The Mask Makers
MASKS FOR COVID 2020
It’s been business as (un) usual here at Embellish Atelier. Saddened by the rapid cancellation of events here in Sydney for weddings, racing carnivals, and the need to close our beautiful shop front to customers quickly became apparent. We have however been doing lots of research about the dilemma around masks. We have decided to create a small bespoke range and will make them up to order for our clients. The mask range is now available on the website for you to purchase. We make them with 3 layers of cotton fabric, with a flexible nose piece, and pocket to insert an extra filter. They are washable. Please stay safe.
As a new initiative this year, I created a Project Book, something I had hoped would allow me to plan and map my business and personal goals for the year. I never imagined it to be my Pandemic Project Book. Reflecting on the projects that we collectively accomplished through this time with the support of my staff, friends and millinery community, it has been a challenging though rewarding also. I’ve learnt new skills, responded to the lock down by developing new processes, staying pro-active and we seem to be getting through it.
Shortly into the lockdown, my son called to check on me and he was horrified to hear I had picked up an old hat stand from the council clean up questioning what if it was infected with Covid 19. Well I had to pick it up. Not only was it a Robin’s nest blue, the exact pantone shade used in my branding of my millinery business Embellish Atelier, but It had been discarded as it was just slightly broken. It needed to be rescued and by me. Needless to say, that was project number one, as that very week every future race meeting, wedding, and event including the JSK Ball, a charitable event run by my family in May were cancelled. The millinery courses at TAFE and community colleges and schools were closed; theatres and film making studios were shut. No one needed a fancy hat or any bit of millinery material to make a hat for an event in the foreseeable future. I lovingly restored the hat stand and placed it at my front door to festoon with my large selection of daily hat wear.
Project number two was to work on developing my technical skillset. In 2019 I was fortunate to win a business mentoring program with our local council. The amazing women who ran this program started up a COVID up-skill series and I signed up for as many as I could. They were a lifesaver – an aspirational community of Sydney businesswomen presenting a wide scope of practical and inspirational content for personal and professional growth. Lots of ideas came out of this including making stylish, fashionable and specific Covid19 reusable masks. We researched carefully and decided to initially test designs and create some ‘Art Masks’ using my artist son’s leftover painted fabric. They were an immediate hit and our prototypes sold out overnight. So, we have started making an entire range for the Atelier and they are now for sale on the website.
Project Number three was to revise my business plan post Covid19 and work out ways to keep my beautiful hardworking young staff. I researched online, liaised with my accountant and applied for the government Jobkeeper scheme and available business grants. We decided to close the physical shopfront and allow customers to click and collect and continue to send out the few orders for millinery supplies that were trickling in. We didn’t feel it was safe for staff to travel on public transport. Lily who works in the supply division picking and packing was now working from home – so we met up on zoom and found lots of tasks that could be done from home. She had a new kitten to keep her company.
Supplies were being stranded all over the world and a couple of our customer supply orders are still in transit somewhere and have needed to be resent.
I made a point to try and connect with my customers – sent emails, made phone calls and created an online conversation hour in the studio as well via social media using the #staysafeandstaycreative. With my millinery community at the Millinery Association of Australia, I participated in some of the fun and creative challenges they proposed. We also sponsored the virtual fashions on the fields – the brainchild of
Bethy, Milano, and Viera
Virtual FOTF team
@best_dressed_access @milanoimai @getracy
Project number five was to engage with my Millinery students whose classes were interrupted part way through the program. I decided to complete their classes via Zoom tutorials and quickly realised how much I enjoyed them and how effective they could be. I now run weekly Monday Night Live Zoom training sessions. Mother’s Day was approaching so I launched a Virtual Millinery High Tea Fascinator making project which proved really popular. Now we are also progressing this to a video project. Thanks to Covid19, I have become a #Boomer Zoomer using this medium to celebrate my children’s birthdays from afar, keep in touch with my elderly parents on a cattle station in north Queensland and of course, be part of Zoom drinks anywhere and anytime.
Project number six. Both websites for Hatters and Embellish had been neglected and sorely needed updating and now was the perfect time to do this as the ‘devil is certainly in the detail’, as it was back and forth with my ever-patient web designer tweaking the text, photos and fonts. It’s now just about complete.
Project number seven is to get behind Hattember! In 2015 I came up with the idea to hold a unique millinery competition, initially to encourage people to wear hats and also engage with others who enjoyed doing the same. #everydayhatseptember. Since then, it has gained momentum and now registrants receive a box of curated millinery materials from Hatters Millinery Supplies to create their own special hat. The hats are sent back to be judged by a panel of millinery-worthy judges and displayed at our Atelier during the month of September together with running a social media campaign.
This year the competing hats will be auctioned online, and all funds raised donated to the John Skipper Kelly Fund, our family charity established in 2011 in honour of my late husband John. So far, we have had over sixty entries, so watch this space.
My most enjoyable project through this challenging time is project number eight, as I installed a beehive in my garden. I now have my own honey label, Bee Hatty; it’s my way of contributing to the environment and my friends all seem to love the honey and are lining up for more.
I really hope we are through the worst of the pandemic. It’s not the hardest thing that’s ever happened to me personally – but I knew I needed to ‘do things’ to keep sane and not fall into the deep, long depression I had after my husband died ten years ago. I needed to think of ways to stay relevant and practical ways to reinvent to keep the business I had poured all my love and energy in to over so many years. I just had to gather all my reserves and get on with it, remaining creative, connected, and compassionate.
