Survey mental health attitudes p3
Sandmining expansion
Locals win Aust Design Awards p3
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NSWRL honours volunteer
Carers’ enjoy Lions respite
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17 OCT 2020
Local business stars in national ad campaign Until now, what is arguably one of Kiama’s most successful businesses has largely flown under the radar locally, despite having a cult following worldwide. Over five years, Brydie Stewart has built her Mary Maker Studio into an e-commerce powerhouse, supplying yarns and patterns she has designed for macrame and weaving to crafters around the world. For those who still associate macrame with plant holders in the Seventies, Ms Stewart says it has reemerged as an artform. To give an idea of the success the former art teacher has achieved, she has 135,000 instagram followers and 100,000 YouTube followers, and one of her tutorials on YouTube has been watched 17 million times. She has also had 4000 people attend classes at her studio in Kiama. Now, she and her business have shot to national prominence as the face of Australia Post’s national rebrand, which is focusing on small business. “Australia Post approached me because I am a great customer of theirs, shipping thousands of parcels at a time,” says Ms Stewart. “They have provided an incredible platform for me to grow my business with confidence.” The multi-million dollar
campaign is seeing an ad featuring her and her business, and mentioning Kiama, screened repeatedly during an eight week campaign on prime time television, with resulting publicity in major national newspapers and other media. Then there is a four month print advertising campaign to come, to reinforce Australia Post’s message. “I’m certainly getting some strange looks in Woolworths as people try and work out how they recognise me,” she says. “I think a lot of people just know me as a mum and Joel Stewart’s wife [ Joel owns the Lime Building Group], rather than a business woman in my own right.” Even before this publicity, her already successful business had experienced a 350 per cent increase in turnover this year, as people turn to craft to keep them occupied and sane during the pandemic. “We were all given the time to pause, and we all found a thing. Luckily many people found me. “It has been great to guide people through that reset by teaching them how to make.” Ms Stewart turned her creative energies to macrame and weaving following the birth of her first child six years ago. She started her business a year later, when she was
Planning process changes
unable to find materials she wanted to work with. “I would spend 20-30 hours on a piece and the products that were available were really poor quality and that didn’t sit well with me. “So I set out to fill this gap in the market by creating fibres that I wanted to use.
“These days, rather than being a maker, I design bespoke textiles with manufacturers from all over the world and I sell them to makers and our community of crafters.” All of her products are made with natural fibres, and she has manufacturers in Turkey, Nepal, India and
Egypt who work exclusively with her. She then retails direct to crafters through her website, marymakerstudio.com.au In the last month alone, she has had 60 tonne of product arrive. Despite this volume, she has only taken
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From 1 November, those wishing to lodge any planning applications, including modifications, with Kiama Council can do so via the NSW Government Planning Portal. The new system will be mandatory from 1 January 2021. “This is an exciting new era for planning across NSW, with the Planning Portal providing an easily accessible, user-friendly and transparent system for lodging planning applications,” says Director Environmental Services Jessica Rippon. “Kiama Council is among the first councils in NSW chosen to make the switch to the new system, which promises a much better experience for our customers and our planners as well.” Council planners and registered certifiers had been using the Planning Portal since July. The Portal will be used to lodge: • Development Applications (DAs), including modifications • Complying Development Certificates (CDCs)
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