Lisa Wynne

My name is Lisa Wynne and Saturn Cottage Industries is my one-woman creative studio, established in 2021. Born and raised in Ireland, I lived in Japan in my twenties, travelled around the world, and after a few years back in Dublin I committed to building a business and fulfilling craft practice.

I always wanted to be a fashion designer, but the closer I got to that dream, the more disillusioned I became with the industry. After some career sidesteps – emigrating, teaching, volunteering, and further studying – I have returned to working creatively, making textiles to be treasured.

Saturn Cottage Industries produces slow fashion and home textiles using locally sourced new, vintage, and recycled natural materials. Using patchwork, hand-embroidery, quilting and garment construction skills, I take a materials-first approach and use what is on hand, designing and making reactively. I collect and curate a stash of fabrics left over from former projects, from friends and family, or salvaged from damaged garments. From this archive of materials, colour or pattern combinations emerge which, with applied skills, lead to unique garments or quilts.

What are your business objectives?

By making myself, in Ireland, using fabric made in Ireland or materials recovered from Irish waste streams, my patchwork practice works to mend the environmental and social damage of the fast-fashion and textiles industry.

The objective of my business is to sustain my craft practice, providing an integrated and fulfilling work-life balance. I see my aspirations for creative independence as being a working part of an interdependent community of practice working towards a circular textiles economy in Ireland. My twenty-first century cottage industry is underpinned by transparent sourcing, low environmental impact, and selling direct to slow fashion collectors and heirloom gifters.

I am keen to develop an empathetic and collaborative commissioning experience, such as for memory quilts, wedding quilts, or other gifting pieces. The goals of this are twofold; first, to create more personal and meaningful pieces for clients to treasure in their homes and families, and second, to integrate sentimental personal textiles, honouring materials and the memories stored in them.

What have you learnt whilst on Crafting Business?

I learned a lot of nuance around pricing, especially to consider what price alone can communicate. Also, with craft products, emotional response has greater value than function, making clients less price-sensitive. What really stuck with me was to be memorable rather than necessarily relatable.

Noel Donnellan from Pigmentti gave me important perspective on outsourcing, for marketing in particular. He described it as a high but necessary cost that gives them access to the right market. This was echoed in the finance workshop,  when discussing the importance of the “premium” customer and the risks of underpricing. Making time-intensive, low-volume, high-value pieces makes marketing a challenge for me, but the in-depth breakdowns of tools like customer personas and press releases in the marketing session were very practical.

I had not yet registered with the DCCI before this program, though it had been a specific aspiration. Speaking with DCCI staff during the program, I was able to ask questions that had held me back and I finally submitted my registration. Being part of this diverse yet like-minded group of makers has also helped this shift; from a feeling of aspiration to an affirmation of my professionalism.

Share with the reader 5 tips that you have personally learnt on this journey:

• I am building my business after a period of pandemic unemployment, preceded by a period of underemployment, working part-time, not practising my craft. From that low, it has felt immensely insecure to embark on self-employment and build a business from nothing but my skills and my values, but if, like me, this is something you feel motivated to do, research what supports might be available to you. (In Ireland; through the DSP, Springboard, your local ETB, and local business development company – mine is Southside Partnership in Dun Laoghaire Rathdown.)
• Once you commit to self-employment, even with the goal of better or more integrated work-life balance, things will initially get harder for a while, but hang in there and plan times to check in and evaluate.
• Your skill/craft is your greatest marketing asset – the authenticity of who you are and why you do what you do is an integral part of the product.
• Unless it’s something huge or dangerous, whenever you think “but I don’t know how to do that!” for your business, search the task on YouTube and you’ll find helpful tutorial videos!

Image credits: All Lisa Wynne