Partnerships bring their own set of challenges and rewards to creative endeavours. In this new series, we catch up with New Zealand design duos to find out their secrets to success and what they each bring to the table. This week we talk to couple in life and in business,
Almost 25 years ago, Jacob and Georgia Faull gave birth to a business, around the same time they had their first child. Their store in Grey Lynn, Auckland, was in many ways ahead of its time, offering a one-stop shop for eco-friendly baby essentials.
From the get-go, the couple carved out their own path in the world of commerce, taking an innovative approach that has seen their design-driven business grow steadily and deliberately. They now have two other stores in New Zealand (Newmarket in Auckland, and Wellington) and have just opened the first Nature Baby in Australia.
As pioneers in ethical and sustainable baby clothing and products, Jacob and Georgia continue to break new ground. This year, they have been working with a New York-based brand that’s a leader in the circular economy movement. Nature Baby’s clothing fits perfectly with the circular model — up to nine babies wear one Nature Baby garment and, after that, the clothing’s natural fibres can be composted.
Jacob Faull
I met Georgia when we were both at Auckland University in 1994. She was studying art history and I was doing fine arts at Elam. My first memory of her is seeing her drift through the corridors of art school with the sun streaming in; it was a vision.
After university, we travelled and worked overseas for a while. When we came back to New Zealand, Georgia was pregnant and we’d come up with the concept for Nature Baby. We wanted to offer parents the best and purest baby products while creating a business model that was also good for people and the planet. It sounds like a cliche business line, but we really believe in the idea and we’ve worked hard to make it come to life. A lot of love and passion has gone into creating Nature Baby, much like a relationship!
We complement each other when it comes to business. I push the boundaries out and Georgia reins them back in. It’s very yin and yang. I always like to keep the full picture in mind while at the same time staying focused on the details. Sometimes this is a strength and sometimes it can be a weakness. Georgia has a great instinct for business and people, as well as a beautiful eye for design. Also, she’s just a great human.
Ultimately, it’s a privilege to go through a journey like this with someone you love and like spending time with, creating something bigger than the two of us, and then taking it to the world. Sometimes it’s a lot for a relationship to bear, facing both personal and business pressure at the same time. It forces you to get over things quickly. It’s a challenge, trying to get the mix right between relationship/family time and business talk. We have a rule to have as little business talk at home as possible. Definitely none in bed.
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Advertise with NZME.A business highlight for me has been the opening of our store in Paddington, Sydney. It has been a dream of ours to launch Nature Baby internationally. And coming from a fine arts background, I love how all the stores have a cohesive look and feel that brings together the brand, customers and wider community.
Georgia Faull
Jacob used to sit in front of me in art history at university. He caught my eye as he used to write his notes with a coloured pencil, which seemed very mysterious.
We are coming up to 25 years in business together and so many things have changed in that time, some to be expected, some unexpected. In retail, you have to be prepared to change and adapt all the time. The only certainty is that things will always change. We both have a real love for what Nature Baby stands for at a big-picture level, which is essentially hope for future generations and the hope that through business practice we can play a small part in doing some good in the world.
We complement each other when it comes to our skills. You need that for a business to flourish. If we had identical abilities then we may not have lasted so long in business together. I can spend a lot of time in my own thoughts, weighing up various possibilities and scenarios. Jacob, on the other hand, is a busy planner and a doer but can sometimes get lost in the detail.
I admire his optimism and the way he likes to get things happening. I have learnt that although we share many things together, a business and family of three children aged 24, 21 and 15, we are separate people with different perspectives.
The pandemic brought many challenges and the post-Covid era has left many design-led retail businesses like ours questioning the future. We are asking what has shifted in our collective behaviour and how do people want to live now, what is important to us as individuals, a family, a business?
Being in a business partnership, creating and running your own brand, means many long hours and, to be honest, some sacrifices. To create a harmonious family life you need boundaries and also lots of energy and motivation. It has been helpful that we have always scheduled important family moments above work ones.
It can be difficult to separate our personal life from our work life. Conscious effort is required; we really don’t talk work at home or on the weekends, but it took years for us to work that one out.
