Creating Community

By Riley Hooper

Located in the vibrant Marrickville, an important area for the creative scene, is Hypmotive hub, a place for customers and artists alike to shop, meet and hang out. Owner Renee Russo broke down Hypmotive hub explaining “Hypmotive is a creative platform where we service the creative community by providing them with an affordable retail space in our space in Marrickville, while also providing marketing services across our platforms.” 

Artists and designers not only benefit from the retail space in store but the online marketplace too, with Renee continuing “this gives them more reach to grow their sales. For the customer’s, we provide them access to locally produced fashion, homewares and original art. The way we curate the range is quite original, we make sure each range and person has a unique story to tell.”      

As to how Renee and husband/business partner Jake Russo came to develop the idea of Hypmotive hub so many years ago they “did a personal review of our life, our careers and ultimately what we had identified in the market was that there was a gap in terms of having access to more locally made and designed art and the artists.” 

Noticing there was void in retail shops supporting the local creative community the pair wanting to apply their skills, with Renee having a retail background in product development and Jake a designer, decided to contribute to the community by using those talents and set forward with Hypmotive hub.   

Putting a new brand and concept out into the market is high risk “but we did a lot of market research and the growth has been quite organic to date. All good things take time,” said Renee. 

On the importance of a hub like this existing online for local artists and designers Renee’s thoughts were that, “Online is highly competitive, it’s hard to cut through however for anyone in business it’s important to have an online presence to enable your business to reach and engage with customers who are unable to shop the range in person.” 

By providing a space for art to not only be a hobby but an option to make money could encourage more local art and creativity to be expressed with Hypmotive hub hoping the latter applies. “We are centred around creativity and want to inspire people to explore their own creativity in a welcoming space learning from skilled local artists. 

For skilled local artists and small creative businesses we’re finding a lot of them have this passion or vision of creating their own unique range and it can be a tough gig but that’s where we’re there to provide them with the commercial space and marketing support

One of the creators featured on the Hypmotive hub online site, is Albert Tse. A local metalsmith and jeweller from Sydney, who at a young age had a fascination with making things that eventually led to quitting his job and moving to Florence to study at the Alchimia Contemporary Jewellery School. Tse has developed his own unique style putting a modern take on the traditional specialising in sandcasting. 

Another local creator on the site offering up beautiful pieces is 500 Workshop by Adrian Spano. Spano specialises in handcrafted wood objects and custom furniture, working in a studio in Marrickville. If you’re like me and are currently growing a luscious moustache then The Mister Brand might catch your eye. A growing natural men’s grooming business creating quality handcrafted products. 

Hypmotive hub in Marrickville not only has a high quality, unique range to shop with two adorable dogs that have become unofficial mascots, “they come to work with us every day, they just greet people all day,” but they also have space available where artists can reserve the space to host workshops to share their knowledge and skills with the wider community. 

Coming up in November on 17 and 18 is the annual Meet The Makers marketplace where people will be able to meet several of the local makers including eco fashion brand Maraca, Graffiti Ore, The Pickards and with a ceramic demonstration with award winning ceramicist Nathalie Pastro. The free event will run between 10am and 4pm at Hypmotive hub on Marrickville Road, Marrickville. The event will showcase a range of handcrafted items and art from emerging artists and makers from all around Australia. The two days will also have live entertainment, refreshments and creative activities to participate in. 

Now working with over sixty small creative business owners, independent designers, artists and local brands from around Australia, Hypmotive hub is growing this unique market. A destination itself and finalist in the New Business category for the Inner West Local Business Awards, the hub will be continuing with a new series of workshops next year. In the meantime, support your local artists and either pop into the hub or jump online and check out the amazing pieces that are on offer. 

More Info: www.hypmotive.com