Jordan Lee and Matthew Guevara have debuted a new shop, The Public Pet, and it is perfect, whether or not you have furry four-legged friends.
Text by Kelli Gratz
Images by Jonas Maon
When Jordan Lee and Matthew Guevara have time off from their new boutique, The Public Pet, world travels, and other projects, you may find them walking around their neighborhood with their two dogs (or “babies,” as Lee fondly calls them), Lola and Pfeiffer, who are also regulars at the couple’s shop. “They are ultimately the reasons … why we are opening a pet goods store,” Lee says, showing me a photo of them just like a proud parent would.
In February, the couple debuted The Public Pet, an urban pet supply store. Their aim is to give local designers a platform to create something great for local cats and dogs, so fittingly, it carries goods from Raw Dog Hawaii, Roberta Oaks, Toby Adams, Dee Oliva, and A.Wattz Dezigns. Two years in the making, The Public Pet is inspired by similar boutiques in San Francisco. To stock it, the duo tapped local creators, scoured Instagram for product they enjoyed, and also reached out to companies they thought aligned with their values and aesthetics, such as Dog for Dog, Grounds and Hounds, and Wildebeest. Product arrives regularly at The Public Pet, keeping pet owners, and Lee and Guevara, inspired.
Lee is well-known Honolulu creative with an iron-clad work ethic and an energetic design philosophy. He has served Honolulu businesses such as Paiko as a talented visual designer—a skill that overflows into the boutique space. (Guevara is a flight attendant who brings inspiration back with him from his trips around the world.) When Lee left his hometown of Mililani in 2003 to study interior architecture and design at the Academy of Art in San Francisco, where he met Guevara, he had no idea that they would call Honolulu home nearly a decade later. When they returned, Lee befriended small business owners in the neighborhood of Kakaʻako. “They’re all around my age,” he says. “That’s really what inspired me to open up my own store.”
For more information about The Public Pet, visit thepublicpet.com.
