“Why did you name the company ‘Léon & Lucie’”?

I was working on a bespoke order recently, and the client was curious about the origin of our company’s name. I’ve promised a blog post to answer this question, so here it goes.

The short answer is: Léon and Lucie are my maternal grandparents.

My grandmother is every bit of the vivacious Congolese septuagenarian that you have in your imagination. My grandfather passed almost two years ago. Losing him, left me with a cocktail of feelings that I wasn’t expecting. The sadness I was expecting was accompanied with an insatiable drive to “do something.”

There is something about the “child of immigrant” experience that feels like you’re a part of a mission. Africa is a glorious place, with beautiful people, valuable natural resources and an magnetic essence that is difficult to put in to words. With all its beauty, glory and strength, it is a continent that requires a balance of blessing, fortitude, diligence and unmerited favor in order to thrive. For this reason, many people emigrate to lands of opportunity.

My maternal grandparents were no exception, and my grandfather came to the United States to earn his Ph.D. and then return with his education, to positively impact the Democratic Republic of Congo. In the process, he afforded his entire family the opportunity to join him. That included my beautiful mom. That of course, is a sanitized version of his life story. He had challenges and hardships both at home and abroad, but at all times his focus was providing a better life for his descendants.

I felt something like a fire to do something to preserve his legacy, or perhaps not take his sacrifices for granted. So, I started to draw, a practice that I had casually entertained throughout the years, but hadn’t honored. I wanted to positively represent African culture and beauty for those of us, in the diaspora, who wanted deeply to sustain the life of their culture abroad. I believe in the power of business to do good, so I decided to sell products with the images that I drew.

I needed a name for the company that symbolized the space where Africa meets its diaspora, and celebrated by mom (much more about her to come) My grandfather was a catalyst, so I wanted his name to be included. My grandmother Lucie was in many ways my lens of African culture, unfiltered by Western bias. Her style, lessons, perspectives and food connected me to her home. So, it seemed fitting to name the business after them both.

Chantal is founder of Leon & Lucie, LLC, a company that creates African-inspired products and curates inspiring stories about women. Connect with her at info@leonandlucie.com. You can visit their site at leonandlucie.com and instagram at instagram.com/leonandlucie.