Main Street’s new creative outlet

AFTER over twenty years selling her signature bags and homewares, renowned artist and printmaker Nicola Cerini has finally set shop on Ballarat’s iconic Main Road.

Having opened in November, Cerini said it’s been great connecting with the store holders and community members in the area.

“Everyone’s really nice, it’s such a lovely community here especially after coming out of lockdown,” she said.

“With trade fairs and design markets being cancelled this year, I had enough stock to open a shop and I thought why not, this shop became available and I thought this is perfect for me.

“This is the kind of street I need to be in, it’s more of a destination.”

Kicking off the business 26 years ago, Cerini initially began manufacturing her signature printed bags in Ballarat, and after ten years, eventually moved the production down to Melbourne.

“When my daughter was born, I started licensing my designs to other companies like the floor rugs to be made by someone else and stopped making the bags for five years,” she said.

“I was ready for a change after being in production making bags for so many years.”

After some time off, over this year, Cerini and her family moved to Ballarat and her passion for design and production came rushing back.

“I got re-established and decided I wanted to go back into making bags again, back into what everyone knew me for,” she said.

“I started making them a year ago and business quickly took off again, I even nearly opened a shop on Sturt Street in February this year … luckily I didn’t.

“Throughout the year, I was just working from home and building the online presence, which really improved before opening up here.”

Although Cerini’s prints are as vibrant as ever, the designer said once she returned to manufacturing the bags again, alterations to the production process were necessary.

“When I went back to make the bags again after the five-year break, I went back to the Melbourne company and they weren’t able to make them for me anymore,” she said.

“They suggested I think about making the bags offshore … I wanted to know who was making my stuff so I went to India last September and found a great manufacturer who make my bags who’ve been fantastic to work with.

“Then the leather bags are made in East Ballarat by Kim Ryan who worked for the company who originally made my bags and she does a fantastic job … I do all the cutting of the materials and she does all the construction.”

In addition to the core bag line, Cerini also retails a range of other products from clothing to homewares.

“I also do t-shirts which are all organic cotton, made in Australia and some of them, I screen print myself and aprons and tea towels which I screen print them myself,” she said.

“Then there’s cards and card sets, all made in Melbourne, then the shopping totes and I also jumped on the bandwagon with face masks which was a really good thing and helped me get through the last six months.

“I also have samples for my rugs instore and people can take them home and see if they like them… the rugs are one of the main reasons I opened the store, apart from having all the other things for people to buy, because they sell better instore than online.”