Chris & Kara, Adelaide SA

Who are you?

We are husband and wife duo, Chris and Kara Town. Owners of stationery company AHD PAPER CO. We’ve been married for eight years and running AHD Paper Co. for four.

Where are you from?

Chris: Sydney

Kara: Adelaide

Currently we live in Adelaide, we have been here for the past year now, with no plans to move in the near future, we are enjoying the slower paced life far too much.

How did you meet?

We met through a mutual friend, here in Adelaide. Chris was preparing to go back to Sydney to live, we fell in love and that was that. We met in late January 2006, were engaged by March, then married in early September that same year, we have been inseparable ever since; a crazy gamble, that certainly paid off.

We currently work full-time for ourselves, we run our stationery company AHD PAPER CO. We curate and manufacture collections of greeting cards and wrap by artists from both Australia and overseas. On the side….

Chris: Artist

Kara: I’m also the co-founder and creative director behind NEST | TOGETHER, an online journal I started with my friend Sanam, who is based in Seattle.

K: I often wake up early, peruse the internet for an hour or two, drink coffee, and work on NEST. Chris then wakes up around eight, we get in the car, walk or run along our local beach for an hour, then home, more coffee, fresh juice, shower and straight into work by 9:30.

Music- we love to play music rather loudly in the evening when cooking dinner, and on the weekends.

Swimming- our local beach is generally deserted mid-afternoon during the week, it’s like being on our own private island.

Getting our hands dirty- we both love physical work, whether it be gardening, painting, building; we love to make and do with our hands.

Our boys- we are animal people and our cats, for now, are our babies. Hopefully there are chooks and a dog in our near future?!

Work- we have built a wonderful work rhythm over the past four years, and are very proud of that. We love the jobs we have created for ourselves, and look forward to going to work each day.

Would it be too much to say each other?!

We made the conscious decision years ago not to have a television in our home, so we tend to wind down with a program in bed and a cup of tea.

We rarely eat breakfast, so it is usually a fresh juice concoction and coffee. But occasionally I bake a fresh loaf of bread first thing, which we will devour with butter.

Freshly mowed suburban lawns in Spring.

What’s on your bedside table?

Would you believe we don’t have bedside tables?! Working on that!

Favourite sound to fall asleep to?

Sid, our Burmese, purring. We take turns spooning him, sad but true.

Tips for a restful nights sleep?

Work hard during the day.

Copious amount of coffee in the morning. A single cup of Earl Grey tea at night.

Best solution for Monday morning blues?

Gosh, I’m pleased to report we’ve not had those in ages, I guess that’s one of the many upsides to being your own boss.

Home. If you hadn’t guessed it already, we are (unashamedly) homebodies.

All images courtesy of Chris & Kara Town. For more from this brilliant duo check out AHD PAPER CO. and the beautiful NEST | TOGETHER.