a career in design, presented by a scientist

Greetings all,

Wow, tomorrow i'm part of the Experts on Tap at my daughter's high school - to chat about my industry, design, to impressionable & wide eyed year 10 students who no doubt have hopes & dreams of fame & fortune.  I have no fear of public speaking but have warned the vocation teachers that my qualifications are in the sciences, i made up my own handmade sewing & design business from scratch in the last millenium.  Please don't let them ask me which courses to enrol in at university or college or tafe or life!!
I am sure the accountants talking about accounting & doctors talking about doctoring all had clear paths to their careers.  How do i talk about a career i moulded around the fact i had to create an job around a bunch of small children, at home, without help, moving interstate every couple of years, i couldn't do weekend markets & it was before the internet was in everyone's home/ phone/ workplace??  I know, i made it happen, somehow.  I guess i'll twist it around to a discussion point on how to move with the times, be flexible & constantly developing, embracing technology & accepting your family situation.  OMG, i can hear myself saying "it was so much harder back in my day" & pull up a rocking chair!!  The world of 'commercial design' has changed, mums sewing at home & small scale handmade cottage industry has made a come back (500 years after it started)!!

I really want to emphasise a basis of natural creativity, finding your own style, niche even & building on it.  I am spatial so made all my own patterns for everything, saves risk of copyright or . . . copying!!  Hope there is an lawyer there to chat about intellectual property & how someone can crush your dreams by stealing your unprotected idea.  You also have to have a good dose of confidence, you are kind of showing your heart & soul to the world with what you create.  You have to keep going forward all the time. 

 Keeping overheads down - i didn't start buying bolts until a few years into my business when i truly knew my style & what my customers would like.  It's tempting to take out a loan & buy up big, but i say "selling out is a good thing, your clients will be hungry for your next range".  Do small product runs, be exclusive & special.

 Make, make, make - your own gifts, products for yourself & samples for sale to get a feel for what the market is after.  Craft is no longer a dirty word, handmade is now cherished & small boutiques are really cutting into major department store sales these days.  Keep fine tuning your skills & tweaking product ranges.  Be careful to use words like "unique" or "original" unless you really mean "one off".  If you're making dozens of the same thing, make each one slightly different - be it fabric, a small ribbon detail or size.

 You're spoilt for choice these days for places to sell your products - etsy, MadeIt, eBay, FaceBook - all offer low cost/ low investment on line shops.  Not to mention the endless stream of gorgeous handmade/ craft markets out there, for stall fee.  Advertising - social media of blogs, FB etc are brilliant marketing tools.  I believe THE designer should be able to present the best PR for their own business, especially for those "you are YOUR product" businesses.  If not, there are plenty of fabulous companies who can help.

Getting into magazines/ published is such a thrill, once you're on their 'call out' list, it's the best glossy magazine free advertising you can get (free = cost to send them the products).
So as i put my 'key messages' together in my mind & worry about what to wear . . . i mean . . . what i should tell these girls, who might be overwhelmed at the thought of being 15 years old & ever confident about anything, versus those who diss me & insist they'll be the next Sass&Bide, i think i'll approach them from the good old Q&A session.  I'll do an introduction about how/ when/ why i started to my journey to where i am now, where i want to go & then ask them what they want to know & how to grasp opportunities, if a mentor might help & who to trust or include in their business.  I'm all about 'love what you do' but it has to pay the bills & be realistic about covering costs - or should i leave them dreaming?? 

I have to do this 4 times for 30 minutes to 4 seperate groups.  Should i take props??  If i feel i'm losing them, should i let slip my daughter in lowly year 7 was the cool one putting up the super popular "You're Awesome" posters to gain some street cred??  Wish me luck, teenagers are lovely & keen to learn that this is one career built on a lot of hard work, long hours & a dash of failure, aren't they??  Love Posie

accepting the Stylish Blogger award & happy 400 followers . . .

Greetings all,
I've seen lots of blogs accepting their Stylish Blogger awards, it's really fun to read their '7 things'.  I have been nominated half a dozen times (that is not meant as 'good GOD i'm stylish') but i wasn't speedy enough to accept the first couple a month ago.  In the past week Tammi Little Poppa & Me, Brenda Hoo Are You Lookin' At, Bianca Bigwords & Heidi Bord & Butik have nominated my blog . . . thanks ladies, i wonder if they were just being kind, like i'd been left out??  It's also great timing as a 'next 100 follower' hello like i did when i reached 200 followers, then 300 followers.  Welcome new folk, i'll bring you up to speed with what i'm about . . .   

So here goes my 7 things, i'm going to make them all about style . . .

1. i love style, classic fashion, accessories & try to keep my look interesting not trendy

2. i dress my husband like a catalogue model for fun, nice change from his uniform

3. i am really fussy with the clothes i buy my children & let them decide how to wear them

4. i love sets of things, matching Nigella Lawson mixing bowls, KitchenAid red appliances & endless Tupperware

5. my dream car is a cute Audi A3 in yellow (middle aged lady car which screams no-more-school-runs, i'll be 46 when my last child finishes high school & be at the Audi dealership that afternoon) & i can retire my 8 seater 4WD which screams 'large family + extras'

6. we are planning to build a homestead on a farm near Canberra in a couple of years, we're designing a simple spacious home in blues & neutrals, with verandah around the whole house, pool, green house, barn/ garage & grow all our own vegetables in high garden beds - i'm practising now, my lastest addition . . . pumpkins, onions & carrots

7. my husband only had big sisters so when i met him, he had style beaten into him already, we rarely clash on choosing things for our home, we still have the original furniture from when we married in 1997 (we've updated lounges to King Furniture & obviously added 4 single beds) but we still have the same daggy-pine-young-newly-wed bedroom furniture . . . so we can start a fresh when we move into our OWN home & out of Army housing!!
Thanks for reading, following, giggling & sharing with my blog journey so far.  Love Posie
EDIT: we have collected KitchenAid since we got married, first the blender, then mixer, saucepans & mega stock pot, the toaster 3 years ago & most recently at Christmas, the food processor (which is like using a power tool, scary until you know how!!)  My kitchen ideas are accented with reds with a black & white tiled floor (i've had 4 Army houses with the same grey speckled lino on the kitchen floor, a girl has to dream) & we have cherry red Le Crueset cast iron saucepans, love & collect them too.  As for King Furniture, it's the best, we saved up 10 years for the Jasper, then got a Delta II.

styling is a fishy business

Greetings all,

The fish are gathering in numbers at our place. 
Ever since my manipulative well meaning sister gave my eldest daughter a fish for Christmas, the other children wanted one.  Seems pretty harmless, a school holiday activity.  I'm good at keeping children, plants & a dog alive, how hard can fish be??  Flash back to burying a Siamese Fighting Fish (complicated) earlier in the week, i asked the 'fish&chip shop' for simple, uncomplicated fish to keep alive.  My sister's original complicated fish lives on, very strong & beautiful. 

5 fantales for $20 seemed reasonable + $40 in plants, food, conditioner . . . & voila, here they are in the giant glass vases i bought mid week, with the pebbles & shells i teased you with in yesterday's post.

 After conditioning the water & balancing the temperature, they were released from their plastic travel bag into their new stylish homes.

 This large bowl is in our son's room, he loves it.  I think the blue Shanghai fighting ship mixed with the green ukelele from Hawaii screams for a styling award, non??  Especially teamed with a red bird house . . . ironic, eclectic, original, unique.  The art of unpredictable styling, that's my boy.  

 I had a fabulous green plant for this smaller bowl below, however, it proved a useless prop & space hog, so i'll get them a larger bowl tomorrow.  This is in the twin bedroom.

 I love my twin girl's idea of styling here, do you think the fish are happy with a sushi loving kokeshi doll hovering nearby OR the oven OR the glow in the dark light up IKEA pussy cat??  I wonder if fish suffer from stress??

I didn't want fish, now i kind of like them.  I don't like boxy fish tanks, now i love these huge shapely vases.  I wonder what i can find tomorrow . . . i mean stylish fish bowl substitutes, not more fish!!  Stop me!!  I also have to stop calling the Pet & Aquarium the 'fish&chip shop' it really annoys the children.  FYI we eat fish & chips about once a year so no idea why it keeps slipping out!!  Love Posie
PS I'm scheduling my posts to update after midnight, so they are fresh for the day & i enjoy a sleep in or morning exercise.  I won't be posting this often once my husband leaves/ school goes back/ real life resumes . . . but daily posts are so much fun!!