Melbourne based brands, home and lifestyle company Kollab and designer towel brand Ninnho, have partnered to create a collection of fun summer products.
The collection includes a range of bags from the smaller Klutch to the beach bag sized Neverful Large, as well as placemats and napkins, all in Ninnho’s colourful Monarch and Peacock prints.
Kollab co-founder Hayley Barrett says the collaboration came about as she has long admired the work of Ninnho designer Antoinette Ferwerda, and thought the two brands would be a great fit as they both offer practical yet beautiful items for the home.
“We sat down with [Ferwerda and Ninnho co-founder Angela Bellenger] and went over their new collection and worked out what would work best for both parties on our bag collection,” she says.
“The Peacock and Monarch designs are both in the new Ninnho collection and we felt they would offer a great colourful and summer feel.”
After launching to market at Life Instyle Melbourne last year with the aim of making practical items more stylish, Kollab is now stocked in lifestyle and homewares stores around the country. The brand was founded on the idea of collaborating with other designers (hence the name), giving Barrett and co-founder Jessica Schauble the opportunity to work with others on their brand.
Schauble has since left Kollab to move overseas, and Barrett now runs the business with her husband Mick. The pair has also run Nitrus Agency, a fashion wholesale company, for the past 16 years.
With three children—nine-year-old Coco and four-year-old twins Polly and Abby—Barrett says life is hectic, but she is enjoying seeing Kollab develop.
“My past experience is in sales but having to do all aspects of the business day to day and stay abreast of it all is difficult,” she says.
“Having a work life balance is hard. As many people would understand, having a small business and running a family is a lot of work. We need to make sure all needs are met both at work and at home with the family.
“The best thing has been watching a brand from its inception and being able to control and make adjustments according to the feedback from customers and results of the collections.”
As 2016 approaches, Barrett is focused on adding more products to the Kollab range along with a new collaboration that will launch early next year.
By Ruth Cooper
