The Journal
15 / 05 / 2025
Made With Heart
Inside the Family-Run Studio of No.46 Park Road
Tucked away in the heart of Crouch End, No.46 Park Road is more than just a shop—it’s a living, breathing family studio filled with scent, creativity, and soul. From handcrafted candles to hand-poured concrete homewares and delicate watercolour paintings, every item tells a story. We recently had the joy of collaborating with No.46 on a special candle for our Moma Hilo customers, and we couldn’t wait to sit down with Mackenzie—the artist and shopkeeper behind it all—to learn more about how this beautiful space came to life, the family values at its core, and the magic of creating by hand, together.
"I feel very lucky that I’m able to do what I love every day. It’s a beautiful studio space where I can interact with people—and they can see my art in the process."
Penelope: Mackenzie, No 46 Park Road is such a beautiful family business! Can you tell us how it all started and what inspired you to create it together?
Mackenzie: No 46 started back in August 2019. We’ve always worked together as a family since my parents used to own the shop before called ‘Of Special Interest’. It was a homewares/furniture shop that my mum, Belinda started in 1988.
I took over the business and downsized so we could all have more creative freedom. I worked in Of Special Interest from the age of 10 as a Saturday job to earn my pocket money. The shop was quite big for us to manage so we were constantly stocking shelves, cleaning, painting, ordering.
As beautiful as the shop was, we didn’t have any time to make anything ourselves. When we started No 46, we wanted to have more freedom to explore everything we’re capable of creating. We’ve all learnt so much over the 6 years we’ve been open. Slowly we started to make most of our stock!
Penelope: You’ve created such a stunning shop space, what was the inspiration behind it, and how did the store space that we see today come to life?
Mackenzie: The shop has changed a lot over the last 6 years. We wanted it to be a bright studio as well as a shop so we could create whilst working and serving customers. Our goal was to not be sitting bored with nothing to do all day. My dad, Lewis built all the shelving and the big table so we could fit as much as possible into a small space. We also added a huge skylight to bring as much natural light in as possible.
The shop brings us all a lot of inspiration and has a very calming feel to it. I love using it as my studio as the space encourages me to paint.
"Our customers love that we make most of it ourselves—which has encouraged us to do more."
Penelope: You went from sourcing products to now making around 75% of what you sell in-house—what led to that shift, and how has it changed the way you work?
Mackenzie: Lockdown was the start of the shift as Belinda started experimenting with scented candles. When we reopened, the candles started to do so well so she started making diffusers, room sprays and experimenting more.
I found that sourcing from suppliers started to get more expensive whilst the quality wasn’t any better. I started messing around with clay and concrete to make more unique homewares. Our customers started to really like what we were making but I wanted to solely focus on my paintings. So Lewis started picking up the concrete about 2 years ago and kept bringing out more pieces since we had great feedback. He now makes candle holders, trays, bowls and more!
We receive a lot of positive feedback from customers on all our handmade items. They always comment on the fact that they love that we make most of it ourselves which has encouraged us to do more.
Penelope: Your mum makes the scents, your dad crafts the concrete pieces, and you bring your own creative touch in the form of painting and artwork— what a dream team! What’s it like blending all your skills under one roof?
Mackenzie: It’s amazing that we all work as such a good team and put our focus into our own individual talents.
The best part about it is all the wonderful customer feedback we receive as they’re always impressed that we make most of our stock!
I’m in the shop most of the time as I use it as my studio. My parents have converted their attic into a creative making studio. Lewis built custom tables for himself and Belinda so they have loads of storage for all the concrete, wax, containers etc.
Penelope: What’s been the best part of building No 46 Park Road together?
Mackenzie: We are a family business that solely runs just the three of us. We all trust and rely on each other heavily so it makes the best team. We don’t have anyone else helping out just because we like to keep it in the family as we work well this way.
We’re all very busy and motivated, when one of us is feeling a bit burnt out then we trust the other to take over for a bit. We’re always coming up with new ideas on how to improve our stock and keep the shop exciting.
"Photographs hold the most nostalgia for me, especially when they’re all laid out in photo albums. My parents have stacks of photo albums on the shelf at home which I love to look back on."
Penelope: At Moma Hilo, we cherish pieces that have been passed down or gifted, carrying stories and memories with them. Do you have a piece of clothing or an object that holds this kind of nostalgia for you? What makes it so special?
Mackenzie: My parents and I are massive minimalists so the main thing we have that holds many memories is the thousands of photos they took of me growing up. Photographs hold the most nostalgia for me especially when they’re all laid out in photo albums. My parents have stacks of photo albums on the shelf at home which I love to look back on.
Penelope: Have any family traditions or values shaped the way you run your business?
Mackenzie: My parents have always been incredibly hardworking, driven people. I’ve always looked up to them massively for that and strive to be that way too. It shapes our business because we are always changing things around and have new ideas.
Customers always tell me that they love how there’s always something new every time they come in. We always experiment with new ideas and listen to feedback.
We all do our best to uplift each other as we all have times when we’re feeling uninspired.
Penelope: Scent is such a powerful thing—it can bring back memories, set a mood, or create a sense of home. Are there any scents that are particularly nostalgic or meaningful for you?
Mackenzie: The smell of the garden on a summers day brings back a lot of good memories growing up at home. We’d always have the back doors wide open and the smell of the trees and the flowers brings that nostalgia back for me.
Penelope: What does a typical day as a business owner look like for you?
Mackenzie: I’m usually in the shop with my easel out painting seascapes or watercolours and commissions.
I feel very lucky that I’m able to do what I love everyday. It’s a beautiful studio space where I can interact with people and they can see my art in the process.
If I’m not painting then I’m lino printing, labelling or reorganising. I’m never bored in the shop, I have a never ending list I write at the start of every week. I love talking to new and regular customers. We have a lot of local regulars and many customers passing through who are happy they’ve discovered us.
Penelope: What’s next for No 46 Park Road? Any exciting projects or dreams in the works?
Mackenzie: We push ourselves more every year with how much we can produce. The business has grown the more we’ve made which has been incredibly encouraging. I want to put all my effort into my art so I can have some little exhibitions in the shop. We keep expanding our range of scents as we take feedback of what customers like most.
I’d like to have more of an online presence as it’s quite hard to manage at the moment as we’re always so busy. Although I do love that we are more of a word of mouth shop!
I’m very happy with how the shop is going and I wouldn’t want to expand to make the shop any bigger. It’s the perfect size to have enough creative freedom and we all feel like we have a strong purpose in the business.
We’d just like to branch out more as in doing more collabs and markets so we have a bit more of a name outside of Crouch End too!
Mackenzie, photographed in her shop - No.46 Park Road
I can't get enough of No. 46's products... which is why we decided to do a special collab exclusively for Moma Hilo customers (if you've ordered from us, you'll know what I'm talking about!)
If you'd like to learn more about them head over to their instagram here.
Or pop into the shop in Crouch End and experience their fabulous products first hand:
46 Park Road
Crouch end
London
N8 8TD