By Eliza Henry-Jones
Lazy afternoons in the sunshine with the family, kids squealing with laughter and loads of delicious food to share. That’s what Geelong-based Picnic Season – who makes gorgeous, statement picnic rugs – is all about.
The woman behind Picnic Season, Kate Seiz, is also the mother of a four-year-old, two-year-old and one-year-old and recognises how precious and vital family time is.
Having previously juggled a demanding marketing role at various large businesses, she found that she was craving a better balance so she’d have more time with her family. The idea for Picnic Season came to Kate when she was on maternity leave with her now four-year-old and she found herself picnicking with local mother’s groups.
It was when Kate was pregnant with her second child, now two-years-old, that she decided it was time to give Picnic Season a go. She took a voluntary redundancy from her marketing job and put the money into starting up the business.
Kate’s initial focus was finding an artist to collaborate with for the picnic rug designs. Funnily enough, Kate was put in touch with artist and mother, Deb MacNaughton, through the same friend who – many years ago – had set Kate up with her husband.
“Deb had left her fulltime job and she was doing art job, so she was at a similar life stage with young kids and trying to navigate this new world of work with children. We hit it off. She did the four designs for me for the debut collection.”
Kate is passionate about encouraging families to make time to be together. In fact, she commissioned research last year into how much time families spend together and found that, out of the 450 respondents, most families spent only 30 minutes of quality time together each day.
“We sort of noticed that families are spending so much time inside, they’re finding that juggle really difficult,” Kate said.
“It’s a really important thing, it’s an important issue for Aussie families. That balance is a really important thing to try to chase and try to achieve.”
Kate’s honesty is refreshing – she is very open about how she struggles with balancing Picnic Season with parenting her young family.
“I find it kind of interesting is that the reason I started Picnic Season was to spend more time with my family and create flexibility and that Picnic Season is now the thing that’s kind of at tension with that. The business needs attention and it’s not what I expected, to be honest!”
Kate’s advice to other parents with young families looking to start their own businesses is to go for it.
“There are so many people who have fabulous ideas that never see the light of day because they’re too scared to start it; to take a risk,” Kate explained.
“If you can manage it, a nest egg to give it a little kick at the start is great.”
Kate also advises people to think critically about their strengths and weaknesses.
“Figure out which professionals you need to engage to help you on your business journey.
“I’ve always been in marketing roles in big business. You’re a cog in the wheel and everyone knows what their role is. It’s really challenging being the only one doing all the stuff. If you can figure out where your strengths are and outsource what you’re not good at, that can help a lot.”
Kate has exciting plans for Picnic Season over the coming months and, while the balancing act may be challenging, she’s passionate about working with emerging artists and encouraging families to connect with each other and spend quality time outside.
You can find out more on the Picnic Season website.
