The drive: What challenges have you overcome?
When I first started, I lacked confidence in my ability to make it happen. I newly arrived in Australia, and I thought I needed a local industry mentor to guide me through the initial stages of finding suppliers and manufacturers. I trusted someone who presented as being very ethically motivated but who turned out to be a complete disaster and an expensive one at that. It was a brutal lesson in the importance of trusting my instincts, believing in myself, and perseverance in spite of setbacks.
For better or worse: What are the pros and cons of running your own business?
Pros include being able to set my schedule and spend more time with my daughter in her early years – priceless. I also love being able to follow my creative direction. If I think something is a good idea, I do it, and I don’t have to get permission from a boss! I’m limited only by the scope of my imagination, and that’s a fantastic feeling.
The flip side is that I miss having other people around to bounce ideas off. I can get a little cabin feverish working from home on my own all day. I try to schedule regular coffee breaks with my local friends. This keeps me sane! It also inspires me to continue when things are tough. I would be nowhere without the encouragement of my inner-circle.
Hopes and dreams: What next?
It takes every ounce of discipline I have not to race ahead of myself and start working on ALL the things! And I don’t want to say too much because I have a few things cooking that need to stay secret squirrel for now. Suffice to say that I’m grateful to be able to do what I do. I believe that we all want to do better for our planet for our children’s future. We are trying. It just needs to be a little easier for busy humans to make those sustainable choices at the moment. Once you know the actual cost of those cheap products, the human cost, the environmental cost, you can’t bring yourself to buy them anymore. They lose all their lustre.
What keeps me motivated to tackle this work is the groundswell of individuals who, in the face of relentless advertising, are saying “no thanks. I don’t need to buy that. It won’t make me happy.” If I can contribute to that behavioural shift, in even the smallest way, whether it’s by designing a product or sharing information, then I will.
Go and see for yourself the range of beautiful children’s clothing at the Fauve website, and follow them on Instagram and Facebook.
