The spirit behind Choosing Keeping originates from Jeuvell’s childhood. Moving between France, Japan, and the United Kingdom, she says, “I never had a good sense of home. Objects were things that, from one house to another, I took along with me. I still have a lot of my desk contents from Japan in perfect order, and my pencil sets are immaculate. I really cared for them; they were more than the objects themselves, they were a little bit of grounding. A sense of continuity.” After a period working in commercial art galleries, she leased a small shop front on Columbia Road, the East London street known for its famous flower market, on a whim in 2012. “I spent a lot of time making museum labels as a gallery assistant,” she notes—so for her first store, she went with white walls and timber floors painted grey, displaying a set of objects she had collected from a 2500 km trip on her bike around Sweden, all labeled with their origin and first year of production. (The items swiftly sold out.)
Equally inspired by stores like New York’s now-closed Kiosk and the specialty haberdashery shops of Paris, she moved the store to Covent Garden in 2018—more easily accessible for her loyal customer base from all over London (and to her surprise, excited people from around the world). On a street that feels tucked away but is only a stone’s throw from one of the busiest shopping roads in London, Choosing Keeping is a destination for those inspired to find souvenirs and gifts that have been sourced for their integrity: beautifully wrapped, and intended to be kept and cherished.
