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<\/p>\nTorquay creative Eliza Francombe is forever adding strings to her bow.<\/p>\n
Photographer, graphic designer, artist, stylist, businesswoman and mother are among her multiple roles.<\/p>\n
Then there is classically trained singer and former competitive hip hop dancer.<\/p>\n
Now she is adding \u2018teacher\u2019 into that wonderful mix after starting a series of creative workshops based around the bestselling Artisan Sud Bar from her homewares brand, FrancHome.<\/p>\n
Eliza runs the weekend workshops from her Ashmore Arts studio and admits to being delighted by the positive response she\u2019s had so far.<\/p>\n
Attendees have jumped at the chance to make six personalised sud bars in their own choice of colours and fragrances, as well as enjoying a glass of champagne and a sweet treat.<\/p>\n
Eliza, a former senior designer at Cotton On, started FrancHome while on maternity leave after having her daughter Sahara almost five years ago and finding herself craving a creative outlet.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was strange but when I had Sahara I almost felt like I had all this time on my hands and I have to admit she was a great sleeper so I was really blessed,\u201d Eliza says.<\/p>\n
\u201cI found myself in her nap times thinking \u2018what am I going to do to keep creative?\u2019.<\/p>\n
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\u201cI actually started making the soaps and really experimenting with them because I wanted to do something tactile with my hands.<\/p>\n
\u201cI already did big colourful artworks and I thought it would be really cool to somehow incorporate that into my soap making too.\u201d<\/p>\n
The hand-poured Artisan Sud Bars are mini masterpieces (they even come with an optional display easel) and were a hit in the market, with National Gallery of Australia shop among a select group of quality stockists.<\/p>\n
Eliza says her vision was to create a brand which championed individuality over mass production.<\/p>\n
\u201cComing from working in such large-scale businesses that are full of mass production I kind of felt almost a bit angry about the whole thing and just seeing so much waste,\u201d she explains.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen we bought a house in Torquay and I started looking for things for my own home and I just found that the more I shopped, the more I saw lots of the same thing.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe pursuit of discovering something a little different inspired me to start FrancHome, along with an obsession with texture, luxurious fabrics and alluring colour palettes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Eliza is the sole driving force of the brand whose product range includes sud bars, artworks, cushions, kitchen towels, fabric baskets and wall clocks.<\/p>\n
A new range of fabric homewares was supposed to launch in late 2019 but the products, which were made overseas, arrived in unsellable condition which was a huge blow to Eliza\u2019s business, forcing her to cancel large orders from the likes of the NGV and Elm.<\/p>\n
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Unable to find an Australian company which could meet her strict colour-fasting printing requirements, Eliza is still working to find the right supplier overseas and will then aim to have the homewares range made on home soil.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverything is a learning curve and it sounds so clich\u00e9d but there is always a lesson to be learned by a failure \u2013 you have just got to figure out what the next move is.<\/p>\n
\u201cEventually I should hopefully have a perfect product \u2013 I\u2019m working through that at the moment.\u201d<\/p>\n
In better news, she recently collaborated with ABI Interiors who ordered 400 of her sud bars in time for Christmas last year.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was huge and exciting,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s the thing with business, you\u2019ll have a bad day or something will go wrong and then something like that happens.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s just a constant rollercoaster really, up and down, up and down, but that collaboration was really amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mid last year the former Sacred Heart College arts captain also launched boutique branding agency, Be Franc., which draws on her broad range of expertise and has allowed for partnerships with talented people she has worked with over the years.<\/p>\n
Those great working relationships was also the inspiration behind starting the workshops.<\/p>\n
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\u201cWorking for yourself by yourself can be really isolating,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m such a people person and really missed connecting with others.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wanted to create a fun experience that was different, allowed me to step away from the goddamn computer and helped others, including myself, take some relaxing time out and slow down.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are six to seven people in a class and generally they don\u2019t all know each other but by the end of the class they are all talking and laughing.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey are having a great time and I\u2019m having a great time too.\u201d<\/p>\n
Eliza points out it is a creative workshop, not a soap making course, and she doesn\u2019t give away trade secrets during the two-and-a-half hour session.<\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone always makes something different, there\u2019s never two soaps the same,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey can pick their own colours, fragrances and additives and it is always so great when they unmold them at the end \u2013 I get the warm and fuzzies.\u201d<\/p>\n
Workshops are proving so popular that Eliza has added extra dates during May, while also working on FrancHome and BeFranc., as well as renovating a home and preparing for the arrival of her second child due in August.<\/p>\n
\u201cI always keep my notebooks and when I\u2019m having a bad day I love looking through them and it\u2019s a really nice reminder of how it has all evolved,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverything happens for a reason and it\u2019s really rewarding that I can look back on all my skills I\u2019ve gathered along the way and how they prepared me for where I am now.\u201d<\/p>\n
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