About me, and a bit of the story
Ellen in her second shop in the Starcourt Arcade, Lismore.
I opened Made in Lismore (the predecessor to Leumesin Handmade) on a bit of a whim back in 2020 … yes, during COVID. There were many reasons for this, but primarily I needed to leave my corporate career behind because of COVID (I had been working at the School of Law & Justice for 6 months that turned into 3 years primarily as event co-ordinator) and I needed to care for my dear old dad (he was 98 at his last birthday). I can remember walking past the cutest shop, and thought ‘I can do that’!
There were originally around 30 local makers, crafters and artists in a teeny tiny shop in the beautiful Starcourt Arcade in Lismore. I moved into a larger shop, still in the Starcourt Arcade one year later at the end of 2021. Then we had not one but two floods in February/March 2022 and our world changed. The shop was closed for a year, but I was so happy to reopen in March 2023 (because it took that long to do renovations) at my original location and stayed there for another year. I loved that shop! After that though, I did feel the need to move, and I relocated to The Artisans Table around the corner and from July – December 2024, I shared a wonderful big space that had new possibilities.
You may be wondering what I did with myself in that year that the shop was closed? I was fully occupied with my ‘job’ as President of Business Lismore (Lismore Chamber of Commerce). It was an intense time, and although I had been on the Board for more than 10 years before that and indeed had been President before, nothing really prepared me for post-flood Lismore. I resigned my position for a lot of reasons in mid 2023 in complete burnout and refocussed my attention on my own mental health. Although I was passionate about the Chamber and Lismore’s future, I was able to walk away knowing I’d done the best I could. That was somewhat validated when I led the organisation to win the Best Chamber of Commerce at the Business NSW state awards at the end of 2022. That is indeed a whole other story!!
Anyways, things don’t always go the way you expect, and I felt the need to change again, and from 2025 I moved back to online, combined with stock in-store at selected retailers in the region and the occasional market. In March 2025 I was accepted into Madeit – the leading handmade marketplace in Australia. Beautiful!! At the same time, I decided that Made in Lismore needed a refresh, and have since rebranded as Leumesin Handmade which fits beautifully with Leumesin Design – the original website design business I started way back in 2011 when I was made redundant from Southern Cross University when after 20 years, most of which was my then dream job of managing the university’s websites, they said goodbye. We created all new websites and applications (this was back when the internet was an infant and websites were hand coded page by page). I learned so much from my amazing team but at the age of 50, I had put my big girl pants on and start over. I still love creating websites and continue to work with local businesses but a much smaller client list than at the beginning! Full circle!
The reality of flood recovery for any business here is challenging, and the reality of no ‘normal’ income for nearly 2 years became pressing especially after I’d committed to building my own home, so I was fortunate to stumble across an ad for a job which led to working at a wonderful local business – BeBe Bold – who specialise in Japanese fabrics and threads amongst other things, so expect to see different handmade goodness over the coming months. I have to say, fabric, combined with my love of paper and origami has put me in a crafters paradise!! Because I’ve fallen in love with sashiko and do a lot of stitching, I started the ‘Social Stitching’ group because crafting in a group can be a lot of fun. I think I’ll rename that group too, and we’ll do Stitch & Bitch with a Craft at the Movies next!
Craft/art/creativity in many forms has been a bit of a saviour for me and you’ll still find me trying out far too many different things – my craft room needs a serious declutter!! I love using art resin, painting using alcohol inks and more recently I’ve discovered liquid watercolours which are a bit dreamy. Love decoupage and gilding on almost anything, greeting cards, body products, jewellery & accessories, homewares, candles, craft kits et al. Mixed media is my current focus, and it seems to draw on almost everything I’ve done before. Bliss. I’ve even started to dabble in print on demand – phone cases and art prints to start with made from my own mixed media works. Greeting cards and clothing will likely be next.
Life is indeed good 🙂
Commissions, custom orders, wholesale, and event bonbonierre are all available.
Questions? Don’t hesitate to get in touch!
