From small beginnings packing boxes in a studio apartment in Sydney, to blowing out candles on an opulent cake fit for a Queen, we are so proud of where our beautiful little business is today. We celebrated by having a cute little tea party in our showroom. Sipping tea from some dainty china cups, we reflected back on the past eight years with our founder, Sharnee.
Sharnee, our founder, could never have dreamt back in 2014 that Wandering Folk would be inspiring wanderers and dreamers in far flung places all around the globe today. WF was conjured up when Sharnee was freelancing as a young textile designer from a small apartment in Sydney. Always creating epic prints for other labels, it was her aspiration to one day have a creative project of her own.
Inspiration struck on one rainy camping trip. As lovers of nature, Sharnee and her husband Arthur would regularly escape out of Sydney with friends to go camping down the coast or explore in the mountains. On this particular trip, it was muddy and dismal, and they wouldn't find anything nice to sit on. That's when the idea of a beautifully designed, yet durable and waterproof picnic rug was born. As well as being practical, the rug would act as a work of art, showcasing her handpainted prints.
The first rug wasn't launched until a year later in September 2015 after a painstaking design process. Sharnee poured her heart and soul into the first sample, and soon had a faithful following that fell in love with her vintage travel inspired prints. Over the years, the business has only grown, celebrating so many wins in 2022 alone. Here's a look back at how far we've come.
2014 - Sharnee establishes a relationship with our current picnic rug supplier. They were a small factory that have now expanded to have a second factory outside the city in the town the manager grew up in. They give people jobs there so locals don’t have to move away to the city.
Sep 2014 - Kicked off with 2 rugs in same print, inspired by a vintage Persian rug. A blue colour way named Turquoise Drift and a red colour way, Crimson sunset.
2014 - First stockist was Freedom State in Burleigh. Mandy reached out to Sharnee asking to stock the rugs (she had come across them on Insta and loved them). Sharnee had already worked with Mandy doing some freelance prints for her label. Mandy was stoked to find that out after the first email. Freedom State is still one of our stockists today :)
2014 - First campaign was shot on the Northern beaches in Sydney with Sally Mustang as our muse on our Turquoise Rug and in collaboration with Krystle Knight jewellery.
2018 - Sharnee visited China in 2018 to attend the Canton Fair to find new fabrics and new supplies for some exciting upcoming products.
2018 - Wandering Folk expands outsides of rugs into coolers and other picnic products.
2018 - We donate 1% to the planet and Rainforest Rescue.
2019 - We launched our first collab rug Utopia with Nine Lives Bazaar in 2019. Sharnee was 7 months pregnant with her daughter Velvet.
2020 - Arthur starts full time
2021 - We open our showroom and office in Byron Bay and spend weeks filling it with dried flowers, books and trinkets from our travels.
2021 - We set up house in the USA!
Feb 2022 - First overseas campaign was shot in the USA. So many new products were inspired by this whirlwind adventure...
April 2022 - First collab with our dream brand and longtime friends, Spell
October 2022 - Sharnee and Arthur welcome their son Zephyr to the world and we launch our most opulent rug yet, Wonderland.
Thank you to our most treasured creation yet, the beautiful Wandering Folk community who has supported Sharnee during this journey. We are looking forward to bringing you some very exciting offerings over the next year.
