Julia McCarthy

Physically, where are you right now? Are you at home, on holiday, in the office or elsewhere else?

I’m at the office. It’s early on a Monday morning, I’ve dropped both of my children off to daycare and I’m enjoying a coffee and some silence after the chaos of the weekend.

How does your current environment inform your creative process and what is inspiring you right now?

Our new Flagship store in Gertrude St Fitzroy is really inspiring me at the moment. Working with Georgina Jefferies, we created a space that gives our collections new life when hanging in the store. The materials, textures and colour palette of the store all help to tell the story of who we are as a brand, while creating a real sense of home. A beautiful space is an integral part of building on creativity and keeping inspired from season to season.

Also; at home, with small kids. I’m reminded how our home can’t be too precious at this stage of our lives. But when the kids go to bed at night and I reset the living room before having a cup of tea, I feel calm and it helps me unwind. I often like to have all the lights turned off and have the room lit by lamps. I have the RD Bohan Lamp which creates such a beautiful ambiance at night.

For every good idea there are many more we reject. Do you ever salvage ideas that didn’t come to fruition at a later stage or do you just move on?

I’m a big ideas person. I think timing is really important when it comes to executing ideas. Sometimes I’ll have an idea but know the timing isn’t right, so I’ll either shelve it and pick it back up when the time is right, or let that idea evolve into something else. This is how we tend to work on collections; we might take an initial idea and then sample or workshop it until it ends up looking completely different. It’s all part of the process.

Friends with Frank's Fitzroy Boutique - photography by Lillie Thompson.

What have been some personal milestones that you have achieved outside the expectation or perceived expectation of others?

Coming from a family of academics, lawyers and teachers, no one in my family had chosen a creative path. I originally studied social science, but once I finished the degree the thought of working for the government completely put me off. Despite being incredibly creative at school, I never thought I would end up working in fashion. Although I think my parents may have wished I chose a more traditional path, knowing how notoriously difficult breaking into the fashion industry can be, they are definitely proud of me and where I’ve ended up.

What have been some of your most profound personal challenges and have they ever informed your creative process or interrupted it?

Personally, it was a very rocky road to having our 2 children. Years of infertility and the IVF process was all consuming and often found myself overwhelmed. I came out the other side with two healthy beautiful children and a changed person. I have found myself more decisive than ever and also a little more bold, as not only doI have less time to deliberate, but I’m now also conscious of the example I’m setting for my kids and how I want them to approach life. 

If you analysed the most important factors in your success, what would say these have been?

I think the most important factor in our success is having a genuinely great product. Not compromising on the quality or design of our pieces is something that has really paid off over time. It resonates with our customers and has built a loyal customer base that trust and appreciate what we do. Additionally, I think persistence and consistency has also been key. Staying motivated over the years where we were building the brand, even though at times the progress felt slow, meant we grew in a sustainable and intentional way.

Our Bohan Lamp in Friends with Frank's Boutique.

What are your personal and creative rituals, if any?

I don’t know if I’d call it a ritual, but my husband and I are very conscious of allowing each other our own time to reset and recharge. Lately for me that’s been either walking The Tan in the mornings with a podcast or music in my ears, getting to a yoga class or a sauna. This space really helps me calm the noise of the day-to-day running of a business and allows me to tap into my creative brain.

Where do you go to find creative refuge?

I find refuge in my creative research. That could be through all different forms; catching up on fashion week shows, sourcing materials, watching old films. I love to collaborate. I feel that the best ideas are the ones that are shared with like-minded people. So I’m constantly sharing and nutting things out with my team, sharing our creative inspiration.

If you could go back in time and begin again without knowing what you do now, would you?

Being able to forge my own path has made me super hard working, and now I can’t see myself having done anything else. I don’t think I would be this passionate working for someone else. Because it was never the plan to start my own business, let alone my own fashion brand, I didn’t put a lot of pressure on it to succeed. This allowed me to spend the first few years on the business as a side hustle, and then slowly but surely growing it. It’s been such a wild ride.

What piece of wisdom currently resonates with you and how does it inform your approach to life right now?

Every failure is a lesson.