making mustard

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 guided...

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...

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...