In The Studio With Fabrik Founder
Nestled between the sea and the Illawarra escarpment lies the Fabrik Studio, sitting peacefully behind her family's beach cottage. This is where the magic happens in everything from ideas to design… with pink walls, large french doors letting the sea salt breeze in wisping floral printed dresses come to life and the sound of chimes hanging on the beach cottage’s back porch - this place feels a million miles away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life.
While the pieces are produced & printed in beautiful Bali, Fabrik owner Sarah Hardie has had to shift her creative mindset since the borders shut in 2020. Usually finding inspiration in Bali with the patterns, fabrics and people - Sarah has had to find inspiration quite literally, in her own backyard.
When Sarah wakes up in the morning and heads out to the studio (post long black coffee, of course). She defines the vibes in the studio as calm, a place to be truly awake, a sanctuary and a space full of inspiration. She will put on some music and pop her favourite essential oil fragrance into the diffuser. Surrounding herself with some vintage patterns and fabric swatches - she can truly tune into her creativity.
Meet Fabrik team member, Eyvette, packing some orders to go out from our last launch.
The Fabrik studio is just out the back of Sarah’s home in the garden. She believes in working to live, not living to work… meaning she often escapes for walks with her sweet dog, Teddy down to the ocean. The nature that surrounds the Australian coastal town of Towradgi inspires Sarah daily. The sun, the trees, the soft sand and wide ranges of turquoise across the horizon all play into the designs you’ll see at Fabrik.
When asked if she would like to expand her studio to a warehouse someday she simply responded, “no.” Sarah loves the ability to pop into the house, spend quality time with her children aged between 8 and 13 and continue her drive for sustainable fashion in small drops.
Instead of doing massive drops, you may notice that Fabrik has regular collections dropping and limited numbers when it comes to availability - this is for a purpose. Sarah has found that in order to produce collections ethically, sustainably and in a manageable manner for her work/life balance she needs to drop small collections, regularly. That’s right, if you have an eye on one of Fabrik’s stunning pieces, make sure to order before they run out!
Fabrik is a brand that is evolving with Sarah, she first started making her own clothes for her oldest, Jemimah when she was a baby. She started to get questions on where her sweet little one’s outfits were coming from, then one thing led to the next and before she knew it she was wholesaling baby clothes.
13 years (and 2 more children) later, Sarah now has a successful, Australian renowned fashion brand in the women’s sustainable clothing space. She designs collections seasonally and evolves new designs from old pieces and customer favourites.
A day in the studio typically follows this order:
- Coffee, typically a long black with a healthy splash of milk
- Checking in on emails & social messages
- Going through orders for the day, packing orders by hand in the studio - so everything is sent with love from the Fabrik team.
- Check-in with the Fabrik team in Bali and chat through upcoming launches
- Design work and fittings
The beautiful thing about Fabrik, it’s a brand made with purpose and sustainability at its core - slow fashion in its truest form. Follow along our instagram to see more behind the scenes of our little sanctuary studio…
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