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In Profile: Fenwick Bracknell
Born To
Create And Curate
Having joined Fenwick five years ago as a graduate trainee, Louisa Brenton is now the gift, stationery and Christmas buyer for both Fenwick in Bracknell and Bentalls in Kingston. Louisa was instrumental in masterminding the space, concept and themes for the gift department in the newly opened Bracknell store which underwent a £20 million investment last year. The department went onto win The Greats Best Department Store Retailer of Gifts category in May. A high flying trailblazer with an eagle eye, Louisa tells PG&H how she’s been putting her own very distinctive stamp on the Bracknell store’s gift department.
Top: Louisa outside the new Fenwick Bracknell store (formerly Bentalls). Above: Men’s gifts are an important feature of the department. Above right: Wingfield Digby photo frames incorporate feathers in the design.
Describing herself as an intrepreneur defined as someone within a business who takes a responsibility to turn their ideas into a finished product through risk taking and innovation - Louisa Brenton is seriously passionate about retail, and most especially gift retail. With a joint honours degree in French and History of Art from the University of St Andrews, she has brought her art background to her buying role, admitting that her job and her favourite pastime blur into one, as much of what she does during the week she does at weekends or while on holiday. “I love looking for stand-out gift concepts wherever I go as well as finding exciting new brands,” she explains. “Initially, I thought I would have a career in the art world,” she continues, “but I also had an entrepreneurial streak, and once I joined the Fenwick graduate scheme in 2013 there was no turning back,” she smiles. The graduate scheme gave Louisa the opportunity
to work in gifts, menswear, home accessories and lighting, and, once completed, Louisa became buyer of Gifts, Stationery and Christmas in Kingston in December 2014, adding Bracknell to her portfolio ahead of its opening in September 2017. Unsurprisingly, given Louisa’s background - university holiday jobs included stints at Sotheby’s Institute of Art, Buckingham Palace, Clarence House and the prestigious Philip Mould Gallery - the concept of the gift department is about Progressive Gifts & Home Worldwide
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