FK chats to Akiko, one half of Sydney based accessories label, bRainbow
Can you introduce your label, bRainbow?
A rainbow always appears after the rain and makes people smile 🙂 A brain represents ideas, thinking and imagination. bRainbow combines these two elements with our unique selection of handcrafts. There are two halves of bRainbow: graphic designer / senior art director, Orrr and collaborator / mum-to-be, Akiko. All our products are created using laser-cut and pieced together by hand at our Sydney home studio.
What is your background and what made you start your own label?
We love vintage, travelling and anything unexpected. We both wanted to use our creative streaks for something we really liked doing. After being regular shoppers at Etsy for such a long time, we just decided to create things we really love – something different and uniquely “us”.
Where do you go to get inspiration?
We go to flea markets almost every weekend and garage sales! We also love treasure hunting and going through so many junk sales to find what we really love! Travelling is another thing we enjoy a lot – just experiencing different cultures and histories. We went to Europe last year and went to many local flea markets, art galleries. The people and stuff there inspired us alot.
What do you love about being a creative in Sydney?
Sydney has great weather and coffee! That’s how we feel after travelling many countries. Having breakfast with great friends on the weekend just makes us more relaxed and creative. We always seem to meet amazing people in Sydney. They’re so creative and talented and getting know them is very rewarding too.
What advice to you have for others wanting do start their own label?
You have to have a lot of energy to start own label! There are much more things to do than you can imagine! I would advise you keep all your paperwork organised and make your workplace creative and comfortable. That’s where you will spend a lot of time, so you should make it the place you want to be. Also, it’s important to treat customers as you want to be treated! Every purchase makes us happy every time. We also like to keep in touch with our customers via social networks like Facebook. It’s very important and makes us feel connected.
What can we look forward to from you this year? and what are your aspirations for bRainbow?
We would love to our label to grow and gain more recognition. We are trying to expand our products range especially with leather materials. We now have a lot of jewellery but we try to produce more usable products such as wallets, mobile cases and clocks. We would love to see our products in artistic shops in Australia and all over the world. Also, owning our brick-and-mortar shop is our ultimate dream!
