#had something happen this arvo that I’m mad at myself for

[poohbea]

i’ve done too much adulting today 🫠

[jeremystrele]

A Day In The Life Of Textile Designer, Cassie Byrnes

A Day In The Life Of Textile Designer, Cassie Byrnes

A Day In The Life

by Sasha Gattermayr

Cassie starts the day with her daughter Lottie, who is just 18 months old. Photo – Amelia Stanwix for The Design Files.

Look at them in their matching Variety Hour get-ups! Photo – Amelia Stanwix for The Design Files.

They eat breakfast together and then scoot Lottie off to daycare, while Cassie heads to work. Photo – Amelia Stanwix for The Design Files.

The family’s cute house! Photo – Amelia Stanwix for The Design Files.

Cassie wears a dress from her textile label, Variety Hour. Photo – Amelia Stanwix for The Design Files.

The Variety Hour shop is on Gertrude Street, where they sell apparel, home textiles and accessories. Photo – Amelia Stanwix for The Design Files.

Chatting with retail assistant Hayley before heading upstairs to the rest of the team. Photo – Amelia Stanwix for The Design Files.

The walls of Variety Hour are just as vibrant as the textiles within it – and Cassie herself! Photo – Amelia Stanwix for The Design Files.

The light and bright Variety Hour studio sits above the shop overlooking Gertrude Street! Photo – Amelia Stanwix for The Design Files.

Cassie manages a team of five: some full-timers and some part-timers. Photo – Amelia Stanwix for The Design Files.

They’re currently working on three collections at once, plus workshopping a new homewares range. Photo – Amelia Stanwix for The Design Files.

A lot of ‘fabric touching’ happens with the production team to ensure each piece has the right look and feel. Photo – Amelia Stanwix for The Design Files.

A super colourful and busy moodboard. Photo – Amelia Stanwix for The Design Files.

Varuety Hour also has a content arm, so the team spend some time talking about what’s going to happen in this month’s vlog. Photo – Amelia Stanwix for The Design Files.

‘I was that kid who was hustling from an early age and had my first “business” at 14,’ says Cassie Byrnes. She even had a ‘very short-lived but very lucrative’ eBay business selling vintage clothes in the early days of online marketplaces.

A fascination with vintage fashion prints spurred Cassie to make the move from Brisbane to Melbourne in 2012 to study Textile Design at RMIT – despite having never been to Victoria before! Luckily – it was the right move. She quickly fell in love with textiles, and threw herself into her studies, working like ‘a psycho’ to excel in her course. Then, in 2016, not long after graduating, Cassie launched her own brand, Variety Hour, working freelance on the side to prop up her new business.

‘The year I started my business, my parents were on the verge of bankruptcy after working incredibly hard in their small business for the past three decades,’ she says. ‘It was heartbreaking, but I also knew I was completely on my own, there was no safety net and no one to fall back on. I definitely get my resilience from them. It also taught me that just working hard does not guarantee success, and you have to remain nimble and adaptable to change.’

Today, Cassie manages a team of five people, working from their dreamy Gertrude Street studio above the Variety Hour retail store! In-between designing new ranges for Variety Hour, and managing her retail store, Cassie still regularly collaborates with with big brands, designing prints for the likes of Nike, Anthropologie and Uniqlo.

Cassie has big picture goals for the future of Variety Hour. She wants to get her team up to full-time hours, experiment with new applications like jacquard weaving and embroidery, and do more to celebrate body diversity (VH clothes now go up to size 22!). In doing all that, Cassie sees the domino effect it has on supporting local manufacturing, creativity in the textiles industry, and promoting size inclusivity among Australian women.

Imagine if every day was as colourful as this!

First Thing

I wake up around 7am to the soothing sounds of my daughter either singing or yelling from her cot – my alarm now for the past 18 months.

I pretend I am asleep long enough for my husband to get Lottie up and start breakfast, then I lie in bed contemplating my existence in the world. Eventually I accept my reality but like clockwork it’s way too late and it’s a mad rush to get out the door within 20 minutes (in case you didn’t realise I am  definitely not a morning person). Having once worked a solid decade in hospitality, I will forever be a night owl, unfortunately my daughter has still yet to receive that memo and I have to find a way to function in the mornings.

Morning

After getting into the car and breathing a sigh of relief, I turn on ABC Melbourne and listen to Virginia Trioli on my way to drop Lottie off at daycare in Fitzroy. I usually get sucked into hanging out with her adorable baby friends and chatting to the teachers before grabbing a coffee at Gabriel and making my way to the Variety Hour office, just around the corner on Gertrude Street.

The morning is a whirlwind of emails and planning out the day. I am a meticulous planner (because I am also a meticulous procrastinator) and have forced myself over the years to get more organised.

The team arrives between 9-10am and we gasbag about life, which eventually turns into chat about this week’s production dramas and what content we have on the horizon. Penny and I spend the morning creating content, today we are filming our monthly vlog. We finalise an upcoming photoshoot and go over our plans for socials for the week. Our office sits above our shop so I might head downstairs to check in with Hayley, our shop girl.

Lunchtime

I don’t really eat breakfast so by midday I am starving. I love having lunch with the team so I usually see someone start to prepare their lunch and I tag along for the adventure. Having lunch together means we can chat freely about non-work stuff and we always have interesting convos. It gives me a chance to let out all that pent up conversation that I have pushed down all morning while trying to focus on work.

Afternoon

I spend my afternoon bouncing around working with the team. I spend some time with Jess – our production manager. We currently have three collections on the go: finishing winter and getting the last production run from our manufacturer; sampling our Classics collection; and designing new cuts and finalising prints for summer. There are always a billion things to decide on, from choosing zip colours to how many centimetres we need to take off a sleeve.

I spend time with our designer sarah on our homewares collection, which is a work in progress at the moment. We feel a bunch of fabric strike-offs and look at samples. There is a lot of time spent in the office touching fabrics and discussing details people wouldn’t probably think about. Today Sarah and I had a great chat/debate about what is the perfect shade of olive.

Evening

At 5pm I clock off for the arvo and go pick up Lottie and make our way home. Between 5-8pm is baby/family time and I let myself have that and try to put work aside. My husband has become a domestic goddess since Lottie was born and normally cooks us all dinner. We have a pretty boring but delicious roster of favourites that are quick and healthy. We both play sports so sometimes one of us runs out of the house if it’s an early game.

After Lottie goes to sleep, I go up to the home office and start the night shift. I always get my creative work done in these hours because it’s quiet and uninterrupted. I still have not mastered getting print creation done while at the studio with people around, but I am sure that will come with practice.

I put on some terrible but fab TV like Real Housewives and paint in my sketchbook or work on a new print. This week I am deep into our new summer 2021 collection. I have to be asleep by midnight because anything later I am an actual mess of a human the next day and get nothing done. I wrap up work around 11pm.

Cassie at the Variety Hour office. Photo – Amelia Stanwix for The Design Files.

Cassie’s greatest moments of creativity come at night, so after dinner she heads to her home office, puts on some trashy TV in the background and gets to work with her paints and sketchbook. Photo – Amelia Stanwix for The Design Files.

An explosion of colour! Photo – Amelia Stanwix for The Design Files.

Right now I’m listening to, watching, and reading…

Listening: Love a podcast these days. My favourites are You’re Wrong About, How I Built This and The Indicator

Watching: Peppa Pig, CoComelon and The Wiggles

Reading: ‘Who Gets to Be Smart‘ by Bri Lee 

I get my best work done when…

I have the entire day and evening in the studio. I usually do this on a Sunday while no one else is around and all is quiet in the world.

My productivity tool/tip is…

Turn your phone off and put it really far away (like, a different floor of your house). I deleted the email app from my phone a while back now because I read a great quote that called emails ‘someone else’s to do list’. I really try to keep things as separate as possible because my work and home life are so intertwined.

A philosophy I live and work by is…

Be a nice person.

Something I’ve learned the hard way is…

Creativity needs to be nurtured. When you are a creative that also happens to run a small business, it’s easy to get caught up in the day-to-day running of things. I learnt back in 2019 that you need to work a daily/weekly practice into your routine. A time to ponder and experiment by sketching, painting or writing that you can look back on and draw from when looking for inspiration.

Variety Hour’s 2021 winter collection has just dropped! Shop online now, or pop in to their gorgeous shop at 155 Gertrude Street, Fitzroy (open Wed – Sun).

[bianca-warriorwriter]

Catching feelings - Pt. 2 - KJ and S.M

part 1 here

KJ and I spent most of the time just talking, and drinking. I had been drunk for a while now and yet I kept drinking. KJ had one arm wrapped around my waist holding me up.

“where are my friends?” I slurred.

“long since gone, love” he replied.

“love?” I questioned looking up at him and he laughed at my face. “I wanna go home” I whisper into his face.

“don’t think you’re in the state to go home, love” he moves a piece of hair out of face.

“okay well I’m going to go to sleep right here” I whisper to him.

“how about I get you in a bed first” he started moving and when I didn’t move he looked back at me.

“who’s bed? And what am I to wear?” I said in a posh drunken voice

“my bed, don’t worry I will not take advantage of a drunk women, and for you to wear I guess one of my shirts if you’re comfortable with” he said a little shyly as if he had never offered anything like this before.

“is this fit for a princess” I say jokingly. Starring into his beautiful golden honey eyes

“fit for a queen” he whispers close to mine. I look down to his lips and I move quickly, for a drunk person at least. I capture his lips with mine. He’s quick to make me jump onto him, wrapping my legs around him. I feel him walk up the stairs whilst I kiss his neck and bite at his skin. I hear a door open and closed and then I’m lying on soft blankets. My dress, the pain in the ass it was to get on. Is even harder to get off. But we laugh through it and its off in the end. His shirt is off next and I run my hands down his muscular body and I groan at the sight of it. I want to run my tongue along it. And I do.

“as good as that feels you are a little drunk right now” he says clearly struggling at the sentence.

I climb out from under him and kiss up his neck to his mouth, where I bite on his bottom lip and he growls. And pushes me back onto the bed and kisses me harshly on my lips and we battle out for dominance in each other mouths. He wins. I’m enjoying myself when he pulls back aggressively and rests his head on my chest breathing deeply. I run my nails up his back and he sits up to grab them and position them over my head.

“like I said, I will not take advantage of you, whilst you are drunk. So, I suggest that 1; we put a shirt on you. 2; actually, go to bed.” He’s breathing heavily. I giggle lean up and kiss his collarbone down his chest, and onto his pecks. When I go to kiss him again I’m met with cold air and he’s standing halfway across the room panting.

“once again, you my love are drunk. If you want to continue this in the morning then we will. In the mean time for the love of god put clothes on!” he half yells and I’m tempted to laugh at his self-control.

“I applaud you, for yourself control” I smile and he chucks me a shirt that I put on quickly. “now at least let me cuddle you whilst I try to sleep off this” I smile even more.

“promise you won’t try anything” he arches an eyebrow. I nod my head. “promise” he says again.

“cross my heart, hope to die” I lie down, and wiggle under the blankets. He soon joins me. And I cuddle to his side.

 I wake up to my body still being held firmly against his, my head hurts a little. But it doesn’t hurt as much as how hot my cheeks are burning of embarrassment of what I did last night. I feel the boy next to me stir and I mentally groan. I slowly push myself out of his arms, grab my phone and run. I’ll come back for my clothes later. In the meantime, I just have to get out of here. I run down the stairs and out of the house. I stop outside the house and breathe a little. I look up at the house and I can see into KJ’s room, he’s looking out at me from his window with a look of hurt and confusion on his face, I give him the signal of call me and I take off down the street, to my sorority.

 I run through the door and I can see the displeased look on most of the girls faces. They are judging hard-core. I run to my room and I slam the door shut. And I clean against the back of it panting. Hard. My eyes are closed, but there is familiar smell in my room.

“late night” a male’s voice filters through the room. I open my eyes and Shawn sits in my desk chair smiling up at me. My roommate: Belle, is starring lustfully at him.

“you have no idea” I say laughing. “can you give us some privacy” I glare at belle.

“sure” she never takes her eyes off of Shawn even reaching for the door knob and eventually I just shove her out.

“little aggressive there?” he stands and I race into his arms.

“I missed you so much” I breath in his scent and hold him just a little closer.

“I missed you too” he holds me close. “wondering if you wanted to go out and do something” he says into my hair.

“yes! But can we do it the arvo. I have to do a quick study sesh and a bit more” I pull away and grab my towel from the hanger.

“whose shirt is that?” he asks, and I hear in his voice a little bit of jealousy.

“jealous are we Shawn?” I ask and life my eyebrows.

“no, we agreed no feelings. Just wanna know who’s” he says defensively.

“well if you must know, its KJ’s” I look over my shoulder at him and his face is full of irritation. “just a guy I met” I pull my hair into a messy bun.

“well good to know that, just text me when you want to go out” he says and moves out of my room and I follow suite.

“you’re not mad, are you?” I ask.

“no. we agreed no feelings. So, do whatever you want or whoever you want” he moves out of the house really fast and I simply head off to my house. There isn’t much I can do.

 As soon as I’m out of the shower and dressed I’m summoned to a meeting by the heads of my sorority.

“what’s this about?” I ask very confused.

“this is a warning. If you hang out with KJ again. You’ll be out of this sorority very fast.” The leader with straight blonde hair, with blue eyes says matter of factly.

“wow, very straight to the point” I sass out. “may I ask why?” I fold my arms.

“we do not allow, for those boys to fraternise with us sophisticated ladies” the one to her right says. Her black hair is pulled into a tight ponytail.

“oh. Okay. But I need to go over there and get my clothes” I’m mildly embarrassed. I hear one of the girls in the back choke on something.

“you slept with him?” the leader says wide eyes.

“not exactly. Yes, I fell asleep next to him. But no penetration happened” this time the girl with the black hair spits out her water. “Bianca!” the leader yells.

“sorry” she murmurs back.

“I will not tolerate, that type of language in my house. You have a choice. Clean up your act or get out” blondie seethes.

“cool. I’m out then. Don’t tell me how to act or what to do” I turn and walk out. “I’ll just grab my shit now” I purposely swear knowing these girls will hate it.

All I know is I have 3 things to do today.

1.     Get out of here.

2.     See KJ and get my clothes and possibly more. (I laugh to myself thinking of this)

3.     Find Shawn.

tell me what you guys thought here