“Women Who Lead With Love” was the title of a retreat held in Invercargill yesterday for women in business and leadership. Among the speakers was Natalie Jarvis, who talks to business editor Sally Rae about leaving the bright lights of Melbourne to return to the South.

She’s an artist, illustrator and designer who speaks fluent neon.

Natalie Jarvis is back in her hometown of Invercargill after more than a decade literally in the bright lights of Melbourne, where she designed and delivered big impact installations for events, brands and public spaces.

Electric Confetti, the business she founded, is continuing from the Otatara home she shares with husband Scott and their four young children, mostly serving the Australian market remotely.

It is, she acknowledges, a “completely different life” to Melbourne and, as she looked out the window at the proliferation of native trees, she was enjoying the peace and slower pace of life.

The Jarvis family moved to Southland in November last year, Mrs Jarvis saying the grass was not necessarily greener in Australia, a fact many people were surprised to hear.

The couple’s children had made the transition fairly easily; the three youngest asked if Invercargill or Melbourne was bigger, while the eldest wondered if Taylor Swift was likely to perform in Invercargill, she said, laughing.

Mrs Jarvis was one of the speakers at Women Who Lead With Love, an inner-city retreat yesterday at the Langlands Hotel in Invercargill, focusing on business, wellbeing and personal growth.

Tickets for the full-day event for women in business and leadership, organised by local personal growth and business mentor Anna Schaumkel, sold out.

Other speakers included accountant Kylie Davidson, psychologist Dr Maria Crawford, The Batch owner Kate French, naturopath Leisa Cournane, designer Hannah McColl and personal stylist Kim Spencer-McDonald.

Originally from Invercargill, Mrs Jarvis also spent time when she was growing up in Dunedin with her father, Brian Stuart, who had an antique shop in South Dunedin.

That proved to be great inspiration for her; she always wanted to own her own shop, and she developed a love of vintage packaging, signage and antiques.

She would also attend garage sales with her father on Saturday mornings.

She studied design and art history at university, and she reckoned she had learned more from being with her father, in terms of New Zealand ceramics, pottery, jewellery and antiques, than she did in her design degree.

When her boyfriend — now husband — moved to Australia, she followed him three months later and got work in publishing, mostly children’s books.

She worked for both publishing companies and also freelance.

In 2013, coinciding with the arrival of the couple’s first children, Mrs Jarvis — who was keen on home decor — wanted a “cool sign” for their wall.

But she could not find anything. Most neon signs on the market were more of a man-cave style, particularly with an alcohol theme.

She tried to get a glass-blowing apprenticeship but that proved difficult.

Ordering some glass signs from China, two of the five arrived broken which was not sustainable for a business model.

Then she discovered LED, a new to market product, and ordered some signs which were “amazing”.

She did a collaboration with bedding company Kip and Co and got to know one of the founders, who then mentored her.

She got Mrs Jarvis to design three signs and bought 10 units of each which helped give her a “leg up”.

But Mrs Jarvis was so new to it all — and she had also just had a baby — that she did not know about import tax.

So, when the 30 units arrived in Australia, along with a massive tax bill, she recalled how she almost fainted — while holding a newborn.

Electric Confetti went from there, initially focusing on the business-to-consumer market — designing pieces for people’s homes which also extended to weddings and events — and then business-to-business.

Outgrowing her home studio, Mrs Jarvis offered the owner of a vacant shop about a block from her home, which was due to be demolished for apartments, $200 a week.

Finally, she achieved her longtime ambition to “play shop”.

When it got really busy, she convinced her husband — originally from Dunedin and a former representative soccer player — to leave his job as a project manager in the construction industry and join her.

Then came larger premises and more staff — at one point numbering 18, including some off-shore — and installations were being done for the likes of Amazon, Nike, L’Oreal and Maybelline.

When a message arrived from United States NBA basketball team the Dallas Mavericks, Mr Jarvis thought it was “a bit of a stitch-up” and turned up to a 2am online meeting wearing a hoodie, only to discover he was looking at 18 executives from the team.

He quickly tilted his screen so his appearance was not so obvious and later flew to Dallas.

Electric Confetti dressed the facade for the international exhibition “Elvis: Direct from Graceland” at the Bendigo Art Gallery in Victoria and the couple met Priscilla Presley at the exhibition opening.

One niche they found was vacant shop sites, particularly in malls, where they would dress the empty space with sequins and neon lights to make it more appealing.

But keeping the wheels spinning of such a “massive beast” also came with plenty of stress — “It was really good when it was good, you can put up with that for a while” — and as staff left, the couple did not replace them.

The decision was made to return to New Zealand and Mr Jarvis was now working as business manager for an engineering firm in Invercargill.

While Mrs Jarvis missed her shop, which she had always endeavoured to make a destination, she said she was enjoying not having to be accountable all the time.

People’s discretionary spending and, by virtue of that, the spend of brands, has dropped drastically.

While she is doing less jobs, she is doing bigger jobs.

She is also looking forward to exhibiting some of her paintings later this month, with some fellow creatives, as she now has the opportunity to get back into her own art.

sally.rae@odt.co.nz

 

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