Good morning beautiful people! I am excited to share today's post with you because it's an interview with the lovely, inspiring Nikki from Monsoons and Mangoes! Nikki is an Australian maker currently based here in Tasmania and she makes beautiful things with fabric. I adore a good self-employment, living on your own terms kind of story so I hope you will enjoy this insight into Nikki's creative world as well!
Tell us a little about yourself and your creative business.
I'm a child-like 39 year old. I cut my own hair, am prone to tantrums and fits of seriousness and am currently in the throes of embracing my latest persona of arty/wholesome spinster. I'm intuitive, love gardening and making people laugh and feel good. I can cook really yummy food and am quite partial to a glass or five of wine.
Monsoons and Mangoes evolved during the process of reselling op shop finds, discovering that I actually could sew, thrifted vintage pillow cases and that awesome kids clothing existed (Oilily 2006 and Dupperflies on eBay - hello!!!). Not long after selling on eBay, I met beautiful Kate from Eviegreenpixie - the handmade world was our oyster, or so I believed! I truly thought we were the only women on earth making and selling online :)
How did you decide on the name for your business?
I was briefly living in Toowoomba, Queensland, when this journey began. I was pining for my beloved Darwin "where every texture, every colour leaps out at you, where every fragrance is a drug, and the air itself is something alive and breathing." Two things I loved so much about that place were monsoons and mangoes... and there you have it :)
Can you describe a typical work day for you?
I wish I could write about getting up at 4am for coffee and emails etc etc... It's not like that at all! I rise when my girls are too noisy or argumentative to resist, sort their breakfast, lunches, tail-chasing etc... drop them at school and then walk with my mum and dog. Home for more coffee and emails and Facebook and laundry and vacuuming and patting the dog and wandering around the garden, maybe watering or cutting flowers. Then usually sometime between 10.30 and midday I hit the studio and work solidly until I have to pick the girls up from school. Often, we cruise a few op shops, the library, stop for pies or groceries and then head home. Maybe a couple of times a week I do some work around dinner and after they go to bed. I hope you are getting the picture that I am completely distractible and quite unmotivated. If you're looking for inspiration I am sorry.... :) Though maybe I can inspire you to just BE, and let it flow...?
Where do you find inspiration for your work?
Absolutely everywhere, but often just how a pile of fabric accumulates or falls naturally. Music, nature and culture are hugely inspiring in a let-it-flow kinda way, and I love the way wind moves fabric. Sit and watch your washing on the line sometime... it is pretty and also inspiring. I love to have coffee-table books which are hugely inspiring: house books, mosaic, gardening, travel, cooking. They all inspire me.
As for my patchwork, I buy only fabric that makes my heart soar or elicits an emotion or memory - so it's always going to work. If I start belly-aching or feeling anxious when selecting, I stop and do something else for a while until it flows naturally.
You mentioned a recent shift toward quilting. How is your work changing over time?
In some ways it hasn't at all. I make what I feel, with what I have. I expect that I will always work like that. Often I repeat a mantra from childhood, "Waste not, want not." I hoard the smallest scraps. Years ago, somebody suggested I make patchwork quilts. My reply was something along the lines of, "Yeah, when hell freezes over." Quilts have always been quite repugnant to me. All those little fussy pieces in awful fabrics... and then sometime recently while my girls were off holidaying with their Dad, I played around with making a bedspread. I can't even say how the idea came to me... it was a progressive thing... I guess lots of solitude and expansive peace will let the heart and soul just be. And making that beautiful bedspread was the loveliest process and has become my favourite creations ever. Making it felt like meeting your soul mate: Oh hello... I've been waiting for you!
I never knew it could be so rewarding!! The soul and stories stitched into it... pure love... " ...there has never been a time when individual quilters did not stitch stories, memories, hopes and wishes into their quilts... the ways in which all these create textile narratives of histories, lives and places." This is so true! I felt something similar with my Soul Vibration patchwork skirts, but somehow, making beautiful things for the home instinctively receives a little more love and soul and making these things feels so wholesome and authentic.
What struggles do you face as a self-employed maker? How do you manage/overcome these?
Motivation!!! Truly, there are so many distractions for me! I try to not sensor myself, because I know that if I need to stick my hands in dirt for a couple of days, or read, or scour the lands for vintage beauty, then I try to just let myself do it... the work that flows after is always lovely and so much more a part of me.
Also money. As you are probably gathering, I don't work crazy hours or make and sell much. As a single mother it is definitely a struggle sometimes. My home is a gorgeous, renovated 40s house and garden on the waterfront which sometimes feels beyond my means. It is a conscious and stubborn choice, though. I would rather live a frugal, simple but safe, inspired and joyous life here, than live in the Bronx, with my doors always locked and spare money to spend on.... well, I don't really know. As long as my bills are paid, we are eating fresh, local food and are all happy, then that's all that matters to me. If I can't afford petrol, I can walk to the shop. Occasionally I get antsy and seriously consider a part time job, but without fail, somebody needs me... and it's always a timely reminder that I'm doing exactly what I am meant to be and how lucky I am that I don't have to make that call, "Um, hello...? It's Nikki here. I can't make it in today because..."
Outside of the business, what gives your life meaning? What makes you tick?
Indulging in the things that make me me. Feeling grateful for everything wonderful in my life.. and the things that aren't. Knowing there are lessons to be learned, doors to be opened and closed... it's all part of the journey. My cup is immense and often overflows. It's all about how I look at life.
Do you have any advice for others wanting to pursue a handmade business?
Just one thing, and it's something I knew years and years before flying solo: Do. Something. Different!!!
Be YOU. Don't do what sells or what everybody else is doing. Don't compromise and be a "good copy". Be authentic! You are uniquely, wonderfully you.... and there are customers out there waiting for you. Really!!!!! :)
----------------------------------------------------------
Thank you so much for sharing with us Nikki! I can honestly say I have an overwhelming desire to try my hand at quilting right now..... thank you for the inspiration!
If you'd like to see more of Nikki and say hello in person, check out the links below.
Wishing you all a beautifully creative week! Jen x
Thanks so much for this article. I felt like I was reading about myself. It has inspired me no end.
ReplyDeleteSo inspiring!! Such beautiful work and such an interesting lady!!!
ReplyDeleteI have always wondered how this is done. I'll have to give it a go, now that I know how!! Thanks :)
ReplyDelete