June 2011

BUILDING THE GOOD LIFE

These inspirational entrepreneurs are doing lots of good in the neighbourhood

WORDS KELLY IRVING

A FASHIONABLE CHANGE

In 2011, design teacher and photographer Raphael Kilpatrick was one of several people to get an email from artist Grace McQuilton. It proposed a “completely mad idea” that was impossible to refuse.

“We were frustrated by the negative attention that refugees were getting,” Kilpatrick says. “We wanted to change the public’s perception by providing training and employment to prove they’re extremely talented, highly capable members of our community.”

A board was formed and AU$50,000 from an anonymous donation helped with start-up costs. A shop in Collingwood, Melbourne, was bought and renovated, and The Social Studio was born.

The not-for-profit fashion space provides certified training in clothing production and design to young refugees. Students create products — from dresses and shirts to bags and jewellery — from donated reclaimed and recycled materials. All items are sold at the store, online and from moveable pop-up stores (in central Melbourne until September 2011).

“A lot of our refugees come from tailoring nations, so we enhance the skills they already have,” he says. The studio (and café) has helped students secure jobs at Nobody jeans and Mariana Hardwick bridal label. “It’s terrific to see people moving on. It shows that design is a common language that breaks down ethnicity, religion and personal ideology.”

SHARE THE LOVE

Marcus Godinho was eating lunch when he first heard about FareShare — a not-for-profit rescuing food from landfill and turning it into nutritious meals for the homeless and hungry.

“Someone told me that they volunteered in their kitchen,” he says. “As a keen cook, I thought it would be a great way of spending a Saturday morning.”

Three years later, Godinho became CEO of the Melbourne- based organisation. To achieve its aim of giving away one million meals in Victoria every year, FareShare enlists more than 3,000 volunteers, from delivery drivers to kitchen hands. It also runs regular singles’ events with founder and m.a.d.woman CEO Melina Schamroth, who met her boyfriend “cracking eggs and cracking jokes” during a FareShare singles’ night.

Every June, the two turn up the heat with a Feed Melbourne Singles’ Night at Etihad Stadium to raise funds to support FareShare’s work. Last year, the event was a resounding success with AU$18,000 raised and 152 singles from 250 finding a match.

“It takes the pressure off being single and opens it up to people with big hearts, who care about our community,” says Godinho. “They’ll learn a few tricks in the kitchen, maybe meet somebody special, and leave feeling they’ve made a big difference to people who can’t afford three meals a day.”

THE NEW BREW

Six years living in Germany gave Dean O’Callaghan a taste for the good life. “I love society, the environment… and great beer,” he says. So when his dad bought a microbrewery in Melbourne, O’Callaghan returned home to help — in more ways than one.

“The environmental cost of it was stupid, so I wrote dad a sustainability plan. Then I started doing the same for other breweries.”

O’Callaghan concocted The Good Brew Company in 2007. He helps microbreweries save money and reduces their carbon emissions through better brew techniques and technologies, then sells their products via a catering sideline dubbed “the bike bar”. “I peddle to your event on a trike loaded up with a reusable keg of locally produced beer, wine or cider. You get your own bar without months of recycling to clear up.”

He also develops new recipes with his clients, such as Arctic Fox’s choc-chilli stout, and Buckley’s lemongrass pale ale.

“A microbrewed beer has an amazing diversity of flavour and nutrition. There are no chemicals or preservatives, it’s vegan-friendly and it has lots of vitamin B so there’s no hangover the next day — so I know I’m making people happy!”

PEDDLE POWER

It was only a matter of time before Melburnians Sam Salter and Jason Wyatt combined their lifelong friendship and love of bikes. “Sam came to me and said ‘let’s do a bike magazine’, but I said ‘let’s do a website’,” Wyatt recalls. BikeExchange — “a one-stop shop for all your biking needs” — kicked off in 2007. Initially, a classified website for private vendors to buy and sell new and used bikes and accessories, today, thousands of retailers and bike tour operators also back the site, enabling people to buy direct from any bike store throughout Australia.

“When we first launched the site we got a hundred people on there per month; now we get about 425,000,” says Wyatt. “It’s a unique concept for the bike world, and we’ve also helped out struggling Australian retailers that are competing against international websites.”

For this two-man team (now a team of 15), there are no reservations about starting a business with a friend. “And the fact that we help people buy and sell bikes is the most rewarding thing of all,” adds Salter.

KEEPING IT REAL

Virginia Bruce realised the power that global brands have on people while working overseas as a business developer. It prompted her to close the door on what she was doing, and open up The r.e.a.l Store in Sydney’s Woolloomooloo.

“I wanted to do something with a social conscience,” she says. The store sells “ordinary products with an extraordinary message behind them”. This includes bestsellers such as homewares made from 100% sustainable materials. The money from some products goes back into the community, with 10% of all sales going to charities and humanitarian initiatives. “Everything must have a ‘pay- it-forward’ concept — a positive impact on the next person who comes into contact with it.”

TAKE ME THERE

THE SOCIAL STUDIO 128 Smith St, Collingwood, Melbourne, www.thesocialstudio.org
FARESHARE 1 Thompson St, Abbotsford, Melbourne, www.fareshare.net.au
22 June 2011, Feed Melbourne Singles’ Night Etihad Stadium, Melbourne
For ages 25–45, tickets AU$75 (bookings essential) register with www.madwoman.com.au
THE GOOD BREW COMPANY www.goodbrew.com.au
BIKEEXCHANGE www.bikeexchange.com.au
THE R.E.A.L STORE 91 Bourke St, Woolloomooloo, Sydney, tel: +61 (2) 8356 9993, www.therealstore.com.au