The last 18 months have seen a new sub category of small businesses emerge in the design space. These are the businesses of people who lost their jobs, or whose workloads drastically decreased following the onset of the pandemic, and those who needed a creative outlet to keep their hands and brains busy during the many long months of Melbourne’s lockdowns.
Aided by the chronic online-ness of the general population during this time, new businesses (particularly those with aesthetically pleasing outcomes) have quickly grown massive followings on Instagram. This, combined with the urge many of us felt to update our home spaces, provided fertile ground for P0LY Designs founders Lara Fisher and Andy Kepitis to launch a pivot-project that has quickly grown into fully fledged business – all from the backyard of their Northcote sharehouse.
After 18 months of creating their tiled plinths, consoles and side tables from home, Lara and Andy have recently moved their fast-growing business to a beautiful new work space and studio in Fitzroy North. We caught up with the business partners (and couple of 10 years!) to learn more about the future of their ‘accidental baby’!