Meet the Makers
Get to know us better! Maybe you've been following our social accounts, exchanging emails or talking on the phone. Regardless of how familiar you already are with us, we invite you to take a deeper dive into who makes up this business and what's happening behind-the-scenes. These series of articles will give an intimate look at our people and operations so that your online shopping experience feels more personal than ever before!
Who are we?
We are Paul and Jannah, an enthusiastic husband and wife duo who love working together in our small business. We never set out to be small business owners, in fact, when we were first married we were full-time professionals who didn’t know anything about handcrafting timber furniture. But yet here we are; 12 years into marriage with four amazing children and running our own small business!
Paul grew up in the regional town of Shepparton, Victoria. He later moved to Albury to study Occupational Therapy before moving back to his home town to work for over a decade in his field of study. Although he loved his work and caring for people, when his passion for design and woodworking was ignited there was no turning back!
I (Jannah) am a farm girl from the Wimmera in Victoria. I moved to Shepparton after studying Music Education in Adelaide. I taught at one of the local schools for many years before heading off on family leave with the arrival of our eldest daughter. I have continued teaching part-time, even while running this business, which has meant a very busy and full calendar for us!
“We love the thought of our kids growing up in the business with us…our our eldest son at age four, is already on the tools helping his dad out”
How did it all begin?
“You can’t build that!” Were the four words that sparked the beginning of our artisan journey. After having two delightful girls, I was keen to have a cubby house for the backyard. Every cubby that I liked was well beyond our budget and I really didn’t want a cheaper ugly one. So when Paul put forward that he would take some long service leave to build the girls one I unhelpfully responded with “You can’t build that”, which then spurred Paul on to prove me wrong. And prove me wrong he did! We now have a beautiful cubby house that adorns our backyard and Paul discovered a new passion and chapter of our life together.
“You can’t build that”…And prove me wrong he did!
Where are we now?
Jumping forward to now, we wake up every day to our lovely children and plan what pieces we are going to make, what design ideas we have, and what customers we need to communicate with. And we love it!
What the future looks like..
We think the future looks bright as we are only just beginning to implement all of the many many ideas that have been buzzing around our heads. We love the thought of our kids growing up with us in the business as they are already enjoying the process with us. Our eldest daughter loves helping with the design ideas and styling for our photoshoots, and our eldest son at age four, is already on the tools helping his dad out!
Sustainability is also very important to us as our business goes forward. We work with sustainably-sourced timber everyday and we greatly value the natural resource that we owe our livelihood to. This is why we look to give every piece of timber value in our workshop. We don’t throw any timber pieces out. Everything right down to the sawdust has a purpose and is part of our sustainability vision. We know our customers are more and more environmentally conscious and we want to be as transparent with them as possible so that they know exactly what they are buying and how it is made.
We can’t wait to grow our business a little more. We are eagerly designing new pieces to make available to our customers and are looking forward to offering greater service to our customers in designing and handcrafting custom furniture pieces. We are also keen to keep on adding new members to our team, as we know there are many talented young people in our region who can learn a new skill or two under our tutelage.
Stay tuned for more articles where I will fill in some of the gaps and let you know some of our adventures on the way….and we’d love to hear from you also! At Jemmervale Designs we are one family, and our customers are part of this also. So if there's' something you’d like us to cover or you have any questions, then we’re here to add value… email us at hello@jemmervaledesigns.com.au
