Who could have predicted the crazy weather of today. Torrential rain pours over Bowra as we launch contingency plan after contingency plan. After much anticipation our original venue the Mad Hatters Cafe was just too wet - So many thanks to Cherie andher team for their very best efforts to go on with the show despite the wrath of mother nature on this occassion. Last minute move over to Bowraville Theatre (thanks so much Fran, Carol & Co) and we managed to pull off an incredible show - particularly given NO rehearsals, NO time for choreography and a broken input to the ipod on top.
In spite of every obstacle, the show went on... and here's the proof !
JUNUY JIIRI RANGE Everyone has expertly and tirelessly produced the amazing range which includes skirts, pants and shirts. We still continue to struggle our way through the more administrative side - costing, timetabling, pricing but on the upside our marketing materials are looking excellent. Everyone is noticably tired but we hope things will pick up with a fun day tomorrow doing the photoshoot & a well deserved reward at the fashion parade.
JUNUY JIIRI PHOTOSHOOT This week we're preparing for our second photoshoot of the Junuy Jiiri (Little River) range. All of the girls from MiiMi have kindly offered to model for us for the shoot so we're planning a lovely day in Bowraville, tomorrow (Friday). Marcia suggested that it would be a great idea to combine the shoot with some promo. for Bowraville so off we go... a sneak preview coming soon
FASHION PARADE With only a few weeks left the Fashion parade is forming up nicely. Will be held on 3 October, 2010 @ the Mad Hatters Cafe in Bowraville.
CONGRATS DEB Deb Hatley has received an award for her involvement via North Coast Institute as a teacher for our group. We know of course that Deb is much much more than a teacher - a mentor, a friend and a comedian - where would we be without her, Congratulations Deb on your much deserved award. Looking forward to the award ceremony tonight !
Great day today meeting with Grace from The Social Studio in Collingwood, Melbourne. Learned a lot from Grace's extensive experience in the business start up. The Social Studio has a really impressive mix of partnerships and patrons, great fashion & really innovative approach to helping out the refugee community.
Also fantastic lunch in the cafe, well worth a visit one and all 128 Smith Street, Collingwood VIC. Will put pics up asap - probs. with Internet connection... Looking forward to Creative Innovation tomorrow.
MiiMi is delighted to have received some support through the Better Factory project to maintain the shop lease for another 12 months. This means that retail will also become a component of the mix and our shop in High Street will be selling from the end of October. (ironically 12 months later than our initial intention - BEFORE we realised that retail AND making the fashion business work were together an impossible combination at the start).
And there are more ongoing complications, for the 'mothership' organisation MiiMi Aboriginal Corporation to reach recognition as a Public Benevolent Institution the MiiMi Creations entity must step out on its own - MiiMi has been very grateful for the support of Price Waterhouse Coopers through this transition... more on that will no doubt follow very soon
MiiMi Creations is delighted to work with Bowraville Based Mad Hatter's Cafe to launch the Junuy Jiiri range on 3 October from 12pm. The day will feature a sneak preview of the Junuy Jiiri summer range and also performances by local musicians.
The Mad Hatters Cafe will offer 'taste plates' on the day. For any further details please contact MiiMi House on 65648855 or e-mail kgrace@evolvenetwork.com.au
Aunty Ruth pins the new top on Kerry who dodges pins and is utterly delighted to model from the range HINT HINT everyone else - we need you all for the upcoming fashion shoot for Junuy Jiiri
On Wednesday 25 August we held the first VIP sale - very pleased to have a stampede (Bowraville style) of people in the shop and even more pleased to bank some much needed income from our outlet range. Things are looking good !
We have a great group of students in our new Tuesday sewing classes are going great guns with 6 students now joining us each week.
Image above from MNC Innovation Festival tour on 21 May in Bowraville. Aunty Ruth explains the background of the shop & MiiMi Creations.
We also have some new visitors coming over from the Nambucca Youth Services Centre to join us from time to time. Nellie continues design class currently working on some adaptations of local plants.
Trouble on the venue front as our funding is about to conclude for our shop lease and we need to source an alternate location. At this point there is too much risk involved in taking a loan so we fly by the seat of our pants for a little while again. Adding to the anticipation is the conclusion of many of our positions at the end of September - fortunately we have great support from TAFE Outreach which will see us through the next few months.
for some (pictured left) it's just all too much...
Aunty Ruth, Carla, Deb & Kerry went on the journey from Bowraville on Tuesday 24 August arriving in Sydney at 10.30am for a whirlwind trip around the city to townhall, Chinatown then on to our fabric supplier in Surry Hills.
Soaked up the atmosphere of the meeting area & catwalk, great for market research and getting used to the industry jargon. dahling !
A day out at the market on Saturday 7 August 2010. (Bonnie, Deb & Kerry)
It is certainly what they say about that early bird - I arrived at the market at 7.15am, a little later than expected and found our stall position would be at the back of the micro stall marquee (shared with 4 other old and new friends). We made the most of this & used the back of the stall to put up our clothes rack and hoped that would give people some room to move as they got a better look at the garments. Funny how difficult it can be to lay out a display when you're not used to it. Luckly Bonnie had a huge collection of coat hangers & these came in really handy for our display. I practiced my folding skills but they certainly still need some polishing! (it's the little things that are so easy to overlook!) Sales were very poor but we did cover our stall fee (phew !) and more importantly gained some really valuable input about the products.
We also met with a few new potential MiiMi Creations members and supporters which really made the whole day worthwhile. Learning on the day: our position in the marquee (at the back) wasn't great at all - We really needed a better position where people can see what we're producing without having to come all the way into the 'den'.
* It is very difficult to get the point across about this being an Aboriginal owned organisation - despite all of the signage, logos and (as you can see in the pic with me) MiiMi banner, people want to see the producers - food for thought.
Possibly the fabric that we've made cushion covers & aprons from needs to be a little more robust - however, perhaps this defeats the purpose of the 'outlet' line ? not sure. Our pricing for this market was a little out - a lot of stalls have imported stock from asia making the value of our hand made and printed stock decrease - I believe this is an issue across markets everywhere. We need to come up with ways to help people understand the authenticity of the product - some ideas brewing here... All in all though a great day for learning and discussion
Kerry is busily ordering enough stock to keep us going over the next months... Priorities * Producing the full summer 2011 range * Producing enough stock for the upcoming ANTaR catalogue * Stock for MiiMi Outlet, markets
Some big decisions to make with our production venue, staying where we are or moving to an alternate location... Getting ready for big stocktake and building artist database on Friday - lookout ladies !
Deb and Aunty Ruth present the Summer 2011 range to MiiMi staff. Deb explains the garments chosen suit all sizes and a few pieces will be adapted for a very small Winter 2011 range.
Everyone is waiting on a delivery of fabric to get into sample making mode...
MiiMi Creations Outlet range available from SATURDAY Want to get your hands on some of the new MiiMi Creations outlet range ? MiiMi's outlet range will be available at the Valla Market THIS Saturday (7 August). The market is at Valla Beach Reserve (NSW) from 8.30am.
We were really impressed with the level of support provided by the industry members during our visit to Sydney. Jimmy was a great help and really happy to show us through his stock of fabric & commercial sewing equipment.
At the ANTaR Exhibition, Sydney 1 July 2010 - our first official exhibition...
LEFT: Aunty Ruth and Kerry at the ANTaR Exhibition RIGHT: Aunty Ruth, Marcia, Tracy and Deb all at the ANTaR exhibition in Sydney early July...
LEFT: Our MiiMi brand designer Belinda Langlands of Berlin Design with her lovely family Tom & Izzy
RIGHT: Marcia gives the exhibition the thumbs up
Sunday, July 4, 2010
Marcia, Kerry and Aunty Ruth in Sydney doing lunch!
Deb has now joined as a blogger so just getting to grips with the know how on blogging... We all had a great and very productive time in Sydney, meeting with Tracy Miimi's chairperson, Marcia and Kerry, feeling very lucky and privileged to be working with these wonderful women. Aunty Ruth and Deb visited fabric wholesalers and textile printers, we were very impressed with the results and everyone was so helpful and encouraging everywhere we went, so big thanks to Sydney! I now feel we are able to get on with the production of the dresses for the Antar catalogue. Coffs Harbour TAFE has been in discussion about the possibility of doing a production run this could really give us a much needed boost in meeting orders. The TAFE units are looking good and will be started after the holidays. We hope to boost our sewing team and deliver units as an incentive to come and sew. We have cushions, bags all printed and ready for sewing, can't wait to get stuck in to have them ready for the market. Kerry sent samples of the bag and cushions to Tobwobba, awaiting feed back and hopefully orders. Trying to think of ways of team building to keep everyone keen and involved as the hard and relentless sewing takes hold.....
Only two sleeps now until the Ladies first exhibition. The first pieces of the MiiMi Creations range (the cushion covers & girls dresses) will be on show at the annual ANTaR exhibition in Sydney.
Aunty Ruth, Deb, Marcia & Kerry are preparing to travel to Sydney for the event & cram in as much market research as possible while there.
On the homefront all of our dedicated team have been working tirelessly on our first real production line. The tedious stuff has started now & there is a note of exhaustion in the air as we go from being a hobby to a real life business.
Kerry is waving the stick (or pen, her weapon of choice) giving all of the ladies quotas and deadlines to meet. Deb has been structuring our TAFE units to make sure everyone has the opportunity for some really great learning as we go.
Our focus now compliance, ordering stock, keeping everyone going, bringing in more people and working on our production quotas...
Yesterday we traveled to Forster (NSW) to meet with the lovely people at Tobwabba Art. While Deb is practicing articulating the org's name (sorry Deb, had to include that !) the group are getting together some ideas about what to produce with the fabric that Tobwabba has generously donated.
Kerry & Kerrie at Tobwabba talked us through the process used to produce merchandise and the fundamentals of royalties. We have some great ideas for designs that we purchased from a local artist recently. Tim from the LALC provided morning tea which was much appreciated after 3hrs on the bus.
While a long way to travel (and thanks to our drivers Val & Alex who drove the former MiiMi Bus for Ngambaga) we gained some very valuable time to sit down together to discuss the coming months. Enough fodder for Kerry to complete the business plan.
The fashion parade and upcoming range was one of the primary topics discussed and we were able to narrow down the options to 5 garments (PHEW !)
So our main areas of focus at the moment: producing some prototypes for the new range (5 garments), building up stock of our cushions for ANTaR, building up stock for our market stall and as per every other day working through contracts, suppliers, ordering, process and so on.
The good news is that we're still having fun. Kerry has put her foot down about over working to make sure this feeling is maintained. (hoping talking in the third person makes that more authoritive)
In anticipation of our many orders from the upcoming ANTaR catalogue Aunty Ruth and Aunty Florence have started our first production line to get out some of the cushion covers. Materials are flying in from all over the country as we prepare to build up stock.
This is really the first time that we leave the creative realm and move to the work side of things. It's all new & every day we get a bit better at what we do. BRING ON THE ORDERS !!
Deb continues to weave her magic as a new range is designed (the summer 2011 womens range) with Carla, Aunty Ruth, Aunty Florence & Erin. The support of TAFE Outreach has ensured the learning continues in its flexible and collaborative approach. The group is also supported by Mindi, Sandra & Mardi through the sewing & design process. Nellie continues the design workshop also with some new students engaging & Camilla's weaving group is also growing.
We have a visit from Cassandra from the Bellingen Emporium last week.Cassandra provided a lot of insight to the fashion industry as we discussed a broad range of industry topics including the essential timing of delivering a range to the marketplace, ideas for gaining access to the market place, quality control, product development, process line and designs.
With the guidance of Lesley from ANTaR we further developed our cushions to a product that we are all very happy with.Lesley also gently encouraged us to include the girls dress range for the next catalogue, although it was quite a scary decision to make (it is the success that we are afraid of – too many orders) we unanimously decided to go for it.
We have connected with several suppliers as we search for the businesses we’ll be happy to work with through coming years.There is much to organize as we make connections with fabric wholesalers, art supplies, stores for distribution, screen makers and designers.
We have also been very grateful for the support offered by the very talented Bronwyn Bancroft.A few contacts have led to some very fruitful conversations with suppliers.
Marcia & I attended a great workshop at ETC in Coffs Harbour for the North Coast Innovation Festival. The workshop discussed developing Indigenous business & we learned a lot about support available.
And today… I've been reflecting today on the importance of this project for the social wellbeing of our community. The core group are all working so closely towards the same goasl now & some very strong friendships have been forged. Everyone in the group has such a wealth of knowledge and skills to share and that’s exactly what happens every day.
Together we shared a beautiful meal today at MiiMi House (thanks Vicki) and programmed June our big month of change.This month we will have the workspace open every day, we commence producing our cushion range for the ANTaR catalogue (anticipating orders hint hint blog readers) and increasing our sewing population. The project has certainly given us all something to look forward to every day.
Feeling on the brink of something really big Aunty Ruth, Deb & Carla work into the night getting the range completed. With results like this from the photoshoot to spur us on who could blame us all for being so excited about the progress.
More discussion about branding today - a great talk with Aunty Ruth, Aunty Florence, Deb, Carla & Linda around the table about what the brand would mean and the importance of maintaining support for MiiMi's core services to the community.
It's been a few weeks so I'll try to summarise what's been going on BRANDING: A new stumbling block is the branding of the textile enterprise. Of course none of us are branding 'experts' so we're applying theories of common sense with a bit of experience in the mix.
The theory being applied is that all roads should come back to MiiMi - at this point at least, after all it is SOCIAL enterprise and therefore a business that has been established with the communities interests at heart.
The current concept - MiiMi Creations. Creations being very thougfully suggested by Nellie as a friendlier approach to the other consideration of MiiMi Enterprises.
The first draft - front and back of the swing tags is the image in the corner. Here Ole has taken the logo designed by Belinda and applied it to the swing tag template. The reverse side is the 'Bowraville' footstep which was designed by Ole. This aims to place the business - Aussie made, regional Australia so on.
DISTRIBUTION Speaking of marketing distribution has become a topic in our focus. We have been looking at both local and Interstate distribution points. Some of our earlier runs of t-shirts are now in the local folk museum and the Visitors Information Centre. No sales as yet (as far as we know). Our next Producers market is next week so we will also put the clothing rack out there. What is even more exciting is that a Sydney based service have shown interest in including our new range of cushion covers in their upcoming catalogue with the potential of worldwide distribution. I'm off to Melbourne in June with a suitcase full of samples to show around.
BUMS ON SEATS So of course a new can of worms open - orders = a need for more people to sew... I'm looking into piece work checking the legalities while Deb, Carla and Aunty Ruth work hard to finish the rest of the range. More next week...
7.30am Saturday morning and everyone was eagerly waiting to get into our first fashion shoot.
Our first fashion shoot was a success, thanks to all involved. This shoot will help us to launch the first component of the range, yet to be named. This includes two components - one for young women and the second interiors.
Here Linda encourages all of the girls through the first part of the day. Not having done this before everyone was feeling nervous but as the day went along courage grew. Well done girls. Behind the scenes at the fashion shoot the healthy catering kept coming. Everyone was excited to see what was coming out next.
By the time we arrived at the beach everyone was feeling more confident there was a lot more jumping around and even a bit of yoga.
Every shot was supervised by the day's creative directors Aunty Ruth and Deb. Sandra recorded some behind the scenes shots.
One more sleep until the anticipated photo shoot. The clothes are ironed, the photographer is booked in, the locations are set, the models are ready & the excitement is building. Bring on tomorrow.
Today also posted off our first lot of samples to a potential distributor - the cushion cover & bags in the new range.
Our new design teacher, Nellie also started on Thursday. Aunty Ruth & Aunty Florence had a really challenging but rewarding day learning to draw the brolga and learning about 'negative space'.
Nellie joins Deb to guide the ladies in making the textile business a happening thing.
The Producers market was held yesterday on High Street. This time we tried an earlier start and also at the opposite end of High Street.
The crowd was a bit smaller this time - probably school holiday evacuation. ? In any case was a great afternoon with lots of community networking and discussion about making Bowraville a better place. We look forward to making the market bigger and better for May with our Innovation Week showcase.
If you haven't visited the market yet make sure you do in the near future... We're always on the lookout for entertainers, local producers and artisans. Contact Kerry on 6564 8855 for more info.
MiiMi established the Bowraville Producers Market with the assistance of several community members and support of Bowraville Chamber of Commerce and Bowraville Lions Club. The first market was held in November 2009.
The market got off to a great start with lots of support from local producers and some visitors who travel from as far as the Central Coast to sell their produce.
The markets are central to MiiMi's community development and social enterprise work in Bowraville. Not only do they support local producers, they also act as a tool for promoting tourism to the township.
The markets also play a role in promoting community health and wellbeing by distributing information, inviting service providers and conducting workshops. One of our first community partners was LIFE EDUCATION who conducted a great family activity at our November 2009 market.
In coming months we look forward to selling more local products particularly those made through our textile social enterprise.
The market is held on the 3rd Friday of each month from lunchtime in the main street of Bowraville (High Street).
Aunty Ruth & Deb stayed back on Wednesday to get the new range ready for the publicity shoot on Saturday. All is ready now and we're counting down the days to Saturday. Planning the locations to visit.
Today was a very exciting day for the ladies - our first workshop for tourists. In partnership with the Nambucca Valley Visitors Information Centre three of their wonderful volunteers came out to Bowraville to sample a screenprinting workshop.
Aunty Ruth expertly guided Lyn, Kaye and Ilene through sceenprinting techniques, then our visitors completed the projects with sewing machines.
MiiMi has supported a textile group over the past four years. Through this time many different women from the community of Bowraville have been involved. Aunty Ruth Walker and her sister Florence have been mainstays through the project and now proudly take it to the next stage.
With TAFE teacher Deb Hatley the ladies have been joined by daughters and other community members to develop an exciting new textile production space.
A product range has been developed which includes clothing and furnishings.
This blog will document the journey of this social project as it turns into a business enterprise.
BACKGROUND MiiMi is a not for profit Aboriginal Corporation which is based in Bowraville, NSW. MiiMi offers a range of community services to meet community need from MIIMI HOUSE which is based in the main township of Bowraville.
