Lake and Loch? Lake & Loch? LAKE&LOCH?
We are LAKE&LOCH.
When we were setting up, we wanted a name that would evoke not only where we're from but who we are. Although I am Canadian, I have lived in Scotland for almost 12 years (!) and consider myself an honorary Glaswegian (hope that's ok). Initially, I came to Glasgow in 1999 as an exchange student at the University of Glasgow and like most people, fell almost immediately in love with the city and people.
After completing my degree in Canada, I would often come back to visit and finally decided in 2006, to make the leap across the water. It was scary, sometimes isolating but often exhilarating. 10 years later I decided to do something equally as scary and leave a secure job to start up my own business.
Growing up in Canada, I did typical Canadian things: spent summers at camps learning life skills you don't appreciate at the time (how to paddle and navigate in a canoe, for example) and growing up beside Lake Ontario, also spent many summer days at the Sandbanks. Not to mention, of course, many summer days also camping in Algonquin Park without the torture of midges.
Camping last autumn at Algonquin Park
When I decided to start LAKE&LOCH, I couldn't have done it without my Scottish husband, who is the LAKE to my LOCH. From helping with design, to helping at markets, and to carrying massive boxes of beanies, he is part and parcel to the operation. Also, like most Canadians of European heritage, I am descended from a Scot: John Neely of Anderston, Glasgow. And without the early Scottish settlers to Canada, the face of Canada would probably look a whole lot different.
And so, although we are two people from two different nations, we share a common history.
We are LAKE&LOCH.
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