‘The Family Stone’ How Swan Hill Stone Became a Sustainability Story

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Transcript

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Welcome to Designing Success from Study to Studio, I'm your host, Rhiannon Lee, founder of the Oleander and Finch Design Studio. I've lived the transformation from study to studio and then stripped it. Bare, took time to write down the step-by-step framework, so now you don't have to overthink it. In this podcast, you can expect real talk with industry friends, community connection, and actionable tips to help you conquer whatever's holding you back. Now, let's get designing your own success. Today on the podcast, I had the pleasure of interviewing Hannah, who is the founder of Anello. I came across Anello at the Decor, decor and Design. They were at the design show as well, and I was next level blown away. Like by far, this was my favorite bespoke. Event design, like the, the actual stall that they had, they had this beautiful, beautifully custom lit arches and all of their marble was sort of back lit and shown off. And, but I think what I really loved is I, I brought the girls in from the framework and we got a real behind the scenes and they talked to us a lot about sustainability and actually how alo was created, where they were sort of saying, you know, there's so many off cuts and what can we do with them? How can we make sure that they're not just. Heading to landfill and I love the story. I love the furniture, I love the customization. You're gonna hear all about that in my conversation with Hannah. The whole team, family run. Very down to earth, very accommodating. I can tell without a shadow of a doubt, the next time that I go and I have a job where I'm able to source from them as stone masons in Swan Hill, I'll absolutely be reaching out because I know that they will be able to think and meet me creatively and do things big or small that I really need for my projects, and that is something I can get behind. I love partnering with trades and having trade partners that I feel. It's not one size fits all, and they do listen to my design and they do understand what I'm, the outcomes I'm trying to achieve for the homeowner. And I really get a sense. And also because they have, a strong connection with Brillo, like a sister company that can also add timber elements and warmth. It's incredible the sorts of things that they can do. I'll let Hannah tell you more about it. I don't do a lot of. Conversations with trade partners. I, you know, obviously I wanna prevent the podcast from feeling like an ad, but this was anything but that, that was not the reason I wanted to speak to Hannah. I wanted to talk about running a family business and, um, you know, being a mother when run and founding a stone masonry and what, like, what the journey has been like. She just brings so many insights. She was really lovely to chat to and I hope that you'll enjoy it. Stick around while I tattoo Hannah from Nulo. Hey, Hannah. Hello. How are you? I'm good. How are you? Yeah, you're busy, lady. Yeah, I know. Always. Always. Yeah. But that's how we roll, isn't it? I like, like that. I dunno what I do with like, everyone's always like, I don't know how you do it. It's like, I don't know how I would not do it. Yeah. I don't know if that's a generational thing or a personality thing, but it's probably a bit of both. Yeah, probably. It's a bit of, I just think, yeah. Life's boring. Do. Do you think you and I in the same generation? I would say maybe I'm 42. Yeah, I'm 41, so there you go. Yeah, there you go. Eighties babies, I think. Yeah. I probably feel a little bit older sometimes.'cause I had my kids young and so I sometimes feel like the people that have got. My children's age. You're older. Yeah. It's interesting also because a lot of people, I guess our generation and then below started having children later. Later. Yeah. I didn't start having my kids until my mid thirties. Yeah. You know, I've got three, but I, I kind of partied and did different, and there's no right or wrong way, but No, I agree. Like even when I go to certain school events Yeah. And I'm like, wow, I'm wildly older than some of these parents. Yeah. Like, I feel like I could, hang on a second. You could be my kid and your kid could be my kids. Oh, no. And then you start, oh no, I, yeah. So I was 20 when I had my first, nearly 21, and then 24 when I had my youngest. Oh, it all works out in the end.'cause then now you are at an age where you can enjoy them. You get extra. I didn't say extra time, but the only regret that I have, I think the minute after I had my first baby, I thought. I wish I'd known it was like this earlier. I would've done it earlier. Earlier, and I would have more time with them because yeah, my youngest child, I turned 40 five days after he was born. Like, it's fine. Like, let's hope I'm just a really old lady and I get heaps of time with him, but I feel a bit ripped off time. But like time is more important to you as you're older and all of a sudden you're like, I don't really want you to just have the decrepit version like I want. Yeah. So it just is what it's. You can't have everything and you can't have the sliding doors moment. You can't be both. Gwyneth Puff is in that movie, like you have to pick a lane and do your own thing and yeah, I'm sure they probably have the best version of you what they have now. You seem the young mom. Oh, well there you go. They definitely didn't want the 20-year-old version of me. No. Well, this is a thing. Make your own nuggets. I'm out, I'm out of the door. I don't, yeah. And then I also laugh because my, I think all kids sort of try it on that you're so strict and you're this and that,, I know what it's like to just go outside and play and I know what boredom feels like and I don't, and I actively, you know, my kids don't have tablets. They're not allowed to do like a lot of stuff and they get really upset. And I'm like, well, you know, video games rot your brain and I know this and I know that. And you know, dopamine is not. It's gonna control your life. And yeah, it's not a judgment on anyone else, it's just I still kind of hold on to the kind of childhood I wanna give them is the childhood that I had. And that's not possible in this modern world. It just isn't possible. And they're so overexposed to digital everything. And I can't be both the robot girl, the AI thing, and like technology phobic. So I don't wanna be a hypocrite. Parenting is hard. Yes. And knowing what to do is so hard. And then you get to a certain age with and if you restrict them too much, they'll find other ways to get to which are less safe and less supervised. Absolutely. Yeah. So I, we have open phone policy in our house and we still do, like in their twenties. And they, we all have our own, we have one password across everything. And yeah, they're good. Anyway. It'd be interesting the day that they're like. By the way, I'm locking down my phone. Oh, but you're 30. I still, no, but the thing is, I don't really go into their phones. It's, no, you don't need to anymore. I don't need to. But lucky if something happens or, yeah, we share locations and, yeah. That's interesting. We were talking about that. I was talking about that and my child's football game on the weekend and saying. The fi not find my family, but like the location sharing applications and I was like, I, there's so much of me that very much is like, yes, absolutely. Kids don't have phones yet, but they have like, yeah. Some apple tags and things and I'm like, you know, I do wanna know, but there's so much of me that just dreams of a world where you get to be a rat bag and I don't know about it. Oh. And like I actually want you to have those freedoms of being like, tell me your one place and be another place as long as you're safe and supported. Yeah. And that's the group that's, that's so where I say to my children, I don't care where you are, I really don't care. But as long as I know, if you are at the pub. Two o'clock in the morning. I don't really don't, I really don't care. That's up to you. But at least I know where you are and I can go to bed just being like, okay, you're not in a gutter like you. Yeah. Well, I mean even you might be later, but you're okay for now. I mean, even if there are in a gutter, at least I know which gutter to look for. Correct. Correct. That's so funny. The kids did so well at day decor and design, so thank you. You met. It was really lovely to step past and meet you guys and Thank you. And I brought my group of frameworks through, so we love doing a bit of behind the scenes touring where we get to meet all the different suppliers and Yeah, like a lot more about the manufacturing process. Yes. And the customizations and the different things available because I feel like you could walk around that trade fair for days and just top line touch and look at the. Things. Yeah. But getting a working understanding of how that applies to your client. Yeah. As the designer and yourself was so good. Thank you. And I must admit, at lunch, I had a laugh because a couple of the girls described you as the nicest person at day decor and design. Which is so lovely, but I was also like rude. I'm right here. But it's nice to get that rap, isn't it? To be like they were engaged, they loved hearing about the product and they were really enjoyed it. So appreciate that. Thank you for the behind the scenes and it's a bit of an interesting one'cause the podcast generally will be like designers in business, solo episodes of mine. We have had a couple of product based businesses, but I particularly think that Annella is a really good. Fit in terms of understanding a bit more about stone masonry and the very unique way that you approach it. Because I've not really heard of anybody kind of going, Hey, you know what? Let's be more sustainable and work from the offcuts and, and really I get the sense that if you can dream it, you can do it. You just have to pay for it like that. You've got the artisans and you've got everything kind of sorted. And it's like that excites me as a designer. And I think it excites the industry because we're sort of like, oh, wouldn't it be good if you could do this? But it would look like. Yes. Yeah. Everyone that works in the practical side of your business is probably gonna hate this podcast and hate me saying that because we know as designers we're wildly imaginative. And then what the practicality of how that comes to life is probably not the best. But do you wanna talk us through the process? Like how do you design stuff? How do you come up with these things? So generally it does stem from. The client coming to us and I love what I calling the human connection in at the moment, you know, over Zoom or you know, video. It doesn't have to be human to human, face to face. Exactly. But the human connection in design is really fascinating in the fact that people come with an idea they've got and we can connect. Person and get that idea across as a human way rather than just seeing it in a catalog and be like, oh, that's fine. I'll just get that. Whereas someone coming to us, they'll be like, I want this, but I really like the red veining. Yes. We'll put the red veining in the exact right spot that you want. We have a client that she chose her s. For a table and she sits in a set spot for her breakfast and she wanted a set bit of beautiful veining right at her breakfast table. We can do that because we can connect with the human, see what they wanna do, and yeah, so they'll bring their idea to us and then we have a fabulous team behind us. Have a really good design by Garth. I have an engineer, qualified engineer. I have a qualified builder, and I have a qualified teacher. I have a qualified psychologist. She's nearly finishing her psychology of marketing. So our team is really built up on, let's say, qualified people. Though you don't need to be highly qualified to do great design, but all those aspects is, our team behind us can give you that most amazing result, especially when you're talking custom because. Your clients are gonna come. And we were talking the other day about, I was listening to a episode of your podcast about, someone will have a different budget to what my budget is. Okay. I'd love to have a five grand console in my hallway. Budget might not fit for you, but it might fit for your client. And that's where we love to be able to give the client, you know, your design clients the best value for money, but also the. What they're actually wanting. And your designers, um, are definitely working for the client in that. And that's where we, you can bring your design to us, be like, yes, we can, we can do that. Or maybe we can't quite, so let's tweak it a bit. And that's where we can, we are so restricted as designers by, as you say, that catalog approach or the fact that it's like this is the. Five console tables that are available, pick which one you like. And I think we spoke, is it the Ala stone console table that we looked at? When we were at day decor and design, and I was so blown away at the idea, just the conversation that I had with you was like, oh yeah, you know, this client needed a two meter wide for a particular wall in a hallway, and I just suddenly went, oh, all the hours of my life that I've spent, just like not able to find the right dimension, able to find something that's going to have enough presence. In this example in a hallway, and it always looks so tiny and I just love that you can go in and go, can I get a quote for a 2.2 meter? Yeah. And the other thing that we especially for a console in your stone masonry when you're designing things it's great to know the sizes of stone. So a lot of, yeah. Uh, engineered stone come in 3.2 by 1.6, and a lot of kitchens will use. A lot of the slab, but there may be like a 300 whole rip piece, what I would call a rip is like the whole length. So you'll end up with 3.2 meters and just like 40 centimeters or 400 mil left over, and that's not really great for a. Anything else in the build, but it's great for a consult table and you're already paying for that material. It also brings that continuity into your project, so as soon as you're walking in, you know, we all talk about that dreaded six meter wall as you walk in on the garage and you can put that beautiful piece of stone there that you've already paid for. Yes, you are going to pay for your labor and your design and all that, but, and your legs. Yeah, the legs of the, and whatever design we go for that. But you bought the stone and then as you walk down, you go into the kitchen and you're like, oh, I've already seen that beautiful stone at the front door. And it just sets the tone on. I love it. Uh, when we always talk about the sort of the entryway setting the tone of the home, and I think if you've got this wow piece of stone in your kitchen, yeah, I love that you could use it. And I saw really incredible pieces at decor and design, you know. Plinth piece with an interchangeable timber top that you Yes, I loved that.'cause it became two pieces, like if you haven't seen it, I shared it on my stories, but all I could think of was, you know, property stylist could buy all the different, you could have a walnut top and a black butt top, and it. An oak top and then like interchangeable and it's protecting that marble as well.'cause we always, we know with property style it's like high traffic and people chip things and do things. It's kind of that protector, but you still get the look and I just thought it's so clever. Some of the intricate little pieces. So there were. Wine racks. You know, the circle's cut out of a piece of stone, and I think I just saw recently, maybe it might have been on your website. It's like a rose, like the glass sits in it and then it's like a little tray, I think just like a, a. Kind of pink stone. Anyway, I just, all I could think of is these are affordable pieces. You could even custom design a birthday present for a milestone birthday or like something small like a tray or a, yeah and I just love that these pieces aren't being, I don't know what would've happened to them beforehand, but. Yeah, you can't sell a lot of like off cuts and things, but they are such beautiful stones. That's as you stay. That's true. And I love that the actual person who purchased it is now getting, it's not about an upsell, but they're actually getting opportunity Yes. To use what they've already invested in and being like, do you guys want like coasters, like big rectangle? Like, do you want anything? Do you want a massive cheeseboard? Which is, this could be for grazing platters, but it's just the extra bit. Yeah. That's exactly right. We are bringing these beautiful pieces of stone from, say, Italy or Turkey. We're relocating them to our beautiful part of the world. We wanna use every bit that we are relocating from one part of the world to the other. I don't like to say, some people say we're robbing the earth of this beautiful stone. Well, no, we're relocating it and enjoying it in another beautiful part of the earth, which there are some stunning Australian marbles by the way. If you ever look up Atri Dreams, that's one of my favorites. And we created, instead of an artwork, the stone, I walked into the Stone Gallery and I was like, oh my goodness, that looks like a, a piece of art. And so we hung it up above our bed very well. I must say I was about to, I am freaking out over here. I'm like, no, 3M strips, please. No. My husband's a big man and he held onto it and it didn't come down. So, but that's above our bed as our artwork. And people walk in and they're like, that is the most stunning piece of artwork. And it, you know, we can backlight it and it, we've got other features behind it. And it's just about thinking outside of the box, like becoming, I like to think we're becoming a thought leader in the industry in creative ways to use. Different textures. Yeah. I've seen, um, when we were looking, we were looking at particular stone mirrored frame, but that ran into the basin and bench, you know, like that it was all at one piece. Yes. And that to me is really innovative. I just really like the idea that, we're reusing somewhat some things or even just creating from whatever you've chosen. And being able to model that and as you say, like look at it in like a burgundy or red vein, and then look at it again in more of your grays and blacks and, and changing, just choosing you make such a statement. It's beautiful. Thank you. And going back to ai, I'm a big fan of AI and, and if you haven't. Listen to some of Rhiannon's podcasts on her ai. She just, you're such a thought leader in the industry. Go. You. Thank you. It was nice to see a friendly face at de decor and design actually up the back. I was like, oh good, you made it. I did. I told the entry lady on, on your emotional support person she loved, but I got so much out of your speech and I have bought. Even though I sort of felt like I knew ai, but some of the tips that you brought back were just fabulous. But one of them, going back to, choosing your stone AI has been great for us to get the design, pull it into AI and render it into, okay, it's not perfect. We're not gonna build it off that, but it's just, Hey, it looks great in super white marble, but does it look great in Calcutta or does it look great in, you know, your Turkish rose or your viola. And within a click of a button, it just, yeah. So thank you for bringing all those extra tips to us. Oh, that's okay. I think it must be so revolutionary because even though of course we could model it, it just took so many hours. And I think that when we're able to show clients, like it's easier to get a yes if I just take people into a stone masonry and talk about, you know, Calcutta, viola, for example. Yeah. And it's. Bold piece, and it's such a wow moment, but they cannot see it as a base and mirror like vanity look, whatever they're still seeing a giant rectangle that looks a bit brave and a bit scary. Yes. And when you're talking about like, oh, it's gonna be, you know, this bar with the back lit light and it's only in the shelving and also on the site, like whatever it is, we're very good at. Imagining these things as designers, but the client is just like, oh, that looks so full on. When you go into the stone masonry and you see a piece sitting up vertically, it can look very brave and bold. When we put it down on a tabletop, we're not looking at it. In that same angle, it can really change. But as you say, you take them in there and they're like, oh, it's too much. Soon as you cut it down and you're also not looking at it in 3.1 by, you know, 1.8 size, you know, you're cutting it down to say, 800 for your coffee table or a 1200 coffee table, and it can look. So different vertically and horizontally. So yeah, when you're out and about with your clients, remember to think that because it does change a lot and especially I say this a lot to people with choosing their stone for their kitchens.'cause that's our other part of our business is our stone masonry. Doing bespoke bathrooms at kitchens is when you're putting your white sample up against your stone, the cabinets. Vertical and your stone is horizontal. You're not putting them on top of each other. And a lot of people get so hung up about, you know, the color white. And I'm like, see. Instantly I put the white underneath. It looks great. You know, you're not matching your whites bang on, bang on top of each other like that. And that can be a really tricky process, but yeah, so helpful to have a bit of visualization. Yep. And being able to sort of show them, so you guys are located in Swan Hill, which is sort of regional Victoria. Yep. Very regional. Very regional. Does that present any challenges from a business perspective or from, you know, logistics from what are you seeing there? Yeah, so are there a lot of interiors in Swan Hill that are all done up with Marble or what? What do you see? Well, we are very fortunate to have a background up here of Italian people and they appreciate the marbles and the granite. So yes, we do have a lot of beautiful interiors up here, but the logistic sides of things, so. Going back to my fabulous team, one of our other parts of our team is logistics. And that's a great question because it's heavy. We think about it as heavy and fragile and yeah, so we have a truck come up every week, sometimes twice, depending on what's happening. And then our factory is run extremely smoothly and very high on like the latest technology. So we have everything's wet cut and all that. Our factories running a clock clockwise fashion. So when the truck comes, we have a really streamlined process for that. Going back to having for clients, sort of seeing Swan Hill as regional, obviously no. As far these days in virtual, we can be anywhere in the world and choose something. I do recommend if you are spending a lot of money. You know, you wanna look at your piece of stone, then that is a really great way. But that's not necessary. I do have a lot of girls up here who just shop from photos and we don't just do a stock photo, so, oh, this is what the slab look like. This is the slab. Yeah. And then it's like cataloged as it comes in. So you've got the imagery and you can share that. Yes. And then also when we come to designing your kitchen, or let's say more in the furniture sides, you know, your tabletop for that coffee table, which part of the slab do you actually want? So that's all curated through the process to the client. So being regional. Okay. It does have its challenges. It also has a lot of positives in the fact that we're a tight team. We're a family team. We also are used to traveling. So three hours for someone who normally only travels, you know, 20 to 40 minutes in there every day. We're used to doing that, so it doesn't seem quite. When it comes to your install, you know, if you are three hours away, that's just factored into the budget. And um, yeah, that's just how we get there. Yeah, that's how we get there. And we reason we've, because. Perhaps our regional thinking in a little bit more open-minded for logistics and things like that. We don't think of it being hard because we're so used to doing it. And you would working with that same materials, right? So it's been heavy from the minute that you met it. It's not like we used to have like light marble that we threw around and popped in the back of the car and now we have to think about it. You sort of creating solutions as you've grown and there it's also the, uh, a lot of your designers or. Listeners will know of the product porcelain, which there's a few brands on the market that are doing that, and that is a solution for less heavy things, especially for your property stylists. People like that want something that's not. That's the marble look, but less heavy. So have a look at your porcelain options. I could list a few brands, Deon or Lona, Lavy Stone. Do a la lovely one. We also have Ari, you can look them all up. That does bring the weight down, so if anyone's concerned about that. You can get a good look Marble, obviously, nothing like the natural, there's nothing like the real stuff, but it's important to know because especially, yeah, when we were dealing with, people are confused. There's been big changes in the industry recently and it's like it hasn't burnt anyone from using it. But you know, I think it, it has made designers more shy about yes, actively putting forward their thoughts and ideas if they haven't got their thoughts and ideas in place just yet. Like if they're still kind of catching up to the changes. Yes. I still have that question. I still have that remark. Should I say we can't use Engineered Stone anymore? The way the media ran that engineered stone campaign taking it through the courts like that, they didn't really show everyone the solution they came up with. They were just like, oh no, you know, we've got engineered stone ban. But then they didn't say, oh, hang on. Now the suppliers have bought in crystalline, silica, free stone. It's still an option. So the media, the follow up wasn't really, there wasn't, it was the, the pain point and the drama. But then, yeah, I think in our industry it was there. Like I actually was. Coaching a lot of designers who are doing, um, you know, visiting and learning from the experts like yourselves and actually getting in and saying, before I go to my next consult, walk me through what's possible, what should I be thinking?'cause it's not just immediately everyone jumps to a natural stone price point. Like there are definitely clients that can't do that and that's not, as you say before, it might not be our budget, but it's not everyone's budget. No. It's a delight when it is. And I love the idea. Yeah. And even like budget wise, I think some of the girls that. Visited were quite shocked at the affordability thinking that, you know, if you were gonna be doing a custom piece, you think it's as expensive as a marble bedside plus 40% to customer, you know, you think it's almost double and. It just wasn't. No, and I think they were really pleased by that. Yeah. So I guess also with that, we definitely feel like we're in the industry. We sort of see what's happening with the changes and that, that was a scary time for a lot of people, particularly the stone masonries.'cause it, essentially was, yeah, going to be 80% of our business. The other thing is, it's. It's not as scary as what it was portrayed to be. Also, the plus side of it is that a lot of more people are going to the natural side. So what's happened with that is it's the prices down. People that are ridge you know, thought maybe they couldn't afford a beautiful marble kitchen, are now looking at it and saying, oh, the prices have reflected the demand. Obviously there's more demand now. So yeah, always get it quoted if you find something that you absolutely love. You know, I think that is such good advice because I think the assumptions that people make, stop them sometimes from having the. Like the kitchen or bathroom of their dreams because they're like, oh, we're, we're engineered stone people. We're not natural. Like we can't afford that. And if the difference is$600 between you having, that's right, the absolute dream material, you should always get it quoted. The worst you can say is like, oh, well I wish I was the kind of person who could pay that quote. Like, it's fine. Maybe my next time. Um, I also say to a lot of my clients that come through our showroom. If they're trying to choose on an edge work or something, does that edge work, because you know, it can be between a 20 mil edge work or a 40 mil edge work can make a big difference on the design. Hundred percent. Um, does, let's say it's an extra thousand dollars to get your whole kitchen in 40 mil, does that represent a thousand dollars worth of value to your eyes? Are you like, wow, that looks like a thousand dollars. Or you're like. I like the 20. It probably looks like an extra five, to be fair. That 40 is so much more lux or going to the 60 something we were talking about at design that I absolutely loved is. Not everyone is aware that you can do this, but you were talking about applying the natural over the existing to make the sizing. Can you talk us through that so that people listening kind of get that option? Yeah, so we are doing a lot of renovations in our homes these days. Sometimes the new build is just not quite in the reach of budget or perhaps even availability. There's a lot of. Home shortages. So a lot of people are looking at the renovation option, and the first thing we think of about bringing a home back into the, let's say. We're nearly tears, but we won't talk about that. Oh God, don't do that to me. Is your kitchen and pulling out a whole kitchen is a huge job. A lot of the kitchens are very well thoughtful, they work well for our family. You know, we perhaps don't like the cupboard fronts, or perhaps we don't like the handles, but mostly it's the bench tops that date. And we do have really good systems of coming in and putting, you know, natural stone or. Porcelain or your engineers don't over top of your existing bench tops. And it's a really great way of bringing that kitchen up to date or a refresh. You're not building a new home this year, but you wanna update your kitchen and kitchen sells. So if you are thinking of maybe selling your house, it's a good way of making it feel extra lax. What I love is just the, like thickness. Obviously, if you're going over a timber, we have these like really ugly, I shouldn't say that because my father-in-law built the house, but jra, timber bench tops. And I hate the red undertones. Like, it's not for me. Um, my kitchen is green and I feel like it's like a Christmas tree. Like I just don't want this green and red going on, but I can't do anything about it just yet. That's fine. That's a me problem. But the idea that if I put a 20 mil on top Yeah. And like. When on the sides it would almost look like a 50. It would be a feature. Yeah, it would come. So it's probably, it's like a thick piece of timber. It's probably likely to end up 58 if your bench tops are, A lot of them were 38 mil in the Lamin X I'm, and I think yours might be natural timber from what I'm hearing. Yeah, it's So that might be very, and then, then a lot of people coming to me and saying that's gonna make my tops too high. One of the, things that we're talking about these days is the standard 900 Benchtops have been standard for height off the floor, have been 900 for so many years. In actual fact, most of our children are becoming taller than us. We are taller than our parents. That 900 is per, perhaps a little bit redundant now. So coming up that extra 20 mil, I actually, I'm not a tall person. I'm 164, but I love my nine 80 bench tops. Especially now that we are not having those little shallow sinks that we had in the early two thousands or nineties. We're having the big deep sinks and then it's actually quite hard for our backs to be right down in them. So raising up your bench top is not. Necessarily a bad thing, unless you're me.'cause I'm five foot tall, so I might need to rethink my jar marble situation. But that's okay. And obviously it's not about me. I really just thought it was interesting. Yeah, because I didn't realize that so many people maybe haven't had the exposure yet to know that that's a possibility of going over existing materials. And all of the girls were like. Wow. And I thought, oh, well we, we need to talk about that on the podcast because it's such a great way to be like, look, you're gonna invest, but you're gonna get this look this thick. It looks like it's all marble, but inside is your timber or inside is your, what you used to have. Yeah. You know, if it's old laminate or stuff that you're just like so sick of at how nice to refresh with a thin piece of marble that you can afford and a little bit less. Disruption to your kitchens. Having a kitchen all pulled out and all put back in is a big job. Having the bench tops just come in and straight over the top is great. It's a bit more than cosmetic changes, but it's a bit less than a full demo, like ripping it all out and moving the plumbing and redesigning it. It's quite nice and it won't be for everyone, but for the right client, I think that's such a great's sort of an option. Option. Yeah. And I suppose you could do that across any of the rooms, you know, if there's a, you could do that with your bathrooms. I've seen a lot of people doing beautiful home office options and things these days and I'm thinking, you know, you could go straight over a timber bench that used to roll up your chair to, and you know that you could do whatever you want really. Right? Yep. We can. And we have the options and we also save off, cuts off the projects that we do have. So if you've got, you know, a piece that you're thinking of, give us a call or. Get in contact with your designer and they can source a piece for you. Yeah, I think there was lots of different things that I think we were all looking at at day and design and even down to like the thin display shelving and the like business card holders and stuff. And yes, they're fiddly and little and you think that they're not, they're not. Mass produce. It's not like everyone's going, I'm just calling to get a business card holder. But it's more about, it actively showed that if you can dream it and it's capable of being made out of stone, that you can kind of have that conversation. Yes. And that you would be open to being like, yes, we could do this. Customization for a client. Even things like we do our like detailing. Sometimes we have like a brass strip through joinery and stuff. Like thinking about how do we do that in marble or how do we do that and access some of those off cuts.'cause not everywhere is. Some PA places, honestly, you would call and say, I've got this idea, and it's like, you know, six centimeters tall by Yeah. Like 10, uh, by like 1.2 meters long and I need that, or whatever. And they're just like, oh, wait, like we, we do Ben, we do the whole lot. Yeah. We're not interested in your like, sort of features or handles or anything like that. Oh, we have a we've done some gorgeous handles in marble heart shaped ones. We've done great big tall ones that go on the front doors just. One big feature, one for the refrigerator. You know, we're having those concealed refrigerators a little bit more now. They look so cool on that, but, so yeah, anything's possible. And it is about knowing the contacts and someone who will say yes, and that's us. And starting with the conversation, like literally just being like, okay, cool, I'll give this team in Swan Hill a call.'cause I know they do customizations and that they're, they don't think I'm crazy if I ask the question. Definitely not. And then they could just like reach out and, you know, if it can't be done, it can't be done. But. Nothing mention, nothing gain. If you never ask, you're not from the designers. It's really good to be able to create bespoke experiences for our designs'cause we love it and also for our clients.'cause they're like, we're able to talk it out and they mocked it up on AI or they mocked it up in real life and sketch up or you know, anything. And sort of, I think that's exciting. I think that's part of when we wanna wow our clients with this like beautiful. Customer experience. That's all part of it when that comes into play. But you know that that's designed by the team in Swan Hill, the team in your design firm and the homeowner, and no one else has that in their house. No, I think that's really exciting to me. I think that's part of that high-end luxury that we are all gonna be having to move towards, because AI is going to obviously do what AI is going to do, and that's so fine. It's just that we need to flex. Human connection as you say. Yes, but also that, yeah, that human touch. The influx of the human eye into the design. You can tell that that's being considered well thought out and designed. Yeah. It wasn't just something that you was mass produced. No, and that's it. Also going back to your mass produced, yes, there are some options in the market for mass produced and people will say, oh, I can get a marble coffee table for half that price. You will see those pieces and that are great for certain budgets. Just be aware that the marble is not the same quality marble as what you perhaps would be getting if you were going through a stone masonry when Yeah. I mean, we can still get those cheaper marbles, but we are not using that forever bespoke furniture. I think the designers definitely get that. It's more of a sell for the homeowner, isn't it? Where you're just kind of like, and, and that's why conversations like this are so important.'cause then we get an understanding of like, okay, knowing the materials from Italy or Turkey, knowing the materials loved in Swan Hill, and there's people that are turning the stone and polishing the stone and cutting it into a weird love, heart handle shape and you know, like putting it, packaging it up with all that love and logistically handling it back out. We know that that's so different than another. Gosh, this will probably make you cringe and I can't believe I'm even saying this publicly, but there was a whole period, I think, I wanna say it was like 2019 where a certain large affordable retailer in Australia did a marble vein contact and people contacted their bench tops walls, and the marble was like repeated every 13 centimeters, you know, the exact same pattern. I'm just so glad we're done with that. That's all I can say. That was such a horrendous time to watch as a designer and I figure from your place of business, you guys must have been dying. It's interesting how trends do come around or get peeled off, like, oh, can you imagine all the rentals that just have this like sticky resi? I can't even talk about it. Oh, it's just imagine. No. The other thing with your marble is it's a long, you know, it's not a trend. We call them investment pieces for a reason. You know, buy once, buy, right? Yeah. But also if you love it, the one I, I think the objection that I hear the most or the hesitation from my clients is like, I love it now, but. Will I love, you know, will, will. I love it later. And obviously not with your bench tops and things, but with a custom piece of furniture, it's like if you invest in it and you fall out of love with it, it still holds that value and you can very much resell it for what you've invested in it whilst you've also had four or 5, 6, 8 years of loving, enjoying it. Yeah. And as long as it's not damaged, chipped, and like treated terribly, then you can almost get exact price.'cause as you say, it holds its value very much. It's very much a timeless piece. It just might, and it's okay. You can fall out of love with a red vein piece. Like we, we know that like in time trends will come and go and we see that all the time with. Stone and with different kinds of stones, it has changed. And there are times, like right now we are in the marble era, we're in, we're all for the vein, we're all for the color. That won't always be like that. No. We realistically know that in years we will be like, remember when we just. Like viola, everything and like, and that's so fine. I think it's fine. Yeah. As long as you can kind of update or move it on, it's right. It will hold its value because it's such a valuable piece of material. And going back to having our talking about perhaps overseas items and things like that, one thing we haven't talked about is our lead times, which. Being regional, Victoria, Australia, whatever. It hasn't spent three months on the water. And sometimes it can be up to more than that, especially if you're gonna customize something. I know of girls that have got customized pieces out of overseas and it can be three to four months and then it gets to the water and Oh, do you mind if we f negate it? And then it comes all with residue all over it. Yeah. So it's not uncommon to hear like it's a 22 week lead time for that piece because it's custom and it's overseas. Yeah. And we tend to. It's, we've got three to six weeks on our pieces, and then sometimes, depending on where the stone, what the stone story is, six weeks is plenty. Um. And if something's very super urgent, then you can talk to me. But don't tell the rest of the team. I think it's so reasonable. Like we wait three to six weeks, you wait six to eight weeks from a piece from Freedom and then they extend it for another 10.'cause it was actually only ever coming in 12 weeks or whatever. Well, they didn't quite the container to use any names, but like, oh no. Well then, you know, it's not uncommon. Well, they need to fill the container so they tell you three to, or you know, three to six months, but then the container's not filled at three months, so then they've gotta, yeah. Anyway but you are paying for those extra things. We like to. Treat our team with high respect. Obviously I've talked about how qualified they are. Qualified people don't come cheap, they're not working for$15 an hour. Mm-hmm. Um, you are paying for what you get. Yeah. And then, I mean, it's all reflective in the pieces. Yes. And anyone who could go to the show notes, check out the website, go and have a look that it's very clear. I love that it kind of really talks you through the process in terms of. Customization and like how to contact, what to do, what's gonna happen. I really love some of the conversations we were having at day decor and design, though I could tell people were like, this is all, you know when you do get back to that beautiful team and you are back in Swan Hill, they're like, what did you say to these designers? Because now I'm making these like ridiculous canolas out of. Outta stone. But it's, you know, it's, it's all part of it. And yeah, you never know when you're just gonna have that one conversation and that that piece might go into production. You know, that's like, could be a piece that's so like, oh, we didn't think that we were ready to make microphone stands, and here we are and we, you know, they're actually really popular or, or whatever. So reach, any of your designers are welcome to reach out. We have a fabulous trade program and my lovely chandel will help you through that. Or. We definitely will support anyone through their design and definitely wanna give back value to your designers as well as the end client. The designers, a lot of them have learn. I've been listening to your podcasts about pricing. According to your, what the market is taking. And also, that price resentment that we might get, oh, I'm not charging enough so my time's not worth it to be putting it into these really bespoke items. But those designers are worth a lot of money that the amount of learning, and they continue to learn every day, especially. This day and age when we're learning so fast. Yeah. And even a phone call to your team that we're gonna be asking questions'cause we're not so Mason. So we are actually like, look, I know you said anything's possible, but this is a weird one. And you're like, I expect that call from me. Where I'm like, I know you said anything, but I'm just. Wondering. Yeah. And the only thing that can happen, the worst thing that can happen is it's a no. And that's all part of the research process for us. Like if we're reaching out and it's a no, then it's a no. And if we're reaching out and it's a yes, then it's really exciting to bring that to a homeowner. I going back to saying yes to everyone, nearly the one time I've had to say no is when someone bought a counter levered table with a no joke. A single pole in the middle of the table was a render, a terrible render, a single pole in the middle of the table and then like a four meter long table. I'm like, you do realize that the one leg in the middle of the table's not gonna stand up. See, even, I've got to admit, and I am the wildest, I, I told you this. Previously, but I'm the wild, just like pinning everything and then just making my husband work out how it's done. But it can't be any different to like what it looks like anyway. And he's always in this like, but it's practically. Like the practicality side of things, it doesn't work. That is one instance where I'd be like, this needs four legs. Minimum. Minimum. We didn't all do physics, but I think most of us understand gravity and the weight of marble, like we've talked about it. Like just, that's hilarious to me. I'm sure that person understands what that, where that nose comes from, you know, and you could work her at try something else. And we ended up doing her at the most fabulous bespoke dining table. Uh, I'd have to see if I can find it somewhere, but it's on her Instagram and in the most gorgeous marble table. It did have more than one leg, but it, it definitely was, it was about having, so that what she wanted was the chairs to be able to pull up anywhere without hitting a leg. Yeah. So. Yeah, have a look at that or I can pin it. Yeah. And that's a request that we get all the time, like, yeah. I find, I just think there's so much possibility in that, in being able to really work towards the design. And people do have they often do have the budget. It's just, it's not everyone's taste all of the time. Like I do work with clients who are, you know, they're gonna want a lot more timber, they're gonna want a lot more other things. But yeah, being able to just, yeah, look at what's possible is so cool. I really, and yeah, you would've seen at decor and design. The design show we were at both the, all the different timbers that we do add to the stone just because, we do wanna have that softness brought in and timber's a great way of crawling that in. So any customized timber, we can do any different colors, as we were mentioning before. Yeah. So fabulous way of softening your marble because with Brillo, are they on site with you or are they affiliated with you? Saying so, um, our timber range is brillow is, which is us as well. We brought that in mainly just to try and bring in some of that timber. It also allows us to have more organic shapes, whereas timber doesn't bend or curve. We can cut curves out of it. Still just. Slab piece and yeah, we wanted to bring some more softness in with the timber. So that's where that Brillo comes into our brand lineup, which just opened everyone's mind to like, hang on, are you telling me that I can design something that's both marble and and timber and interchangeable? Yeah. Amazing. It's not gonna be possible for everyone to hop in just one hill and come in and like sit down and do that, but the idea that you can reach out and have a virtual meeting or like chat about things. I am so guilty, not guilty of this, but way back when, even when I started my business and I did so much e-sign and I couldn't be places, I would just call up trade suppliers showrooms, because they would be, you'd get just the retailer, not even the trade manager who'd be so frustrated when I'm like, what's your move on number? I'm gonna FaceTime you and I need you to turn me around. Walk me over to these chairs like, and I need you. Like, and I was like, all, scratch your fingers on the velvet. I need to sit now, rub it the other, doing all these things, but. I was never gonna be able to go and see it. And the digital, digital colors, the interpretation is so wrong. Oh yeah. And it's also wrong through FaceTime. Incidentally, like obviously, you know, you have to account for the fact that the color doesn't. The same. It's not just the color I'm wanting to see. So, and I'm still do this all the time because there are so many suppliers where they don't have a showroom. They're internet only, but they do have a warehouse. And I'll call the warehouse. I'm like this tenacious little dog with a bone, and I just call the warehouse and I'm like, okay, who's mobile can I call? Like take me there. Open the box. Yeah. Like show me the thing. If you want me to order it for my clients, I wanna see it. And I just think so many designers don't do that. But I'm like, no, most retailers want to help you. To get to a yes. Yes. Because it's, I'm the gatekeeper of Yes. As the designer. Yes. And if you can't help me get to a Yes, then my homeowner is gonna get a totally different recommendation from me. Someone who will help me get to a yes. So I really got from your team Yeah. That everyone there was like, we are here to help you get to the Yes. And to help you get obsessed with what you've designed and what you're putting in. So whatever that takes. And also, there's plenty of large projects in the regions, not all of. Your designers are gonna be you know, Melbourne or city based. So if they're ever doing a big project up here and they need a space to bring their client to, we have a fabulous showroom and, and a lot of bring your own samples or whatever, but you're very welcome to spread out your mood boards in our. Space. Beautiful. I, I love, I actually think that a lot of the I guess stone suppliers have the mo maybe it's just'cause we love the material but have the most beautiful showrooms. Yeah. It's'cause you get to work with such a lovely product to showcase you, you're not going into, again, I shouldn't. Drop any retailer names, but it's like you're not going into godfrey's and vacuums all over the wall. Like, it's like you've got this beautiful product that you get to kind of showcase and we do it all the time. So if you've got a, an amazing project that you wanna work on, drop in, have a chat. We've, we have a way more knowledge just from the 10 years that we've been doing it. It's not quite 10, it's nine and a half. Sure. It feels like 20. That's fine. Yes and no. And you know, it's just about can I do this? Yes, no. Or have you thought about. And then not everyone can be a specialist in every field. It's like, no, and we shouldn't be either, because your brain, like everything, every new thing that you take on, something else has to get move out. You know? Like it's gotta go. And then, and with every project, you know, there's gonna be projects where you are gonna be heavily involved in the. Quick UpToDate learning of what's happening in the world of stone masonry, for example. But then the next project you might be looking at like textured cladding and like learning about how that's applied. And it's like, I, I actually won't hold onto that right now because the next one is something else. In the nine years that you have been in business in Swan Hill, what has, talk me through that business journey a little bit. Like how has that felt? Is it just like organically stepped, like growth, growth, growth or, you know, has it been harder at different times? No. Well, yeah, I guess, my husband and I set up the business nearly 10 years ago, and it was born from the fact that being in the regions, you know, a lot of builders up here couldn't get a stone mason or they were traveling four hours up here and then, you know, if something was wrong and after all go back. And so my husband Garth, just call him Garth, not my husband. So Garth had, he has an amazing design eye and especially keen eye for. Quality and high workmanship. So he was perfect for the job when he was approached to do it. And then as our team has grown, as our business has grown, I talk about my team a lot.'cause they're, they're the business, you know? We've onboarded those and then when more people have come in saying, Hey, I want the dining room table. It was like, Hey, and AO was born. So AO is a little town outside of Swan Hill that I was looking around. I noticed that when I Googled it the other day and I was like, oh, it's not just a brand name, it's also a town. Yeah. So I wanted to reflect something on the area without it being real regional sounding like Victorian or. Or Swan Hill. So yeah, so that's where that's come from. And I think that branding has really increased in the design world. People, um, can see that we are here to stay. The reflection of the nine years of experience in doing bespoke kitchens and what else we can bring to the industry, and especially with the furniture sides of things. It's just the world. You know, the world is endless, no, that's not the right word. The oyster, the world is your oyster, oyster. The options are endless. The options are endless. So we can, and that is where it is. And so when we started, our children were little, a bit like Rhiannon Z. Now they're not so little. They were 10 and eight, and now they're 21 and 18. It's, you know, they've grown into it. They've been around it, they love it. They were at the design show and decor and design that Rhiannon came in. It came in. So seeing them, and I know people love the families, family stuff. Yeah. A hundred percent. It's so nice. I mean, we're spending this money and we're not pretending, we're not investing in pieces. We're not pretending it's cheap, but we talked about the fact that it's such a high quality thing. I'll every day of the week want to invest in somebody doing an actual happy dance and an actual family, then like a large kind of corporation business. Business guy like Lord Business from the Lego movie. Like I'm like, you don't get my money Lord Business. Like I really wanna work with someone who's like down to earth and fun. And I think that was reflected in what everyone Yeah. Saw and spoke about that came along and met you and, and sort of learn about the team. Now there's a whole group of designers who went through and were like, oh my gosh, if I ever need anything done in marble, like or in stone, no matter what it is, I now have a go to. Yes. And I didn't actually get a chance to stop and talk to you at the design show, even though I was there. I didn't get a chance to talk to you at that, but I think that was so good'cause it meant that I like gave myself an excuse to spend extra time take and design because I was like, I didn't go into boats, so I spend the extra time. Yeah. And thank you for stopping by. It was so lovely to meet your girls and I could tell that they, you know, they're being taught underneath someone with, you know, a great design eye and perhaps. Business knowledge. I love the way that you are doing the business coaching. Well, you know, design coaching, what are you calling it? Success. Designing success. Uh, designing success. Yes. Everyone's gotta design their own though, because what looks like success to me could look like a massive belly flop to someone else. My goodness. Yes. And sometimes we don't stop and ask ourselves, what does success look like to me? Or when will I stop? Like when will I actually feel? Yeah. Because I think this is the thing, we never look back and celebrate the wins because we are Australian and culturally that's like tall poppy syndrome. You're not supposed to say like. I did this, I did that. Like you're not supposed to. And then we're not celebrating the wins. We're not looking back. But when will we know that we're there? Because I feel like sometimes you're living quite a successful to other people. I get, you know, people say things to me and I'm like, I didn't notice it comes across like that because I don't feel like that. I'm never stopping to look at it like that. But yeah, like what? Yeah. Assessing what will be enough and when will I be satisfied? And, and there's actually, you hit that point of success or satisfaction way earlier. And all you really should do is just repeat more of that, like, and feel really good about your business. Not go for the next goal or change the goal post. And I love sharing, and this is exactly where what you are doing and what we're doing today is just sharing our knowledge. You know, I don't have to keep it all to myself and sharing our successes and not being afraid of those successes. My biggest success and I think a lot of peoples is providing for my family, and that's pretty much suddenly we're like, Hey, we're actually doing that. Yep. And it takes so much time to get there, but the business sides of things has just been, it has been very rewarding and it's a big leap to be the business owner and, and now we've got lots of tools on our side where it's a good time to be in business. Yeah. I love that. A positive note to end on. Well, thank you Hannah. I've really enjoyed having a chat today and I will put all of the links in the show notes so that anyone who, if they do have a wild idea or a tame idea, let's be fair to the people that have to actually make it. They'll be listening, I promise. I'm also okay. If it's just something made of rectangles, that's fine too. Um, that they can get in touch with you and have that conversation. Thank you. I appreciate your time and it was lovely to connect. Amazing chat soon. See you then. Bye. That wraps up another episode of Designing Success from Study to Studio. Thanks for lending me your ears. Remember, progress over perfection is the key. If you've found value in today's episode, go ahead and hit subscribe or share it with a friend. Your feedback means so much to me and it helps me improve, but it also helps this podcast reach more emerging and evolving designer. Just like you for your daily dose of design business tips, and to get a closer look at what goes on behind the scenes, follow at Oleander and Finch on Instagram. You'll find tons of resources available at www.oleanderandfinch.com to support you on your journey. Remember, this is your path, your vision, your future, and your business. Now let's get out there and start designing your success.