Home Stories: Emma Batchelor

Posted on 18 August, 2017

To get to Emma’s place in Harrison, I followed the construction path of the light rail project from Civic right to the doorstep of the apartment.

Canberra is changing and seeing all the new developments along the way is testament to that (we just need to turn that Mitchell landfill into some kind of flower mountain, otherwise it might be depressing seeing that out the window as you come into work every morning).

From the outside, many of the high-density townhouses in Harrison look very similar, but just like with people, it’s really what’s on the inside that counts … and Emma’s place is a good case in point. Her home is distinguished by a quirky mix of vintage style with modern comforts.

It would have been super easy to go to Freedom and source matching furniture throughout the house, but instead Emma put in real effort to individualise her place with custom upholstered Parker chairs, unique and colourful decorations, a tonne of fashion-related books and an even larger amount of cat-related items.

So what’s with all the cats? Well, she is a self-pronounced cat lady and, because her cats (many of them adopted) are staying at her mum’s place, this is how she fills the void. Usually admitting you have a problem is the first step to a cure, but for our sake, I hope she goes untreated. After all, don’t we all need people in our lives with awesome cat pillows, pictures and slippers?

Speaking of slippers, you probably noticed the size and presentation of the wardrobe right? Anyone who puts that much effort into storing and showcasing their items of clothing must be involved in fashion—and indeed Emma is. She runs Leiden Magazine; a fashion, style and wellbeing online magazine. It’s about a year old and a huge passion project that takes up all her nights and days, minus the moments she works in retail jobs.

Emma is actually a tertiary-educated scientist—though just like many, the main thing she learned when she finished her degree was that science wasn’t her bag.

Instead, writing about fashion and style was, so she dived head first into Leiden Magazine and now there are around 30 people working with her to make Leiden what it is today. On a related side note, our Victor (the photographer, in case you missed it) used to be a venue manager, a hip hop artist and had a short stint as a one of those guys in a factory that stuffs sawdust into teddy bears, before he found his true passion and took up photography.

See, it’s a good thing we follow our passions otherwise I would never meet Emma, my blog would have no pretty pictures, and I’d probably be boring you all with food reviews.