New Beginnings

16th February 2018. Wake up at 6 am, 1 hour commute to work, 9 hours at work, leave, travel to Heathrow and jump on a plane. One outfit change, a little bit of sleep and 4 movies later I arrive in Sydney to four very smiley people - my sister Becca, her husband Jono, and their sons Dylan and Ellis, the best nephews in the world!

But before I can even see the Australian sun, the work begins on the car journey home. Making plans for every minute of the next few days as we were about to launch our new brand: Mustard.

Were we seriously ready to reveal to the Big Wide World what we had been secretly up to over the past year? What we have spent hours of FaceTime calls working on. The idea that led us to China and to visiting factories with our Dad and a 6 month old baby?

HELL YEAH we were, but honestly we were scared! I was particularly scared + seriously jet lagged. 

As sisters we love to love and we love to hate but having most of the world between us generally means a lot more love. We have always had a dream of working together and after years of discussing it just took one walk along the beach to work out exactly 'what' then almost a year to work out the 'how'. That day we chatted about each other’s skills, how they could be combined and what we could create. Somehow lockers and mirrors became the toss up. And let’s just say my sister is very convincing. From that conversation we both did some research, lockers seem to be a pretty unique item, Pinterest had a couple of ideas but not many, some retailers had a couple but nothing either of us wanted for our homes. So it seemed like we had found a niche.

This is the first time I will admit this publicly but I didn’t agree with Mustard from the beginning. I didn’t understand what you would want a metal locker for in your home or workspace. Aren’t they just for schools or gyms? A locker wouldn’t go with my Victorian flat. Why would anyone else want it?

But obviously things changed.

My life changed a lot last year, I bought a new home with my boyfriend, quit my job and started another one. But I still wanted more.

Now, 18 months after that initial conversation on that beach and life is about to change again. One month ago I left my job, my salary, my hour each way commute to work from my small living room 'office' to spend my days in locker land. I could not be more excited. This journey has sparked so much in me and I can’t wait to share it with the rest of the UK.

The next step for us is to launch our Skinny, Shorty and a secret product at Top Drawer London Olympia + The London Design Fair!  

Jess xx

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