Why the Hive?

So, what inspired me to get The Hive going?  Well to start with, it was just sewing with my friends.  We used to get together on a Wednesday afternoon and named it Stitch and Bitch.  We would all bring our crafts round to one another’s houses and we would work, whilst the kids wrecked the place.  Some of us would get our crafting done, some not so much.  Anyway, it got me thinking, how cool would it be to have a place where mums and kids could just drop in and craft together.  I said, if I had the money, I would build a little place at the end of our property, where people could drop by.  This, after many discussions with my friend Kirsten, started to turn into a viable business idea.  I had been away a lot this year in Europe, but Kirsten kept bringing up the subject of us going into business together and running a little crafting place and people started getting excited.  However, when I sat down and started playing with numbers, people just dropping by was not going to pay the rent, so we had to rethink the whole thing and boy oh boy, did we go through everything! 

Anyway, to cut a long story short, everything I have ever done has been self taught, if you look at some of stuff, this is very apparent…however, with the little creatures, they are actually pretty easy to make, you just need a good eye for fabric and a steady hand to stitch.  So I thought, well if I can learn to craft and make a bit of a living out of it, then why can’t others?  We always promise ourselves, that one day, we would get round to learning something new, but never do.  Either because, we cannot find someone patient enough to teach us, or we can’t get off island to do the courses, or the courses themselves are not cheap, or we just do not know where to start.  So a little light bulb suddenly shone very brightly and Kirsten and I came up with the idea of running courses for people on and off the island, every ability and age.  I didn’t want to leave anyone out. I think you are never too old to start learning, so why not give it a go, you have nothing to loose. Also, in these times, where everything costs so much, why not run courses, where you are going to get a real skill out of it.  We can make our own gifts, we can recycle, reuse and resew our old clothing.  It could even turn into our business, anything is possible. Bowen is known for being a very Artisan Island, but lets really put us on the map! 

Once I returned from Europe for the 2^nd time this year, there was a real buzz from friends and family for what we had planned.  So I ran full throttle and really wanted to get the whole thing launched before Christmas, in order for students to take full advantage of being able to give handmade gifts.  Unfortunately for Kirsten, this is not the right time, as she has had a sudden surge in work from her other business Studio 947, so for the time being, Kisten is very graciously helping me on the creative side, as I have no idea on how to do this bit and I will be running the remainder of the company.  I am hoping our paths will cross once again and we will be working together in the future, but for now, I am going to give it a go and see if I can really make our little dream of busy bee’s become a reality.  By the end of this week, I will have a schedule for courses that will be running until the end of the year and I am really hoping to add more in.  So wish me luck!