{"id":1517,"date":"2016-10-09T11:37:32","date_gmt":"2016-10-09T00:37:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/emmakateco.com\/?p=1517"},"modified":"2018-01-19T16:17:27","modified_gmt":"2018-01-19T05:17:27","slug":"three-huge-months-and-chasing-a-new-dream","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/emmakateco.com\/three-huge-months-and-chasing-a-new-dream\/","title":{"rendered":"Three Huge Months, And Chasing A New Dream."},"content":{"rendered":"

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\"\"You know that feeling, where you have so much to say that you don\u2019t even know where to start? The past three months have been so hectic that just thinking back and remembering what has happened makes my head somersault.\u00a0My energy has been flung in so many different\u00a0directions and to put it simply, these months have just required all of me. They\u2019ve been equally unforgiving and inspiring, and steep, in terms of learning and becoming.<\/em><\/h4>\n

I shifted base from Adelaide, over to Melbourne to be with my love. I designed – and launched a new collection. There were design markets, a Melbourne trade show, a London trade show, a week in New York helping out at a trade show. There was family, and health, and times when nothing else mattered more than being all there. There were photo shoots, and videos filmed, and\u00a0a certain campaign<\/a>\u00a0dreamed up, actioned and pulled together (- and it launches this week!)<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve felt constantly out of my depths and at times, utterly petrified about how fast life is moving, how fast business is growing, and how everything I do now seems to need to be more measured, accountable and prioritised, less spontaneous and free. And I\u2019ve felt grateful, to be feeling all of these feelings and in this position of stretching,\u00a0expanding<\/em>, of course.<\/p>\n

This coming Tuesday morning<\/a>, the project I\u2019ve poured\u00a0all<\/em>\u00a0of myself into for these past months launches (if you missed the big announcement via my mailing list\u00a0and Instagram<\/a>, read on below).<\/p>\n

And, now that all of the hardcore figuring out and preparatory phases has been moved through, I\u2019m experiencing a beautiful feeling of coming back to myself – settling the frenetic energy down a notch, making more considered, confident decisions, allowing myself a moment or two to simply digest and feel into the excitement and anticipation all.\u00a0And here, as I sit tapping away on keys late into Sunday night in the calm of my studio, I feel hundreds of words circling, floating around in my head, tweaking and tightening into sentences, forming stories that I know will pour out as they will, before long.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Where to begin, tonight and now? Let\u2019s back track about three months…<\/p>\n

It was early July, and a new idea was tugging at me. I wanted to develop the product I had always wanted to bring into existence – a weekly planner – for 2017. Beautiful pages, bound together. Tactile. Minimalist. Inspiring. Easy. Functional. Something enduring, and useful. Something to carry to coffee dates, to prop open at a desk and pour dreams, plans –\u00a0futures<\/em>\u00a0into.<\/p>\n

For a little while, I amused myself with the lovely notion of keeping such a planner Australian made (on receiving back some preliminary quotes, this was brief). I very quickly learned that this was never going to be a realistic option – in a business sense, or in a practical, financially accessible sense for anyone buying it. I\u2019ve been so proud to keep all of my printing as local and as connected to my own community as possible, so venturing beyond Australia felt\u2026 intimidating and far outside of anything I knew.<\/p>\n

I spoke with my beautiful friend\u00a0Tess<\/a>, who has a (few) heart-led businesses up her sleeve, and she so wisely and beautifully told me, \u201choney, if you want your brand to grow, you have to relinquish a bit of control. Going offshore doesn’t make your work any less YOU, it just improves your overheads and your production ability, which allows for more travel and more time to create! It’s a wonderful business move, and I\u2019m super proud of you. xx”<\/p>\n

And I listened to this advice – I needed to. I read articles about how to do offshore business ethically. I sat with it, and ultimately, I got over myself a little bit. And then, I knew that to get really comfortable with it, authentically and my way, I just had to go there, I had to meet faces, see factories and connect.<\/p>\n

So barely two weeks into Melbourne living, I found myself jumping on a plane, headlong into the unknown, en route to Hong Kong and China for a four day, first visit whirlwind. I packed a suitcase full of naivety – and determination – to throw myself into this unknown world of offshore manufacturing, and find a way.<\/p>\n

I mean\u2026 \u201cHow hard could it actually be, to find someone to match my vision and make a beautiful planner?\u201d was in my mind at the time. (I laugh at this, now).<\/p>\n

Since that first trip, I\u2019ve seen my words; my work; my art, absolutely ruined into terrible samples of publishing craftmanship. I\u2019ve opened sample package after sample package in hope, and collapsed into a heap of tears and frustration. I\u2019ve given up (momentarily) and I\u2019ve picked up where I left off. I\u2019ve faltered and surrendered and trusted, trusted, trusted. I\u2019ve felt baffled, I\u2019ve felt uncomfortable. I\u2019ve felt tested. I\u2019ve learnt a lot about myself, and my unrealistic expectations of perfection. I\u2019ve been lucky to have the support of a very understanding, far more experienced (and patient, and calm) boyfriend. I\u2019ve felt breakthroughs and connection, I\u2019ve forged relationships and ultimately, I\u2019ve fallen back in love with my purpose and \u201cwhy\u201d for this project itself.<\/p>\n

And as soon as I came back to the feeling; my purpose, I found myself circling back to the first supplier who I ever reached out to, who was there all along, knowing my needs, just waiting for me to find trust and get straight on with it.<\/p>\n

As the plane descended into Hong Kong, it was the beginnings of dusk. And may I start by saying\u2026 flying into Hong Kong has got to be one of the most beautiful cities to fly into, full stop. Tall, skinny buildings soar above the low lying clouds, smattered as far as the eyes can see. Victoria Harbour shimmers like gold leaf, with a backdrop of dark green mountains spilling beyond the horizon. It\u2019s such a peaceful and exquisite city to take in from the air. And then, we stepped out of the airport to a sticky summer\u2019s night. For anyone who has been to Hong Kong, you\u2019ll know the immediate intensity of this city – it\u2019s chaotic and energising – a buzzing metropolis.<\/p>\n

For the first night, we were kindly welcomed by\u00a0The Langham<\/a>. Situated in the heart of Kowloon, the 16 story property couldn\u2019t be more conveniently located for visitors to Hong Kong. Despite being so in the thick of things, as soon as you step inside this hotel, the chaos promptly falls away. The Langham brand\u2019s signature dewy scent of Ginger Lily is refreshing and instantly relaxing, and helps you to feel right at home, whether in Melbourne, Hong Kong or elsewhere. The lobby was a hushed haven of marble, crystal chandeliers, fresh flowers and dustings of pale pink. Upon checking, I was offered a long stem pink rose and then we were personally escorted up to our room. With our first manufacturing appointment early the next morning, we decided to make the most of our few hours to explore by night. Charles took my hand and led me to the iconic Star Ferry, and we crossed from Tsim Sha Tsui (Kowloon) to Hong Kong Island (for just HKD $2.30 – that’s about $0.40 AUD). Tired and travelled, we found our way back to our home for the night and collapsed into our cloud sheets.\u00a0We rose early the next morning for a quick breakfast, before heading out into the big unknown. While I only experienced Hong Kong for less than 12 hours, it had such an impression on me, and I can\u2019t wait to return and explore deeper next time.<\/p>\n

Now, in the early hours of Monday morning, with love from me and my ros\u00e9 glass to you, all love and gratitude. I’ll be back to share more stories soon.<\/p>\n

Until then,\u00a0keep an eye out on Instagram<\/a>\u00a0for this week’s launch announcements. xo<\/p>\n

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Thank you (so much) to\u00a0The Langham<\/a>, for welcoming us to Hong Kong and\u00a0hosting us for the night.<\/em><\/h4>\n

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[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text] You know that feeling, where you have so much to say that you don\u2019t even know where to start? The past three months have been so hectic that just thinking back and remembering what has happened makes my head somersault.\u00a0My energy has been flung in so many different\u00a0directions and to put it simply, these… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1519,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/emmakateco.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1517"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/emmakateco.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/emmakateco.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emmakateco.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emmakateco.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1517"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/emmakateco.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1517\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emmakateco.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1519"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/emmakateco.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1517"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emmakateco.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1517"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emmakateco.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1517"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}