EC MUSE — LIA TOWNSEND

To begin, can you share a little about yourself, Stories to Gather, and where you find yourself currently, both personally and professionally? I'm Lia Townsend, founder and creative director of Stories To Gather. A studio born 6.5 years ago during maternity leave, where I gather food and objects into narratives that hold the warmth of real connection. It's evolved from passion projects to collaborations with brands and recent evenings like our Cake Club honouring nostalgic rituals. Personally and professionally, I'm in a grounded place: raising my 7 year old son amid events, eyeing an upcoming Italian summer and projects in Milan and Tokyo, cherishing this ever shifting cadence.

As a founder and a mother, how do you navigate the intersection of work and family, and what has that balance come to look like over time? I've learned there isn't true work life balance in my creative world, a pressure I've released by no longer chasing it. Creative pursuits are all consuming, ideas ruminating everywhere. Proximity is key: workspaces near home let my son join preps, offering his sharp insights, while family dinners ground us. Over time, this rhythm has become intentional and sustaining.

Are there any generational traditions or influences you've found yourself returning to or reinterpreting in your role as a mother? Growing up in an Italian family, food has always been at the centre of everything. It's how we gather, how we show care, how we connect. That hasn't changed, but becoming a mother has made me more aware of it in a deeper way. I find myself returning to those rhythms instinctively, the generosity, the idea that the table is a place to come back to.

Nostalgia is a big part of how I move through that. I'm not trying to recreate things exactly as they were, but I'm always holding onto the feeling of them. The meals, the atmosphere, the small gestures that made everything feel considered and full of love. From there, it becomes about reinterpretation, translating those traditions into something that feels like my life now.

It feels like an ongoing evolution honouring where I've come from, while shaping something new that my son will grow up with and, in time, make his own.

How has your relationship with fashion evolved, both personally and through your work, as you move between the demands of career and motherhood? My relationship with fashion has definitely softened and become more intentional over time. Before motherhood, it was often more about expression in a visual sense - styling, layering, playing with proportions and mood. Now, it feels more connected to how I want to move through my day and the kind of presence I want to hold, both in my work and at home.

There's a practicality that naturally comes with motherhood, but I don't see that as limiting. If anything, it's refined my choices. I'm drawn to pieces that feel effortless but still considered.

Through my work, fashion still plays a strong role in storytelling, but it's become more integrated. It sits alongside food, objects, and space, rather than standing apart from them.