I’m going to let you in on a little secret… Me: I moved to Australia 7 years ago with my son and husband who had been raving about how great his hometown Newcastle was for years. Our relationship didn’t last long after the move but my love for Newcastle and Australia grew and grew. So, I found myself single and a long way from home with a curly haired 3 year old and no money. Being a mother and working is, let’s be honest, bloody hard at the best of times. The hours of the jobs I was offered didn’t...
We'd like to introduce you to Alina... We discovered Alina through her instagram account @thecalmandthechaos and instantly felt joyful and overwhelmed with admiration in equal measure! Not only does her home encapsulate the phrase "pop of colour", it also shines with love and playfulness while remaining a practical space for her 7 children to grow up in. We challenged this busy mama to style her Shorty in Mustard in three ways and love what she's done with it! Tell us a little about you… Hola! I’m Alina and I’m a large family mum to seven children. We live in sunny rural Queensland and enjoy every moment...
16th February 2018. Wake up at 6 am, 1 hour commute to work, 9 hours at work, leave, travel to Heathrow and jump on a plane. One outfit change, a little bit of sleep and 4 movies later I arrive in Sydney to four very smiley people - my sister Becca, her husband Jono, and their sons Dylan and Ellis, the best nephews in the world! But before I can even see the Australian sun, the work begins on the car journey home. Making plans for every minute of the next few days as we were about to launch our new brand: Mustard. Were...
Here's a few little details that you may not know... 1. They are 100% magnetic! You can use magnets to stick postcards, photos and to-do lists anywhere on the locker! 2. Inside the door you have our 'Emma' hook to hang things (one in The Shorty, two in The Skinny). Perfect for a little mirror, headphones a photo frame or as our friend Emma suggested, necklaces! 3. They arrive to you flat packed. But don’t worry, we promise they are easy to put together! You can watch our how-to videos here. 4. You only need to screw in two screws for the handle, that's all, everything else...
Today I woke up (and Jess went to bed) to this article going live on The Design Files. If you don't know, it is 'Australia's Top Design Blog' so it's kind of a BIG deal. The truth is, I also felt a moment of panic, the imposter syndrome kick in, the 'what if I'm found out' moment. It may or may not surprise you to know that I have screwed a lot of things up with Mustard already, there are things I'd already like to go back and redo. It may or may not surprise you that every day I...
It may sound strange to say that my first business was not about making money. Yes, I wanted some shiny coins in my pocket and yes I sure did have bills to pay but I also rarely checked my bank account or chased up payments that hadn’t been made. The money would flow in and, of course, flow out of my business account. It worked. There was nearly always money in the kitty for what I needed but the truth is, it just wasn’t what turned me on. In Australia wages are sensibly high and award wages mean that I would...
Ok, so we aren't exactly pros by any means (this was our first trade show after all!) but here's some things we learnt from doing Life Instyle: 1. Be human. (Most important!) You can't help it, you are human, don't try to hide it. Sometimes we jumbled our words, forgot things, dropped business cards on the floor. It's ok. You know the best thing? The person you are talking to is a human too. 2. Be prepared. Think about the questions you might be asked and prepare a memory bank of answers, practice and get familiar with them. Even better...
To celebrate International Women's Day Tinitrader asked to interview me along side four inspiring women. Gosh what an honour!
Here's my favourite bit from a long term girl-crush of mine, Rachel Castle:
"Im such a motto lover. But if I had to pick one it would be that good old chestnut about working hard and staying humble. I work as hard now as I ever had, the only way to get any traction is to just keep going like Dory does."
To read the full article click here, enjoy!
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Sometimes in life you have to put all your eggs in one basket. At least that's how I seem to live. From the very beginning, when the idea of Mustard was taking shape, I knew that I wanted to launch at Life InStyle. I knew that wholesale was where our energy needed to be focused to gain momentum and Life InStyle was the perfect platform for the brand we wanted to create. I did the research and looked into other options, I asked everyone I knew who had done a trade show. But, in the end there was only a Plan...
One night I said to my husband, “I just need to go to China.” He is fairly well adapted to my spontaneous nature and knows that I am not someone who will ask for permission and wasn’t born with a very large supply of patience. I had been emailing and skyping with my potential supplier in China for a few months and establishing what the parameters of possibility were. Could I have lockers any size or shape? Could I choose the design of the key? How are they packaged and can I customise that? How on earth do you get...
The day I first came up with the idea of creating beautiful lockers I was walking along the beach with my sister, we were dreaming out loud about what might be next for me after having a baby. The seed grew rapidly from there and it didn’t take me long to get lost in cyberspace trying to learn all I could about how to get lockers made, who makes them and where. You see, having grown a micro handmade business from scratch with not much more than a hammer and some old cutlery, I had learnt a few things that...
