A spacious new HQ, a suuper special product retrospective, a milestone 10th company birthday, several team events and workshops, new product launches and collaborations, 8 new resin colours, 20+ new team members, 10+ photoshoots, 2x warehouse sales and 2 HUGE seasonal collection launches. Phewf, I need a lie down! The summer holiday break cannot come quickly enough.
Let’s cast our minds back and revisit some of my favourite moments and proudest achievements from the year that was 2023…
JANUARY
We kicked 2023 off with a bang and just a little bit (ok a helluva lot of excitement) about our upcoming 10th birthday later in the year. On January 1 we put it to the people asking you, our colour-loving community, to vote on which 10 iconic Sage x Clare products you wanted us to bring back to celebrate this milestone.The last 10 years feel like they have gone by in the blink of an eye and reflecting on how far we’ve come made me feel all nostalgic. So we took a look back at some of the biggest moments in Sage x Clare history, SO many life-changing twists and turns for me both personally and professionally. Head here for the recap of our wild ride to date.
Also in Jan, we launched our Heart-to-Heart journal interview series to showcase fabulous, thoughtful and inspiring Aussie creatives and business owners. The girls from Cardigang were the first cab off the rank. If you’re handmade and knitting obsessed (like us!) get the low-down on starting a creative business and styling chunky knits in our chat here.
We got stuck into our first shoot of the year capturing Marguerite apparel with our dream team in Richmond. A special mention to our awesome makeup artist Melonie Santos who has the dewy no-makeup makeup look down pat.
New year, new digs! The office and warehouse team were wrapped to be back under the same roof (we missed each other!) as we made the move into our new HQ in Bayswater.
We welcomed Aimee and Caitlyn to our warehouse team. I’m so pumped to welcome more talented new faces to the Sage x Clare family this year!
FEBRUARY
Lights, camera and Marguerite MAYHEM! We crossed our AW’ photoshoot off the to-do list over an absolutely action-packed 9 days.
We hightailed it to location #1 in the Dandy Ranges, a magical Ferny Creek mid-century home with an ACTUAL garden INDOORS that was home to a pet turtle. Ahh how’s the serenity? With styling and directing for the kids and baby portion of the shoot, not so much. Ha! We successfully shot kids + baby, dine, sleep and apparel including my personal fave newest addition to the range – knit sweaters.
Next, we headed down the Mornington Peninsula to Blairgowrie to location #2 the stunning Camillo House to capture bathe, dine and Play. Amazing views, bracing morning ocean swims, end-of-day beach walks and s'mores by the fire, the crew and I were loving the change of scene and getting stuck in styling this fresh space.
Seeing your creative vision brought to life with all the Marguerite goodies you and the team have been working so hard on for MONTHS styled in 2x seriously phenomenal homes + beautiful props = Such. A. Proud. Moment. Lotsa giggles. Lotsa snaps. Lotsa s’mores. Lotsa memories. My heart was very full after wrapping this one.
With my place practically packed to the rafters with 3 little ones running around, I got just a little bit obsessed with my brand-new bunk beds from House of Orange. Beautifully handmade in Melbourne, the bunk bed was a hit with the kids who were fascinated with their new play/sleep zone and I adored the bookshelf customisation that helps keep things (reasonably!) tidy. I was so inspired by the bunks I popped together an article with my tips on styling a unisex + shared kids bedroom.
We welcomed Claire into our warehouse team this month. Welcome aboard Claire!
We rounded out the month with our very first warehouse sale of the year, the first in our new space. I never tire of seeing the excitement and joy on the faces of our customers in person as they peruse the sale items and make their purchases. Plus, it gave you all a chance to visit and check out our new Bayswater home.
MARCH
We launched the effortlessly cool Marguerite collection in mid-March. All the team headed to a modern Italian restaurant in Scoresby to treat ourselves to scrumptious food and toast to Marguerite’s success. Salute! The food was beautiful, the vibe was fun and filled with laughter. The scene had a real family vibe and was a chance for us to all sit back, catch up and celebrate the incredible collection and launch we all worked so hard on together.
Our oh-so creative and clever Textile Designer, Emma took us on a tour of her home (featuring plenty of Marguerite beauties obviously!) talking about all things styling and inspiration for the new collection. Take a peek here.
We held our Mother’s Day and Easter photo shoot at my place in March. We were blessed with gorgeous sunny days for this shoot. And my kids and niece were very willing PJ models with the Easter egg hunt and chocolate coming early for the occasion. A sugar high fuelled this shoot for sure.
By this point, the team were feeling nice and settled into our new Bayswater home. I feel like our warehouse wizards really found their groove picking and sending out orders with speed and ease. I seriously love our new home... it’s everything I ever dreamed of for this biz.
APRIL
Earlier this year, Chris and I completed an EPIC 15-month long landscaping project plus some renos on our mid-century Warrandyte home – helll-ooo plunge pool. To my relief and utter delight (IYKYK fellow renovators), everything was tidy and in its proper place by mid-April so what better time could there be for a cheeky home tour? The kids are stoked with their Castle and Cubby mud kitchen and chicken coop, and we’re all hanging out for summer swims and lazy afternoons soaking up the sun by the pool.
As well as eating too much choccy in the office and dropping a sweet as Easter and Mother’s Day PJ collection, we welcomed Sarah C., our new Digital and Graphic Designer, and Sarah N., a warehouse assistant, to our team. The gang was growin’ again! Woo!
We shot all-new resin colours in our dedicated studio space at our new HQ and Ally styled up our showroom to show off all things Marguerite. We put our unique stamp on the place by painting the staircases joyful and bright shades of pink and yellow. With decor upgrades and special touches of Sage x Clare flair here and there, it was really starting to feel more and more like home.
MAY
The stuff of picnicking dreams, we shot our Kollab by Sage x Clare range at my Warrandyte home (thank goodness my garden was ready in the nick of time!). I was so thrilled with how this turned out and it seems like you were all smitten with this joy-filled collab too – it’s fair to say these damn fine picnic essentials blew up the internet. We adored seeing all your beach and picnic adventures in the wild on socials.
This month we welcomed Amelia, Ginelle, Lydia and Tatiana to our expanding squad of warehouse legends. Funnily enough, we’d brought on so many new peeps in the past few months we had to start wearing name tags around the warehouse to keep track!
We held our 10th Birthday collection shoot with the one and only genius photographer Armelle Habib at my place with lush Warrandyte views providing the perfect backdrop. I jumped at the opportunity to show off my newly renovated bathroom with all the 10th Birthday bathe goodies. Shout out to CJ & C Construction for making such an incredible and relaxing bathroom. It’s now one of my favourite spaces in the whole house.
JUNE
We were lucky enough to interview Lani and Zara from Aurora Art for our Heart-to-Heart series at their breathtaking and colourful gallery space. We chatted about the creative process, where they find artistic inspiration and their tips on picking art for your home. Take a read.
We were back out on a shoot for our SS’ Goldie collection at a mud brick home nestled in the rolling green hills of Hurstbridge. True to form for our spring/summer shoots, it was freeezing on site but we gladly had some golden sunshine breaking through to lift our spirits and help Goldie shine.
In preparation for the launch, we held our Goldie apparel shoot in Richmond this month. Thanks to our makeup artist Justin for always keeping us in fits of laughter with your stories and bringing all the good vibes every single shoot. We love you for it!
Featuring four fresh new colours, our highly anticipated new resin range launched! I remember all the oohhs and aahhs from the team as the samples in the new colourways (especially for the plum and green terrazzo) rolled into the office. We had a sneaky feeling this drop was going to be huge.
The team got all dressed up and took to the town for a performance at the Rising Festival. Accompanied by the MSO, live Yolŋu dancers and songmen presented the songs, dances and paintings that inspired Dr G. Yunupiŋu’s album Djarimirri (Child of the Rainbow). It was so cool, special and inspiring to take in this mesmerising performance as a team.
The fam-bam and I escaped the chilly Melbourne winter and took a trip to Singapore for the school holidays. The Shangri-La took the absolute best care of us again. Such a fabulous kid-friendly stay, the room service gets an A++ from me and we managed to squeeze in some sightseeing.
JULY
It was photoshoots GALORE in July! With imagery captured for the Goldie collection – Chapter 2, our holiday collection Gather and all new resin. Phew! We certainly had to get our hustle on this month. It was awesome and special to have Mum and Dad on deck visiting for this shoot. Thanks Mum for your help with the kids and Dad for bringing great energy, as always. And a shoutout to my husband Chris for driving the truck and helping load and unload all the props, furniture and products.
In honour of NAIDOC week, we were so excited to share our Heart-to-Heart with artist, designer, photographer and Mum of 4, Bobbi Lockyer. We covered the importance of NAIDOC week, the role of art in First Nations culture and the meaning behind her artwork. This was such an insightful, powerful and important Q&A for us. We learned so much to bring back to our team, families and friends from this conversation.
To celebrate our 10th birthday, creativity and having a go, we announced our art search competition. We were after an image that epitomised the essence of Sage x Clare. And we were inundated with spectacular entries, the creativity and skills of our community continue to amaze and thrill me. I am SO glad the winner was voted by our customers, I never would have been able to decide!
Maddison joined our warehouse team, so stoked to have you!
We had a great time catching up with Hayley and Courtney from Kollab at our HQ. For our Heart-to-Heart series, Kollab Founder, Hayley shared insights into the design process, ingredients for the perfect picnic and tips for aspiring biz owners. Read the full interview in our journal here and watch our chat about the collaboration with Hayley here. The @kollabcollection team was an absolute dream to work with and we loved getting creative together!
We held our team show and tell about our upcoming Goldie collection. The gasps were audible in the room as the design team took us on a sneak peek through the new items. Everyone got SUPER hyped and I know we were already mentally making our shopping lists ahead of the drop.
AUGUST
For wholesale partners, we hosted a North Melbourne Open House for our SS’ Goldie collection. It was so lovely to meet and see all our friendly stockists face-to-face after so long. This got us so pumped for the Goldie launch that was very fast approaching.
And just like that it was time to launch Goldie (Chapter 1) into the wild! This was our first time rolling out a collection in chapters, and I’ve gotta say I LOVED it (and so did you! Great thinking Jem!). I was so thrilled and excited to see all the love for Goldie with our Santa Barbara print selling out at lightning speed. Of course, we celebrated with a laidback cocktail-style lunch with the whole Sage x Clare fam on the sunny Suburban rooftop in Ringwood. Many bao buns, laughs, cocktails and good times were had this afternoon. Such a proud moment to have Goldie finally rolling out into all your homes for a spring/summer refresh.
Out with the old and in with the new, we had such a fun time making over the showroom with the latest collection. Ally beautifully styled up a storm, as usual, to show Goldie in all her glory.
For more about the story behind Goldie, Jem, our Design + Production extraordinaire, shares how the design team brought Goldie to life on the journal here.
Also in August, we sat down with talented artist and Founder of Maat, Kate, for a Heart-to-Heart at her colourful Melbourne apartment (stepping inside we instantly knew we had a soul connection). Take a read.
To help us keep up with all your orders, we were thrilled to welcome Amanda, Cara, Emma, Glenn, Kathryn, Rylee and Sara to our rapidly growing warehouse team. And after working in the warehouse for 7 months, Aimee joined our office team to help us out with wholesale customer care.
SEPTEMBER
In September, we held our team workshop where we delved into our values as a business. It was a lively and interactive discussion, drawing was involved and it may or may not have gotten a bit competitive. This session was a really good reminder of the team values and a chance to reflect on how important they are to us individually and working as a team.
It was warehouse sale time AGAIN, yay! And thankfully the chilly Melbourne weather didn’t put a dampener on the event with lots of Sage x Clare fans braving the cold to pick up a bargain. As always, it was so wonderful to see all our lovely customers in person. And I know our team enjoyed a shopping spree (or two or three!).
On Sep 26, we launched Goldie (Chapter 2). The beyond CA-UTE fruit ‘n’ veg playmat and adorable kids + baby cushions have got to be up there as some of my most favourite items we released this year.
This month, we welcomed Indy and Kayla to our warehouse team. Wow! That makes 17 new warehouse workers joining us so far this year.
OCTOBER
On the 17th, we had another launch! The final chapter of Goldie – our holiday collection Gather and new resin wares in 4 new colours were released into the world. And boy oh boy did those advent calendars sell like the hottest of hotcakes just hours after launching on the website.
And by popular demand, we introduced a new design to the Sage x Clare family. Our iconic Nudie Rudie Bath Mat as a mini version – the perfect accessory for smaller or awkwardly shaped bathrooms.
Who could forget our team fitted sheet folding competition on Insta? Well done Dad you aced it! And Kit you are officially the fitted sheet whisperer – I bow down to you!
We painted the warehouse pink this month where we brought in new pink trolleys and pink safety vests. Plus, team members decorated and bejewelled their name tags. Just like the rest of the world Barbie mania had hit Bayswater.
We welcomed Larissa, our new Copywriter, to the marketing team to help us weave some copy magic.
NOVEMBER
Wow, November certainly was a BIG month for all the Sage x Clare team with birthday celebrations, an amazing race, the Black Friday Sale and more!
Mid-November marked our 10th Birthday Collection launch! Meaning? Party time!!! To kick off the celebrations I answered rapid-fire questions reflecting on collections past, the challenges of running a business, where I see Sage x Clare heading down the track and more. Check out the video here.
We were blown away by all the love and positive feedback we received for the iconic products we brought back as part of our 10th Birthday Collection. Did you snap up your favourite items? I know the Cady Check Bed Linen, Emma Cosmetic Bag and Hayfolk Bath Mat were suuuper popular among the team.
To celebrate this double-digit milestone all the team headed to Burwood East for an amazing race followed by pizza and drinks at New Northcote Brewhouse. It was so much fun getting a little bit competitive and working as a team to solve various challenges. I know we all shared loads of laughs putting together skits and taking silly photos for the scavenger hunt. Turns out that making a tower out of marshmallows and spaghetti is no easy feat! I will cherish this celebration forever and the thoughtful words each team member shared in our gratitude circle on the day. I’m certainly blessed with one helluva team.
We caught up with our art competition winner and as it turns out Sage x Clare superfan, Samantha Elliston, for a Heart-to-Heart at her colourful Gippsland home. Check out the winning artwork and our interview with Samantha here. We are so pleased that her stunning artwork is now in homes all over as we sent out prints with the first 100 orders for our 10th Birthday Collection.
We sat down for a chat with Laurinda Ndenzako Designer and Co-Founder from Collective Closets for our Heart-to-Heart series. We bonded over our mutual love of celebrating the work of skilled artisans and storytelling through design. Take a read.
We welcomed Michelle, our new Wholesale Sales Manager, to our team. So glad to have you!
DECEMBER
To top off a sensational year we put on our glad rags and held our end-of-year celebration at Rupert On Rupert in Collingwood. It was a beautiful night with beautiful food in a beautiful setting with beautiful company. I think the Bad Santa gift exchange was one of my personal highlights and the funniest parts of the night. And it’s just so nice to bring the team together, to reflect back on the past 12 months and toast all we’ve achieved. Forever grateful for my dedicated and thoughtful crew that always gets me through the tough times and raises me up even higher in the best times.
What a HA-UGE year it has been! Full of incredible milestones, proud moments, team growth, lessons and new products a plenty with lots of laughter and fun in the mix. Looking back at all of this makes me think it’s high time for everyone to indulge in a well-deserved breather to celebrate, rest and recharge. Seeya in 2024!!!
