Hidden Gems: Meet Christian Leon of Here & Always

Today we’d like to introduce you to Christian Leon.

Hi Christian, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
Simply put, we built Here & Always because we couldn’t find a place where we could gift beautifully wrapped, intentional pieces made by hands and hearts that actually reflected our own. All in one place, in one easy experience. So we set out to build that.

A marketplace that openly champions inclusivity, diversity and purpose. Like the candles and treasured objects we carry, the artisans creating everyday luxuries here are beautifully diverse: queer, first-gen, immigrant, independent, and allies; and here their stories are uplifted, because they matter. That’s what “at-home luxury” means to us. It’s not just nice things for your shelf. It’s care, made by real people, not mass retail.

The funny part is, it didn’t even start as “let’s build a marketplace.” Zion has always had this dream of having a literal gift-wrapping room, Candy Spelling style, and I’ve always been that person who goes way too hard around holidays and gifting. We’re both obsessed with home renovation and timeless design. So we always knew whatever we did together would live in that space: home, objects, gifting, and beauty.

Last year we made the decision to fully leave corporate and build something with purpose. The first idea was honestly pretty simple: wrapping paper and packaging that reflected us. The diaspora of LGBTQ+ life, chosen families, and designs that honored our family roots and heritage. Things you don’t often see, and still should. The plan was to sell on an existing marketplace and keep it moving.

But once we dug into how those sites actually work, it wasn’t great. The way they profit when small brands don’t succeed, the costs and hurdles involved to get favorable placements. And at the same time, we started to see most major retailers rolling back DEI and showing that “support” was seasonal marketing. That’s when it clicked. Why are we giving our work, and our community’s work, to systems that aren’t built to return anything back?

So Here & Always became bigger than just a product. It became a home that could hold all the voices we wanted to uplift. A place built by us, for us, where the value flows back to the makers and the communities it came from. Where different identities and rituals can stand side by side and the person behind the work isn’t erased—we say who made it, and share their stories proudly. That’s the origin.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Taste vs Values. We refused to choose between design and thoughtful sourcing. That meant more research, more conversations with artisans, and saying “not yet” to products that were almost right.

Craft vs Margin. Reusable keepsake packaging, recycled materials, and small-batch production don’t automatically play nice with startup math. We quickly learned to redesign, simplify where needed, and remove anything that didn’t add meaning along the way.

Infrastructure vs Story. We’re a marketplace, not a single-SKU brand. That meant building all the tech/ops (Shopify stack, fulfillment logic, product data, reviews) while writing a story that could hold many voices and still sound uniquely like us.

The “this is real” moment honestly came when we delivered our first fully packaged gift boxes. We hand delivered them in Here & Always gift bags to our very first artisan-partners, Ely and Brenda at Earthy Corazon. Watching as they felt the embossing of the packaging, finally seeing our collaboratively created candles in their packaging, and then admiring their personalized matchboxes –– feeling as if we accomplished what we set out to create. Beyond an unforgettable unboxing experience, it felt like an invitation, a memory. That was the moment it felt like we weren’t just launching a product: we were launching a ritual, a community. That changed everything for us.

Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Here & Always?
We are luxury gifting site, design to celebrate every moment. Because every moment deserves to be celebrated.
Not just big milestones. The check-in. The first apartment. The I’m-proud-of-you. We believe every story deserves a gift and that actually feels personal. But making that kind of gift is usually work. You’re hunting for something with taste, finding a maker you trust, figuring out wrap. Here & Always brings it into one place so you can send something meaningful, without doing all of that yourself.

We believe that luxury isn’t just about price or shine, it’s about love. Love for the people who create, love for the materials used and the planet in the process, and love for the moments our objects will inhabit. So ‘where love lives’ is every place where love actually lives, workshops and kitchens, dining tables and studios, with communities that have learned to create beauty in spite of adversity. Every product, partnership, and story begins from that place. It’s our reminder that the truest luxury is belonging — being seen, celebrated, and supported. That’s where love lives, and that’s where we were born.

Can you talk to us a bit about happiness and what makes you happy?
Being queer-founded and LA-based is our foundation. Our identity and origins inform everything we do, and we’ve learned that visibility matters, that luxury doesn’t have to exclude queer, BIPOC or allied voices and communities, and that home can become a sanctuary of authenticity.

Los Angeles is a city of reinvention, of diversity, of layers, and it reminds us daily that culture isn’t homogeneous, that style and substance co-exist.

In the current moment, when social and political pressure on marginalized identities is real, this doesn’t mean we build only in response to adversity, it means we’re building for ‘what’s possible’. A marketplace where queerness or diversity isn’t a search filter, but part of the fabric. Where the makers we uplift reflect a broad spectrum of identities and experiences. Where our aesthetics are not coded for the few but open to the many.

It also means responsibility. Being rooted in LA means we engage with community, local artisans, global reach yet local heart. It means we’re building toward a ripple effect: job creation, visibility, inclusive luxury for all. For us, it means every object that ships from Here & Always carries the imprint of someone who didn’t have to leave their identity behind to make something beautiful, and that matters, now more than ever.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://hereandalways.com
• Instagram: @byhereandalways
• Facebook: @byhereandalways

Image Credits
All photos owned by Here & Always