Keeping Up with Wit and Delight Founder Kate Arends

Wearer of many hats—designer, mother, and founder of Wit and Delight—Kate Arends has built her brand on the idea of “designing a life well-lived.” Be it through her blog, Instagram, branded partnerships, or product collections, Arends captures and exudes her passion for thoughtful design. 

This year inspired some serious soul-searching for the content creator as she rethought how she wanted to show up in the digital space and make more room for play—and projects that fill her cup. As the world of influencer marketing evolved, Arends was fighting to get excited about some of the work she was doing. “I could really feel myself burning out,” she says. 

Arends recently announced to her Instagram family her decision to take a step back from writing and collaborating with brands under the Wit and Delight name. Since then, she’s launched House Call, a Substack newsletter dedicated to delving deep into the motivations behind why we work tirelessly on our homes and how personal touches add meaning. 

Through more intimate, reader-supported essays and posts, House Call aims to help people solve interior design challenges and give behind-the-scenes glimpses into Arends’s own projects—both personal (she’s currently putting her own playful twist on her St. Paul colonial rambler) and client-facing. Her current client project, Nine Pines, a 1980s Mendota Heights home filled with ornate details, is her foray into designing in a more hands-on capacity.

“House Call is a different way of expressing what Wit and Delight means, and during this time of transition, I wanted to find a way to talk to people more directly,” says Arends, who always felt the most energizing creative conversations were had one-on-one. “I want to peel back the layers and help people realize it’s OK for our homes to not always be perfect.” Arends refers to it as therapy-meets-design.

The W&D brand will continue to live through Arends’s product collections: notably, Wit and Delight for Target, a line of desk and home organization essentials developed in 2018 that remains a bestseller for the locally based retailer. Arends also recently launched her first limited-edition homewares collection with Etsy, which reflects how she likes to entertain at home and what was missing in her vast personal linen collection—block-printed linen cabana-striped napkins, Swiss dot ruffled-edge place mats, and a tone-on-tone floral table runner. “I like to set tables the way people get dressed,” says Arends. “Who’s coming over; what’s the vibe and story I want to tell?”

Though a limited run, her Etsy collab marks just the beginning of her role as a home product designer, so we can keep our eyes peeled for more drops down the road. Psst: Arends also teases she’s currently working on a book deal on what’s sure to be yummy design porn fit for the coffee table.