute in New York. While travelling, she felt pangs for home - and moved back to Wellington.
Soon, Nicola met her husband Nigel and then had baby Hugh. Nicola’s mother was also thinking about retiring, around the same time that iconic department store Kirkcaldies and Staines closed down. Nicola decided to step up and run Cranfields herself, continuing the family business. “It’s great. I’m really enjoying working with all these suppliers that Mum established relationships with over many years. Now we’re sometimes into the second generation” she says.
Most recently, Nicola opened a beautiful new Cranfields store in Te Aro. She says it’s for customers that don’t live the normal 9 til 5 Lambton Quay lifestyle. As it has always done, Cranfields plays by its own rules, avoiding fast-homeware seasonality. “We don’t have sales. We’re a business that is all about allowing people to make considered, long-term decisions. We also don’t want to drop suppliers - we want to work with them over a long period of time” Nicola says. “I want customers to look at items for the long term, to pass onto their children.”
This rebel spirit extended into Nicola’s pandemic business plan. Before the COVID-19 lockdown, Nicola remembers listening to a podcast by a ‘Captain of Industry’, encouraging small businesses to baton down the hatches. For Nicola, it didn’t feel right, even though she had outstanding obligations and had taken on the lease for the new store. “I decided to be brave and honour my commitments to advertisers and stockists. I needed to keep focus and go forward. When I opened this new store, the first day after lockdown, the number of people who decided to come out and support us, was the best. People pledged not to buy from overseas websites, because they wanted to have a conversation and connect” she says.
Nicola feels that she’s now learned that it is ok to do things differently and ignore the pessimism. “Before lockdown, a couple of people came in to use gift vouchers because, assumedly, they were worried we would close. I had a moment when I thought “What do they know that I don’t know?” But I chose to be positive. Now everyone wants to connect and upfront tells us how much they appreciate the fact we’re here.”