KATE Haasnoot turned to her love of sewing to fill in her evenings as a first-time mother in 2015.
She began with an oversized pom pom wall hanging that she made to decorate the nursery of her daughter Marlow, now six, which turned out so well that it encouraged her to keep going and set up her own Etsy store to sell the pom poms online.
"She was a couple of months old when I launched my first product - I was lucky she was a good sleeper - and it just got picked up," Haasnoot says.
"I would open the [online] Etsy store on Sundays once a week and it went gangbusters."
Maryville-based brand Luxe Baby Love is now Haasnoot's full-time gig (alongside parenting Marlow and her four-year-old brother Rufus) after she left her career as a primary school teacher to focus on design.
Although she handmade all of her items in the early years, she has since turned to outsourcing the manufacturing of her products to keep up with demand after she was approached by several boutiques that wanted to sell Luxe Baby Love products in their stores.
Her range is now sold in 30 boutiques (including The Grateful in Carrington) and online stores across Australia and boasts 40,000 followers on Instagram, a tool which she credits for playing a huge role in getting the brand out there.
"Having a presence that is accessible to a lot of people is huge," she says.
"My customers are so supportive, they will share on their social media pages when they get one of my products, so it's that word-of-mouth that has worked incredibly well for me."
Luxe Baby Love has grown from nursery decor to also producing accessories specifically for women including leather tassel key rings, bag tags and her top-selling "Mama Carryall" tote bag which she designed by drawing on her own experience to create the perfect bag for mums.
It has plenty of space for all the things parents have to cart around for their kids, with interior pockets and toggles to hold keys in place so they don't get lost.
"The bag has been designed by someone who is a mum and knows what they want out of a bag," she says.
"It's about celebrating motherhood in style. That's what I am trying to do. I design products that are practical, that feel joyful to use and elevate your everyday style.
"I have always had a love for fashion so this is my collection of useful things that I find really fun and stylish."
This week she launched a third release of the bag in a bright purple gingham design.
"It's the same design that I have tweaked slightly each time and it has been my biggest product," she says.
"I think a good outfit can really lift your mood and I think it's the same with accessories, so I try to infuse my products with a bit of fun."
Haasnoot's passion for design and sewing began as a child when her mother taught her to sew. These days she has her own studio in a converted garage space at her home in Maryville where she designs products for the range.
"Going from where I started on the dining room table to having my own space is a really nice feeling," she says.
"During lockdown it was the everything space though: the homeschool space, the toddler wrangling space, the work zone. But now it's mine again, which is very nice [laughs]."
Luxe Baby Love recently launched a line of picnic mats which coincided with the announcement that picnics would be allowed as part of the easing of Covid-19 restrictions during the latest lockdown.
"It was impeccable timing. People loved them and it took off," she says.
"The whole process of getting an item made and ready for sale takes a long time, so I had actually had these picnic rugs in the works for a good six months before picnics and lockdowns were a thing.
"It was actually just really good timing because they arrived on the weekend that it was announced that we could picnic [laughs]."
A new colourway of the picnic mats, which are also ideal to be used as a baby play mat, will be released soon and Haasnoot also plans to introduce limited release handmade items.
"I will go full circle back to where I started with the handmade, small production runs," she says.
