“You can always improve your work/life balance.”

The words might have come right out of Oprah’s mouth but in fact they’re from someone closer to home – Kate Nicholson, a Lennox Head resident, and co-creator of O.B Designs (which stands for Odd Bod in case you’re wondering). The company, which Kate founded with Leesa Hallahan, a graphic designer, makes beautiful and functional toys and gifts for children, which are exported around the world.

It wasn’t a career path that Kate imagined for herself – or that her family imagined for her which she growing up in the US. “It was actually assumed I’d become a doctor or a lawyer,” she says, “but then I was travelling around the world surfing after I’d finished college, with no idea what I wanted to do, and I met my husband, who was from Ballina, while I was in Bali – surfing off Lombok.”

But although true love coaxed her to Australia, Kate still needed a way to create a living, and fortunately she’d already discovered that she had a handy knack for buying and selling.

“I actually supported myself for four years buying and selling jewellery,” she says. “I spent my last $500 in Bali and bought and then sold the jewellery at a profit in Florida – after that I funded myself for all my trips in the South Pacific.”

During that time Kate discovered a few important things about herself. “It’s vital to be self-motivated if you’re going to run your own business,” she says, “and you have to be disciplined, and prepared to keep on growing. It was when I realised that I really didn’t know how to expand my business that I found a job working as an international buyer for a water sports company in Byron Bay – and it really taught me how to manage a business.”

When Kate was on six months maternity leave after her daughter Eve was born, she began to wonder if it might be possible to bring her business acumen to her own project so that she could focus on working from home, rather than a full-time job. Coincidentally she’d found she was disappointed by the toys available for children. “Really it was only Fischer Price, or toys that were really expensive,” she says, “so I began to wonder if it might be possible to create a range of kids’ toys that were attractive, functional and not too expensive.”

Leesa and Kate – the O.B. Design creators.

At the same time Kate had become friends with her co-worker Leesa, and when she approached Leesa with the idea that they might work together, Leesa jumped at the chance. “Leesa created some prototypes of our dingarings – and that was it, they are still one of our best-loved products ten years on.”

Now a mum to three children, Eve, Willow and Hunter – who starts school this year, Kate hasn’t been short of ideas for more toys, and with Leesa the pair of them have dreamt up (mostly over coffees) hundreds of designs that are now sold around the world.

To say it’s taken off is a bit of an understatement. What started as a small project with one little warehouse in Ballina has now spread its wings to a giant warehouse in Sydney.

“What a relief that was,” says Kate. “We got to the stage where we just needed to get other people to package and post all the products, and we found it was more cost-effective to do it from Sydney.”

In terms of how she manages the business, O.B Designs has a Shopify website which syncs with her warehouse and accounting software. After ten years of business based in Australia Kate and Leesa are branching into the USA, which for Kate has the added advantage that she can her family more often.

“I often think about how life has taken me on this journey,” she says. “I think a lot of people give up on the road towards building a successful business perhaps partly because they are either creative or good at management and so Leesa and I are a good mix because we are one of each, with a splash of the other for good measure! At the same time it’s so important to remember that there will always be set-backs, there will always be times when things go wrong and it’s how you get over those times that really counts. We are still absolutely committed to the core ethics of the business – providing beautiful, functional and not too expensive toys to the world, and that’s what keeps us motivated.”

It isn’t hard to imagine that in a few years time there’ll be a book about this extraordinarily successful local business, not to mention inspirational quotes a-plenty from Kate Nicholson.

For more information go to: https://www.obdesigns.com.au/

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Says Lisa:  “For me Mother’s Day is about taking time out to reflect on the importance of the women in all our lives, that have helped in turn make us the women we are.  I love the fact that these subtle pieces reflect, in a soft way, the inner strength we need as women to look after our families and loved ones. These are rough diamonds displaying all the natural colours that are found in diamonds… some are in natural ‘cube’ forms and others shown are polished facet cut stones. The beauty and inherent imperfection of the earth and nature are much more evident in these diamonds and why I find them so appealing.”

HONOURING ALL THE GREAT WOMEN IN OUR LIVES

contact [email protected]
or local stockist Artpiece gallery ..
Sydney stockist  Becker Minty

Or Go to: <https://www.lisablackjewelley.com/
@lisablackjewellery <https://www.instagram.com/lisablackjewellery/>

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Each piece of Lisa Black Jewellery is bespoke, created with the finest gems and Australian 22k gold by a master craftsman in our Byron Bay studio in Australia.  Many items include rare components, ancient and tribal pieces from around the globe. Lisa Black Jewellery combines the magical and the sublime, each piece tells a story and is brought to life by the wearer. Look out for ancient lapis, natural diamonds and spectacular amber pieces.
.

 Dreamcatcher Bangles, ancient Turquoise necklace, Papua New Guinea Tete Seed Earring with fine pearl cluster, Sapphire Malabar Earring, Chalcedony Druse Cocktail Ring, Prehnite and Rose Quartz Mariposa Drop,
Pink Diamond Vermeer Drop, Ancient Chinese Glass Babylon Drop, Papua New Guinea Spirit Neckpiece.

L I S A  B L A C K  J E W E L L E R Y
UNIQUE   EXOTIC  ADORNMENT
TIMELESS TALISMANS INSPIRED BY THE NATURAL WORLD
<https://www.lisablackjewelley.com/> www.lisablackjewelle <https://www.lisablackjewellery.com/> ry.com <https://y.com/>
@lisablackjewellery <https://www.instagram.com/lisablackjewellery/>

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Brands Stevie May, ISLA and Talulah will be offering AW16, SS16 samples, stock, one offs, homewares and vintage at up to 80% off. Prices will be starting at $20.

The post Don’t miss the Locale Group’s local sale appeared first on .

“I’ve travelled extensively this year, which has been great but the most inspirational country was Cambodia,” Lisa says.  “I really loved the myriad carvings and art on the temple walls in Angkor Wat. When I got home I thought for a long time about what I’d seen, and this latest collection of cube or natural diamonds,  is a celebration of the divine feminine that much of the art I saw depicted. I love the fact that the Apsara is both sensual and ethereal. She’s the muse that inhabits the skies but Apsara is also the name of a classic Khmer dance, and to me each piece in this new collection speaks of the angelic in its soft muted colours and sugar candy coating.”

The collection reflects Lisa’s lifelong passion for working with and supporting women’s purposeful action, which she has embodied in a new project, Women Who Wear Black. Begun as a tribute to the myriad of amazing women who have influenced and inspired her creations and our world, this project has been conceived to bring together impassioned women from all walks of life to support other women and children in communities across the world. Lisa Black Jewellery pledges 15% of the proceeds from the Women Who Wear Black soiree sales toward a cause selected by the host. “In the past we’ve supported the Hunger Project and the Anganwadi Project,” she says, “and we invite our peers to reach out to us with ideas and expressions of interest in this work. We are also currently working with a fabulous art director who’s just moved back to the area from New York on our new Look Book, so I’m really looking forward to 2017.”

Lisa Black invites visitors to visit them in our studio by private appointment. Lisa Black has selected pieces at Artpiece Gallery in Mullumbimby, Elements Resort in Byron Bay,the Bangalow Pharmacy in Bangalow, at Becker Minty in Sydney, and at Nili Lotan and Stephen Kahan in New York.

Please visit our website www.lisablackjewellery.com lisablackjewellery , follow us on instagram, @lisablackjewellery, or contact us at info@lisablackjewellery

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Just in time for Christmas – The Locale Group is holding a massive sale of its Talulah, Isla and Stevie May brands next weekend – so if you’re looking for a must-have item of clothing from a group of local designers don’t miss out!

Stevie May designer Cassie Vecchione is thrilled with the success of her Byron Bay label , which launched with its first collection at the beginning of this year.

“Stevie May was a character that we were talking about in the design room for quite some time before it became a reality,” says Vecchione. “We would talk about what sort of a woman she is, feminine, energetic and creative, and everything about her was cool. We decided as a team that there’s no way we can have this amazingly clear idea of the Stevie May woman and then not follow through with it. And so Stevie May was born!”

Stevie May ‘Block Foliage Top’ rrp $180; ‘Block Foliage Shorts rrp $160.

The label launched at MBFWA – a huge achievement considering the Stevie May brand was just an idea a few short months earlier.  “I was so proud of us all,” says Vecchione, “and then again when we became a Myer brand, which was another massive achievement.”

Stevie May launched its debut collection, ‘Odyssey’, in January 2015. The Australian brand showcased an instantly recognisable aesthetic drawn from the modern bohemian lifestyle of Byron Bay and its design team.

 Byron Bay Clearance Sale
Talulah, Isla and Stevie May brands available
Past and present collections
Up to 80% off
18-19 December
1/64 Centennial Circuit, Byron Bay Arts and Industry Area
9am – 5pm

To contact The Locale Group go to: thelocalegroup

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Jewellery designer and horsewoman Jennifer Boyle started out as a photographer, but then she saw the light, and created Dark Horse jewellery…

“I love photography but photographing large events was extremely time consuming,” explains Boyle, who lives on a property not far from Casino.  “If I’d kept going I would never have had the time for my own horses. So the decision to become a designer was partly based on lifestyle because  I really wanted something more flexible that I could work from home with. But having photographic skills helped me immensely with Dark Horse Studio, as I’ve been able to do all my own product and press images.”

Boyle, who has owned horses most of her life, has always been an animal person.  “I’ve also always been very creative,” she says, “and I’ve been able to blend the two.  I thought of the name because I’ve always loved blacked horses – although funnily enough I own several different coloured horses, and none of them are black.”

Dark Horse has been going for five years, and while Boyle has been carefully building her business, she’s also attracted a mass of media attention because of a curious friendship between two of her four-legged friends.  “I’ve got a horse called Champy, and a cat called Morris, and for some reason they made friends,” she says.  “One day Morris simply hopped on Champy’s back, and Champy didn’t mind at all, and since then it’s become a regular occurence.  They’ve been in newspapers and magazines and even on television.”

Morris goes for his daily walk on Champy.

Boyle’s found the antics of her two animal friends a relief to the difficulties of learning to build a business.  “It was hard in the early days,” she says, ” because I was doing everything myself, and it really used to make my head spin. I had to be the photographer, graphic designer, jewellery designer, sales person, book-keeper and website builder – and sometimes I had to be all those things in one day!”  These days she says – “I’ve just got really good at juggling!”

Creating the business has in large part meant working out the market for her unique jewellery.  “I think it’s one of the most fundamental things to work out the best place to market your goods,” she says. “Sometimes places you think will work really well don’t and other places turn out to be wonderful surprises.” In the early days of the business Boyle sold equestrian related items directly to customers at horse events  but nowadays days she’s handling more and more wholesale orders.

“It was always part of the long term plan to be able to mainly sell wholesale,” she says, “and I’m really pleased that the Australian range, and also the merchandise for events and organisations have really started to take off. I’ve progressed into different ranges as well, I still have the equestrian range, but also a Champy & Morris range, Australian animals, farm animals and some dog breeds and I’m always adding more.  I’d like to get to a point where I can donate some of the Australian animal range in particular to help native animal charities on an ongoing basis. It would be great to know that these products have helped animals in some small way.”

“I couldn’t live without my animals,” says Jewellery designer Jennifer Boyle.

A recent growth in the business has been the poularity of her Australian animal range.  “I’ve had a great response to the them,” says the 42-year-old, who was born in Newcastle, but has lived in the Northern Rivers for over a decade.  “There’s really nothing like it, and it means people can buy something small, light, attractive and Australian for overseas gifts as well.”

But no matter how well the jewellery does, and how much she enjoys the process, it’s her animals that are her inspiration.  “It’s my horses and my other animals that get me out of bed each day,” says Boyle.  “I couldn’t live without them.”

For information on Jennifer Boyle go to:

https://www.facebook.com/champyandmorris/

https://www.facebook.com/DarkHorseStudio/?ref=hl

https://twitter.com/jendarkhorse

https://darkhorsestudio.com.au/

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There’s no doubt that little Newrybar, nestled in the hills between Bangalow and Ballina has been transformed from the Whitechapel of the Monopoly Board to Mayfair over the past six years or so, with the expansion of the Harvest cafe and restaurant, the opening of Driftlab and the Harvest Deli and weekend bakery (by brothers Zane and Tristan Grier respectively).

The impressive collection of artisans gathered under the Merchants collective label includes Sibella Court of Society Inc, Jai Vasicek, Patterson and Steele, Shannon Fricke Heart & Home, TigmiTrading morrocan rugs, Fate and Fortune stationery, handmade bespoke leather goods by Wolf & Maiden from Cape Town, and clothing from a few handpicked sources, stocked under the Miller Trading Group umbrella, which includes Todd Miller and his artist wife Diana.

Until recently the Newrybar Merchants store was the much-loved Newrybar Antique Store, which is still present, but in a much smaller way, and the current occupiers have kept the charm of the original 1890’s building, carefully blending country charm with a sophisticated feeel within this somewhat unique retail space.  Another Newrybar institute, Beautiflora, with its weekend cart tucked down at the bottom of the old bakery, has also come on board, and as you go into the shop, the first room on the left is a riot of colour – not to mention creating a wonderful fragrance for the space.

Newrybar Merchants will provide an exciting addition to the already bustling village of Newrybar which features the popular Harvest Café & Deli and Driftlab. It will be sure to become a destination for those seeking a unique retail experience in one of the most beautiful parts of the world.

Newrybar Merchants is located at 19 Old Pacific Highway, NSW (the site of the old Antique store) over the road from Harvest Café. Opening Hours: 9am – 5pm Monday – Sunday.

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When Samson & Bronc designer Sam Drewe finished Year 12 at Shearwater Steiner School in 2010, he was determined to do two things. The first was to find a livelihood that would enable him to continue living in the Northern Rivers region, and the second was to continue to own and ride horses, despite the well-meaning advice from friends and family who all told him he would have to head for a city to find work and establish his brand.

Fast forward five years and these days Sam’s morning commute to work is a mere ten paces across a garden to the handsome wooden horse barn that houses not only the family stables, but also the Samson & Bronc office where Sam and his life and work partner, Brendon Thurgate, work at creating the next move to expand their increasingly successful lifestyle and fashion product range.

Brendon Thurgate (left), and Sam Drewe in their barn/office…

“I started the Samson & Bronc brand as a clothing label the year after I left school and I experimented with a couple of ranges,” says Sam, “then I met Brendon and we became the Samson & Bronc team. I’d always known that I wanted to be a lifestyle designer and as we began to develop my clothing range we realised that we also wanted to branch out into some other lifestyle products, and the idea came to us to create a range of candles.”

Within eight months of launching their candle range they are stocked in stores from Brisbane to Melbourne, and as far west as Armidale, as well, of course as in the Northern Rivers, and in the Byron region where they live.

The pair wanted to create a quality range of candles with an artisan feel which would also reflect the environmentally friendly ethos of the Northern Rivers region. After working on a business plan, they decided to produce a range of handmade, eco-friendly candles crafted exclusively from local materials and recycled bottles sources from local restaurants and cafes. They use soy wax and local natural oils to perfume the candles which include such evocative fragrances as Fig Forest, Tropical Coconut, Orange and Cinammon, Passionflower, Black Bamboo and Lily and Exotic Woods.

‘The Phoenix collection name came from one of our off the track racehorses,” says Sam.  “We thought his name was perfect for him because he was resurrected to a new life as a performance horse.  Plus Phoenix seemed like a great name for a candle range with its connotation of the mythical bird, and its fiery rebirth.” 

As well as working together in the business, Brendon has also taken up riding, and any particular day sees them dividing their time between their business, and the horses. “We’re lucky because when we need to take time out from work, all we have to do is walk a few metres, get our horses and go riding – and, sometimes if the horses are being frustrating, it’s a relief to go to work!”

They’re also lucky enough to live within coeee of one of the Northern Rivers most popular eateries – The Harvest at Newrybar. Not only do the couple get their daily caffeine hit there, but The Harvest Deli stocks their candles, and their most recent addition to their products – a vintage inspired range of diffusers. “We’re not into mass production,” says Brendon, “and everything we do has an individual feel to it. Our candles, for instance, are hand-made so no two are identical.”

Sam (left) with Benji, a rescue horse, and Brendon with Zorro.

An example of their drive to produce exclusive products was when they wanted to create a special candle fragrance for Mother’s Day. “I wanted to design a candle that would fill a room with warmth and love – but also with a story,” says Sam.

Sam remembered his mother talking about his great-grandmother and great-grandfather, and the rose garden they’d created together in the garden of their villa in Bulgaria. “When the Second World War broke out, my great-grandmother had to leave Bulgaria for England with her five children. She never saw Frank again. He was killed in Egypt, but many years later Eva showed my mother letters from him talking about how one day they would recreate their Bulgarian rose garden.”  When Sam also discovered that Bulgarian Rose Otto was the most highly prized fragrant essential oil in the world, the story and the perfume came together. The Bulgarian Rose candle is now exclusively sold at Millar & More in Bangalow.

Sam cites American fashion and lifestyle product designer Ralph Lauren as an inspiration. He sees the Samson & Bronc label branching out, in time, into a whole range of clothing and lifestyle products. “I’ve seen how quickly a product made with love can become popular and I’m totally inspired by Ralph Lauren,” says Sam. “He started-off making and selling ties to small shops in New York and he was soon approached by Neiman Marcus and of course he’s gone on to build an empire. We really want to create quality clothing and lifestyle products infused with the beauty of the Byron Bay region that are stocked in shops and department stores around the world,” adds Sam.

They’re certainly on the right track.

Northern Rivers stockists include The Harvest Deli, Flowers at the Farm, Millar & More, Cactus Hill Project and Resouled.  To see the full list and the Samson & Bronc range of candles, clothing and lifestyle products go to: https://www.samsonandbronc.com.au/

The post Lifestyle, livelihood and living the dream… appeared first on .

These beautiful hand-made soy wax candles in recycled bottles come from local Northern Rivers designers Samson & Bronc – who have a special story behind their Mother’s Day Bulgarian Rose candle.

Sam remembered his mother talking about his great-grandmother and great-grandfather, and the rose garden they’d created together in the garden of their villa in Bulgaria. “My great-grandfather, Frank, was an English diplomat and Eva was an Irish nurse, and they met in Varna where they married and had a family. They had a huge garden, and they filled it with roses. When the second World War broke out, my great-grandmother had to leave Bulgaria for England with her five children. She never saw Frank again. He was killed in Egypt, but many years later Eva showed my mother letters from him talking about how one day they would recreate their Bulgarian rose garden.”

When Sam also discovered that Bulgarian Rose Otto was the most highly prized fragrant essential oil in the world, the story and the perfume came together.

“We chose Bulgarian Rose for so many reasons – roses are a symbol of love,” he says, “and this candle is created for a love story – we’re proud of this candle, and we hope it lights up your Mother’s Day.”

Get your Samson & Bronc Mother’s Day Candle from The Harvest Deli, Flowers at the Farm, Bangalow Post Office, Millar & Moore and various Loot stores.

To order online go to samsonandbronc/candles/

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