Meet the Holly

So first, would you care to introduce yourself? 

Hi, I'm Holly Keus, I do lighting for Loewen Design Studios. I also am part of the marketing team.

So what does a typical day at Loewen Design Studios look like for you?

I usually get here a little bit before everyone else, because I like the quiet and being able to plan my day out. So when I get here, I usually sit down, look at all the different things I need to do, specifically lights, looking at the lights on order and then I'll take a look at any wood that I need to prep. I like to do that before the table guys get here because then they're in the woodshop. And then after I'm done looking at any light stuff, I would normally come back and look at what is going up on our socials for the day. So I work on Instagram and Facebook. So I would make sure that those are scheduled and all the captions and reels and all of that are written. And then just building some lights, doing any marketing meetings, writing blogs, etc.

Can you tell us something that would surprise us about you?

Something that's kind of surprising about most of the people who work here is that we all mostly have theater degrees, which is kind of interesting for the things we ended up doing. So I went to school with four of the other employees here, and specialized in Dramatic Arts production, which kind of transfers over to building lighting, because we used to build sets and do lighting. 

Before you worked at Loewen Design Studios, what was the most unusual or interesting job you've had?

So I worked at a library for three years, which is very interesting. So you think a library is pretty simple. It's not actually that simple. I wasn't allowed to check anyone's book. So I just had to put books on the shelves, in a specific Dewey Decimal System, numerical way. So it was interesting, but it was quite boring. But that's what I did for my high school job was work at the local library.

So what do you like to do in your spare time?

I think my favorite hobby that I like to do right now is quilting. I'm a big quilter. I've been doing that for a couple years. Also reading, this Sunday I just, I had a day myself and was able to just finish a book in one day and it just felt great to be getting back to that because it's hard to find time to read. Very Busy

My First Quilt

So what's it like working here at Loewen Design Studios?

I mean, it's great. I started here two years ago, and started really part time. Now I'm here full time. Is great to work around a bunch of really cool people. So it's really interesting work. Like everyday's kind of a new puzzle. There's always something new and interesting, like a new solution to a lighting problem or new products to photograph. There's it's it's always different and it's always really interesting.

So when you were growing up, what did you want to be?

I was actually just looking at my eighth grade yearbook and I said that I wanted to be a nurse. Which I would be the world's worst nurse because I cannot handle blood at all. But I think more realistically, I wanted to be a writer or something because I just I loved books so much as a kid. I really liked all the Nancy Drew Books. So I kind of just wanted to be a writer 

So what do you like most about your job?

That's a good question. I don't know. I think I like that every day is different. It's not like coming in and doing the same thing over and over and over. There's always a new light build. There's always something new we are working on. New blogs, new projects every day is a little bit interesting. And we get to all work together and collaborate on stuff like that.

So you could switch your job with someone else within Loewen Design Studios whos job would you want?.

I'm not allowed to say norm, right?

Chairman of the Board Norman

No, sorry. It's already been taken.

I don't know. I was thinking about this and I don't want your job (Josh), for sure. And I was thinking maybe Jared or Tristan. They do the tables, and they do the finishing and packing. And I just think they're really good at it. And I'm, obviously I'm not as good as them or know how to do it at all. But it just seems like a cool skill to learn how to finish and pack and do all that with tables. And they know everything about everyone's table. It's crazy to hear Jared just point at a table and he’s like” Thats Mary's table.”

That’s a good choice. They certainly know what they're doing.

So what's your hidden talent?

I mean, I used to be able to play a lot of instruments, which is my hidden talent. I used to be able to play like 10 instruments, but I haven't picked them up in many years. I can also lick my elbow, which I think is a really good hidden talent. Though. Not as impressive as playing lots of instruments. 

What would people never guess that you do here at Loewen Design Studios. What's a surprising part of your role?

I think my title is lighting. So any of the marketing stuff is probably a surprise. Some like photo editing. I've delivered a light before so you know that's kind of shocking. When I dropped it off, they were like, oh, what do you do? And I was like "Oh, I built this. Then I brought it here."

I got just a couple of questions left. This one is really hard. ready?
Which dog is your favorite?

Well, I have two dogs.

Suki

Norbert

Norbert is a 16 week old golden retriever puppy and Suki is still a one and a half year old Shih Tzu kind of puppy. Probably Suki just because you know she's been around longer and Norbert still likes to bite me. He hasn't learned that you're not supposed to do that yet, but he is still very cute. But Suki, she's not a puppy anymore. She doesn't want to bite me as much. Don't tell Norbert though. 

Alright, so can you describe Loewen Design Studios in three words what would they be? None of them can be Loewen, Designs, or Studios.

I would say hard working. Can that be one word?Ya.Okay, hardworking, creative and innovative, because I feel like there's always a solution to anyone's problem. There's very few times where I've seen Josh or Ted look at a problem and be like, we can't do that. Normally, it's like, oh, we'll figure it out. And they do. So.

Alright, so one last question. What is your favorite Table and what is your favorite light?

The table question's hard. I like a lot of the ones but there's this one specifically that we're making for Jake  it's this walnut table that has the legs that like go through I think they're called Parson, Walnut Parson. And it's, it's just a really gorgeous table. It's gonna look so good. in his place.

For anyone who doesn't know Jake, worked with us for about nine months, and just recently moved on to go to a master's degree in Toronto. We're actually sitting at the table that we have to deliver right now.

Josh and Jake

Jake's Table

Lighting is hard because I really like the contemporary light fixtures but I also really like the retro I think I'm going to go with…. Hm. Okay, I think there's two parts to this question. What do I like building best and which do I like the best? I really like the retro plank 10. It is really, really pretty. And I think there's definitely a perfect space for that to go in and I like building the farmhouse plank 6  the best I think they're just such a classic light and they kind of go in most spaces

Retro Plank 10 

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Farmhouse Plank 6

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I think that's all I've got for you.
Is there anything you would like to just tell the world?

Like our posts on Instagram. That'll make me feel nice.

Haha okay thank you.