We chat with Clare, the owner and artist of Bon Maxie, as she prepares for our Brisbane market debut! Read on…
Tell us a little about yourself and how you came to begin your label.
I’m a Brisbane-based artist with a marketing background. When I took time off work to have my son and felt a little frazzled – I started doing a lot of custom portraits to switch off my brain and then I met Instagram. I opened up an online store and painted a few animals to sell alongside my portraits.
One day I painted myself a bit of wood and made an earring board, posted it online and got an unexpectedly big response. So Bon Maxie has really morphed since it opened and right now we’re known predominantly for original wooden earring boards!
Who inspires you and your creative process?
We discovered our son wasn’t well late last year and I had to leave work to care for him – it’s been a huge challenge, but it’s made me step back to review what it is I actually want out of life. I had stopped painting for a while before I had him, and now it’s becoming clear that I’m supposed to create things that make people happy, because there’s really never enough happiness around. It’s just a bonus that making things is my therapy. So – I guess it’s more of a situation that inspires me!
Tell us something exciting that you have planned for Bon Maxie for the next 12 months.
Creating my earring boards has shown me that people really respond to practical items – so I’ve got a few exciting ideas up my sleeves along those lines but they’ll always have to have an artistic feel to them, I think!
Name one resource that your label could not live without.
It would have to be coffee 🙂 Then closely after that, I couldn’t live without wood or paint.
Tell us about your favourite product from your collection.
I would probably have a different answer every week, but at the moment my favourite is the etched earring boards that are the Bon Maxie take on Christmas baubles. They’re mini earring gift boards in non-traditional shapes that can be used year round. I think the fluoro cord and the shapes just remind me how Australian Christmas is so bright and summery.
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