The bliss of being a Castle customer

Welcome to Make Good Things Happen, a podcast for makers in business presented to
you by Angela D’Alton and Renee Baker.
Welcome goodies. This is episode eight of Make Good Things Happen,
the podcast. My name is Angela D’Alton and joining me is the lovely Renee Baker.
How are you? I’m good, thank you. How are you? Good, good, good. We’ve got…
And I recently had just the most pleasant experience and I just want to share it
because it was just like lovely from beginning to end. And also just to give people
an insight into how easy it can be when you get it right and how lovely it is
being on the receiving end, I think of those kinds of experiences. It will come as
no surprise to anyone that both Renee and I are huge fans of Rachel Castle.
Many of you may know her brand, Castle and Things. Originally an artist,
Rachel has moved into producing ranges of limited edition pieces in amongst original
artworks and has specialty with embroidery, creates homewares.
And when I say homewares, I mean things like bedding, but also some clothing, some
sweatshirts, things like that. And I’ve always really liked her. I think Renee, you
introduced me to her. I know that you worked with her on and off through your time
when you were managing the social media at Koskela and she had an exhibition there.
Yes, I I met Rachel through Megan Morton when I was working with Megan doing
styling work. And yeah, Rachel popped over, I think she was just visiting Megan’s
house and we used to borrow her work even then her bed linen and handmade felt
items to use in photoshoots and things like that. So I’ve always had a massive
crush basically on Rachel Castle and her work. Totally worthy of a crush in my
opinion, so of course I fell in love with her equally and her, I guess,
persona as much as her brand. I think she seems like such a lovely person. I’ve
never met her personally, but I’ve spoken to her digitally many times. I also own
one of her original artworks and a whole bunch of bed linen and some clothing. In
any case, this week I received the newsletter, which I obviously also subscribed to
being such a fan girl. And I was presented with the opportunity to pre -order a
sweatshirt. I love Rachel’s sweatshirts. I’ve already got one. And I’ve gone to buy
several more many, many times. But when this particular design landed in my inbox,
I thought, well, I’m just going to have to get that one because it’s a gorgeous
Marle with a big old capital A. I then looked at the pre -order options which
were in the website and I think it was maybe the day after I actually went through
with the actual sale. So I sort of had the tab open if you like and wasn’t
feeling quite so rushed because it was a pre -order but also didn’t want to miss
out because Rachel does have a very fast turnaround with things and which I totally
respect because it just keeps things moving for her and she’s kind of got a
schedule, you know, and that’s part of why she’s successful because there is an
efficiency to what she does. And when I do a pre -order, I probably think, I don’t
know, what would you assume? Six weeks? Yeah, six to eight weeks. Yeah, me too. I
think it was two and two weeks. And of course, the usual treatment that Rachel
gives her customers, when they buy from her, is amazing. I will be including the
photos of all of the process of me unboxing, if you like, or unwrapping this
particular purchase. She just gets it right. The packaging itself is branded in
Rachel’s Feel Good Way and there’s stickers, like cute little editions like that.
She almost always wraps the item in what is like a laundry bag or a toiletries
bag. From what I would assume is some offcuts of fabric from her bedding. She’s
turned them into kind of like linen cases, I guess, or she’s ordered additional
linen cases to use for this purpose. Always feels such a high value add -on.
And I use them all the time. Yeah, me too, me too. And I sometimes use them for
gifts. I sometimes use them for when I am traveling for like as a laundry bag or
to put shoes into to protect my clothing. But it also comes with a beautiful
postcard. She has signed every single one, but not just signing that saying thanks
to your purchase, Rachel. Gorgeous Angela or beautiful Angela or Darling Angela or
Lovely Angela. They are always addressed with this lovely little friendship and
positivity that’s personalized. Handwritten. I will put all of the photos in the show
notes for this particular episode, but I just really want to use it as an example
to impress upon people how when you get it right, it just creates a level of
loyalty in your customers. People will come back. People will keep spending money
with you if they feel like they’re valued if they feel like they’re important I
know this is all strategy, but I don’t care like I believe it with Rachel I
believe it because that’s part of her brand. That’s right We we had that
conversation earlier today when we’re talking about a different thing altogether But
in the context of being sold to it’s okay to acknowledge that there is sales and
marketing at play in all aspects really of our lives. But in this example,
it’s still worth doing even if that’s identifiable. It’s still worth thinking,
oh, does this seem salesy? Well, yeah, it should ’cause you’re selling something. But
what tone and what overall feel does it have? Does it leave you feeling good and
positive? Then all good, like it’s, Yeah, I think it’s awesome. Why I also don’t
mind being sold to in those circumstances. I appreciate the effort that’s gone into
that whole process as a customer as well, because I think I don’t mind you selling
to me if this all works. If this all goes the way I need it to, if this all
happens beginning to end as something that I’ve consented and allowed and also
facilitated, Let’s make this good together, you know, I’m into that if I’m going to
give you some money for something I’m really really glad that we can make it an
enjoyable process together Yeah, and it comes back to brand values and having brand
values and then for the customer and for us to to shop and to lead with those
values when we make decisions when it comes to purchasing and if those two things
align and everyone’s being authentic in the process. Well then, happy days. That’s
when it feels yucky when it’s not authentic. That’s when you think, “This doesn’t
sound right. This seems too good to be true. What’s going on here?” But it was so
nice to have a positive story and it’s not that we’re here to tell negative stories
in from a scroll to cart, but sometimes we do, I suppose, take a bit of a
critical lens on our experiences to help educate, but also it’s really important to
celebrate those positive moments and to just enjoy them because they are us spending
our precious money and so it’s important to have that celebrated. Thanks for sharing.
In this episode’s Making News segment, we wanted to announce the upcoming 2025 Sydney
Craft Week. Annually hosted by the Australian Design Centre, the Sydney Craft Week
Festival covers a range of events at galleries, markets,
exhibitions, workshops, all kinds of different things. The theme for this year is
material intelligence. If you are listening to this podcast, depending on the time
that you’re hearing it and the time it’s published entries may or may not still be
open for participation. They close on June 15 if you’re interested.
The festival will open in October so it goes from the 10th to the 19th of October
in a variety of locations all around Sydney. If you are a maker this would be one
of those opportunities that Renee and I talk about when it comes do casual
networking and by that I mean just researching and meeting people without going to
something going, “Oh, I’m going to come away with 10 business cards.” What you are
going to do is come away with inspiration and a couple of names possibly or a new
maker on your radar. It’s important to keep that muscle working in my opinion if
you want to make sure that you’re continuously evolving and proving as a maker in
business. Renee, do you think so? – Yes, I do, but I also think these programs,
so Sydney Craft Week being one of them, but they exist in various forms all across
Australia, depending on where you live. Also provide you with a bit of an
opportunity to have some ideas within a framework. So again, that’s where having a
theme in this particular example, material intelligence can give you as a maker an
opportunity to have some ideas within that framework and to think of what you can
do to participate. Angela and myself have participated in Sydney Craft Week before.
We hosted actually a virtual market where we had a,
well, it was called Craft Swap Meet and we hosted a Craft Swap where makers online
could sell unused craft suppliers with one another. And so really the Sydney Craft
Week kind of inspired that for us to put on that event to set the deadline to
make it happen by that time. If we didn’t have that, we might not have ever done
that. And I guess what I’m trying to say is we want to tell you about these
programs and opportunities because it really is up to you to have the ideas and to
pitch them and put them forward. These sorts of things don’t really come to you I
suppose is what I’m trying to say. And so yeah, check it out. We’ll have the link
to Sydney Craft Week in our show note. And yeah, have a think about your
application. It doesn’t need to be a big idea either. It can just be something
that’s part of it. I know I’ve seen other makers do workshops and other like group
exhibitions. But yeah, there’s plenty of time to have some ideas for that. So if
you’re in Sydney and you’re keen to get involved, check that out. – Of course, Also
part of Sydney Craft Week is our friend, Samee Lapham’s massive Sydney ceramics
market, which has grown from, I think, 30 odd stalls to over 100 stalls in a
matter of two or three years. – Yeah. – Held at the Carriage Works venue in Sydney
and definitely worth checking out. Yeah, Samee, we, well, Renee went to school with
her and we used to work with Samee when we were working at the Finders Keepers. I
think Renee, you hide her as the photographer there. Yeah, we are so proud to see
Samee making good things happen. Another thing we’ve seen in the news this week is
Albo getting on board with the Australian Made train, I guess, without getting too
into the politics of it all. There is, I guess, some tensions regarding where things
are made and who gets exported where and what and why. But at the end of the day,
the focus is coming back to products and things that are made in Australia. And so
again, if we talk about taking opportunities when we can, this is another opportunity
for makers and creative business owners to really celebrate the fact that they are
making things entirely themselves in Australia, even better if you’re able to source
your supplies locally too. I know that’s not always possible for makers, but if
that’s something that’s part of what you do, this is a great time to start exposing
your supply chain and what it is that you do to just click into some of that
messaging. Because if the Prime Minister of Australia is talking about it, that means
more people who might not be familiar with these sorts of things at all, like don’t
forget there are people out there that don’t know about makers. What they might be
thinking, well, how do I find Australian made products? And so whether it’s time to
consider looking into investing in the Australian made campaign. So that is the
certification where you have the Australian made logo and you get listed on their
website as being an Australian maker or participating in a market like Makers and
Shakers who is also Australian or handmade camber are the same story and aligning
your business with those brands. It’s good news. It is good news because what it
means is that federally and potentially, therefore, that will hopefully include states
and councils will have focus and potentially funding to support the local
manufacturers. This only potential I guess marketing support.
It also has an eye to sustainability. It also has a move in the direction of
economic viability updates to frameworks that will hopefully see a return or an
encouragement to return to buying Australian made. Yeah, it’s definitely a tricky one
because we obviously had a really thriving manufacturing and making industry in
Australia, a lot of which was sort of shut down when we started.
The goal of the Australian Makers Directory, too, is to ensure that suppliers,
makers, businesses that support makers and business that are adjacent to the maker
community or provide services to the maker community, that they set up a profile on
that platform and it is absolutely free to do so. It’s just about Renee and I
wanting to make sure that everyone can connect to each other so that things can be
made in Australia so that things can be sourced from Australia. The difficulty is
the size of our country, the remoteness of some of our locations. Many of us are
isolated. Many of us are far removed away from resources and products and services.
The internet is a great leveller. A directory, a hub that you can go to directly
and use for free is democratically removing all of the algorithms. Get amongst it.
Sign up today. We have a pro account for every kind of business that works with
makers if you would like it, which comes with a bunch of extra features and starts
at $99 a year. If that’s come left a field to your listening, the Australian Makers
Directory is a directory that Angela and I have created as of, I was going to say
this year, but it was late 2024 that we launched that. And so, yeah, we haven’t
really talked about it on the podcast so far, but if you follow us on our social
media, you probably have seen it already. So this is your reminder to just have
another look at that. It’s australianmakersdirectory .com .au and we will link to that
as well in our note time as well. – While that sounded like a blatant commercial,
what I was really hoping to do is just reinforce that there is where you can do
this online that we’ve built that is just about making sure this community can
sustain itself, that it can continue. You did bring that point up with the suppliers
and I touched on it lightly as well because I think that’s where these sorts of
things, where things kind of get forced to become locally for whatever reason, maybe
it does get harder over time for people to access things globally, making sure that
we do have those trusted connections to suppliers so that makers can continue to
make things. They need those things to make them. So yeah, I think it’s okay that
we do that shout out on the podcast. I just wanted to make sure people knew what
we went. The other piece of news that I wanted to bring up was to the moon kids
who actually Angela and I worked with, have worked with as well semi recently in
building their beautiful new website have gone from strength to strength.
They have a store in Stanmore selling second hand children’s clothes.
And we built the website to support the success they were having in store to bring
more sales to them through the online business. But this week, they have also opened
a second store in Erskineville, which is big congratulations to them.
Because particularly when we’re seeing and hearing of
without going into the scary world that is fast fashion.
And I think it really is probably a whole episode. Maybe it’s something we can
cover in season two with some special guests just saying, putting it out there for
those listening. But yeah, I think if we’re saying more demand for people buying
secondhand clothing, I think congratulations to those of you who are shopping that
way because it’s commendable and yeah again just wanted to say a big congrats to
them and please check out their website and shop anywhere in the country if you’re
interested in secondhand children’s clothes and well curated at that. In other news
that I have not even mentioned to Renee yet, Amy Clarke of Confetti Rebels was
mentioned in the community recognition statements in Parliament recently.
The mention came from Jacqui Scruby MP who is the independent member for Pittwater.
I believe she is the Teal member for Pittwater as being an independent and she And
about Amy Clarke in her community recognition statement in Parliament,
discussed the t -shirts that she creates, the passion she has for small business,
a variety of information about her personal health, talked about how Amy leads by
example, how Amy gives back to her community. And the way she started it was with
some people just shine brighter. That’s the beginning of her speech. And I thought
that is such a lovely thing to say about somebody in any situation,
but I was so particularly thrilled to hear that someone was talking about Amy in
that way. And I’m sure I can only imagine Amy, if you’re listening,
how proud you were of this particular moment as a woman who works her arse off and
is just one of the most hardworking people I would say I’ve ever encountered,
passionate and just really wants to do her very, very best and the best for
everybody around her and vulnerable people. I wanted to mention that to give props
to Amy because I think that’s an incredible achievement. Yeah, no, I didn’t know all
about that. So awesome work. Very, very good news. So that is making news for this
episode.
Now to this week, I, this, this fortnight, I guess,
maybe it was a couple of weeks ago now, I found myself in emergency after passing
out, which, you know, I’ve had low blood pressure my whole life life and I’m okay.
Please don’t worry about me. And I’m having all of the ensuing tests and follow up.
I’m taking it seriously. There’s no need for anyone else to be concerned. But what
it did mean was that I had an opportunity to catch up on some older Netflix
programming that I hadn’t indulged in. This is not news to anyone.
These shows exist. It was almost like I was the pain that I was in because I
actually hurt myself when I fell over but the pain I was in just allowed me to
really lean into anything that was a bit dark and melancholic. So I binged shows
that were probably not an easy watch like “Unbelievable” which is limited series
starring two of my favourite people Toni Collette and Merritt Wever.
The subject matter is disturbing and difficult and not an easy watch in many,
many ways. But I could watch Toni Colette and Merritt Wever on screen together
endlessly. Both of them are such rich actors who bring layers to their characters
and it makes it an enjoyable thing to watch because of their artistry.
But it is hard to watch in terms of its subject matter without a doubt, as was
baby reindeer. And honestly, I felt like it was kind of this difficult to manage
mixture of genres, but also knowing that the actor in it is telling the true story
about himself because he wrote it as well, made it harder to watch. It’s just,
again, very difficult subject matter and I’m not going to spoil anything.
I mean, as I said, this has been out for a while, but it’s also, I don’t want to
trigger anybody, but I haven’t seen anyone. But what I also did watch, and this is
where I was hoping that this might make sense, I did watch Inventing Anna, which is
about Anna Delvey, who scammed her way into the New York social elite in order to
ultimately, as it transpired, be able to live a certain life that she wanted.
And I really think that’s the only word I can use for that. It was a dramatisation
of a true story. The thing that I found interesting about it, because a few
episodes ago, you talked about apple cider vinegar, and I’ve now watched that as
well. Watching Inventing Anna, which came out before, there were a lot of Production
choices echoed the production of inventing Anna. Now, obviously they’re both Netflix
shows, so there’s possible crossover in terms of the production teams and the
creative teams behind things, but there was a lot of devices and ways of telling
the narrative that were kind of similar, I found. Down to the actresses even have a
lot of physical similarities to one another, not to the people that they’re playing
necessarily or the real people that they’re portraying on the screen, but to one
another, so the two actresses, not the two real people. But again, a fascinating
story about the desire or the drive that some people have, the blind ambition,
I don’t know what the right word is that causes them or that drives them to do
these things, to scam people and to take advantage of people and to manipulate
people to lie to lie to themselves. But inevitably it comes from a difficult origin
story, you know, an origin story, traumatic potentially or something difficult that
they’ve lived through. But I’m not sure if that was even the case with Anna Delvey,
whose real name is Anna Sorokin because she’s a Russian born,
grew up in Germany and moved to America and infiltrated the upper echelons of
society, charading as a German heiress whose money was all tied up in her father’s
trust that she would have access to all of this money eventually. So she was
seeking investment on a variety of projects. The one in particular was the Anna Delvey
Foundation, which was an exclusive club for rich people. Again, like Apple Cider
Vinegar, the story is only based on a true story and has a device like it does in
Apple Cider Vinegar saying, oh, this is based on true story except for all the
stuff that we made up. Very casual. Yeah, I remember that now. I think in apple
cider vinegar, it’s people talking to camera, the characters breaking the fourth wall
and talking directly to camera about how, yeah, it’s based on true story, but you
know, we did make some of it up or something. They also focused on the fact that
Belle Gibson didn’t get paid for the production, whereas I think a lot of the
controversy around inventing Anna was that she did actually get paid for that. Right.
Because she consulted while she was still in, spoiler, while she was still in
prison. She was consulting and then reactivated her social media after the show came
out, started I guess benefiting from the fact that the show existed. And then I
think when, when Belle Gibson did the same thing after Apple Cider Vinegar, there
was questions around, well, okay, they’re claiming that she didn’t get paid, but is
she actually just going to benefit from all of us talking about her again, us
included? But yeah, I think that in 10 years time, I’ll mistake those two shows for
being the same show when I think back. There are a lot of similarities in that
regard. Yeah. Which I didn’t really think of at the time until you said you were
watching it. And then I thought, oh yeah, that show was actually a lot like I’ve
been doing. Yeah. Longer, it’s like nine episodes. And they base it around– so each
episode is named for the person. It sort of highlights her relationship with that
particular person in each episode. So there’s a few different devices. But yeah,
I mean, she ended up on Dancing with the Stars in the US. After the show? Yeah,
after. Yeah, see, see, this is what I’m saying. No, I 100 % hear you.
It doesn’t stop me being completely fascinated with it all. Someone who goes to
these measures, like, I can’t imagine the anxiety of trying to maintain all of that.
That’s exactly right. And that’s, yeah, I mean, I have these conversations with my
partner who always thinks, “Oh, you’re watching another one of those shows again.
What scam is it this time? But that’s exactly why because I just try. I can’t
think what it would be like to live with that guilt. Well, I think that’s it for
this episode of Make Good Things Happen, the podcast, episode eight. Wow.
Congrats on eight episodes. Thank you for listening, goodies. We’ll talk to you again
soon. Bye. Bye. Ciao. Thanks for listening to Make Good Things Happen.
If you enjoyed this episode, why not write a review? Or share it with a friend.
For show notes and more, head to mgth .com .au. This has been a D’Alton Baker Production.

Transcripts are automatically generated and therefore accuracy cannot be guaranteed.