Featured business – Harli & Dash
This month’s newsletter features Harli and Dash:
A family business run by husband and wife team Dani and Shaun.
Harli and Dash! What an intriguing name. How did you two get together, and what was the motivation for starting the family business?
Dani moved to Sydney temporarily, which was when we met. On our first date, she asked me if anything would stop me from leaving Sydney before clearly letting me know that she would never live long-term in “this god-forsaken city” under any circumstances. She said if it was an issue for me, then we shouldn’t bother dating. We’ve been a team ever since.
Dani has been taking photos her whole life. It’s always been her way of making sense of the world, of existing – it’s her creative self; it’s just such a fundamental part of her. But what do you do when even that essence of you is not enough to get you through the day? Harli & Dash was born out of necessity; a need to help Dani survive severe mental illness. It filled a need to help Dani find her way back to life and we don’t underestimate the positive follow-on effects to our whole family.
The last 12 months have been hugely demanding. What have the challenges been for your business?
Harli & Dash is a way of life for us now. Leaving the hustle and bustle of everyday life whenever we can, to spend time together in nature is vital to our happiness and our wellbeing as a family. It allows us to take care of our mental health, to challenge ourselves, explore, think, and have uninterrupted communication.
Having restrictions on our chosen way of life that are out of our control has been the biggest challenge for us.
We find markets to be fascinating places, but tell us what you like about them?
This has been another struggle through Covid restrictions. Not being able to get to markets and enjoy market life with all the makers and customers has been sad because we love the vibe, the fun, and the interesting and beautiful people we meet there. Without markets, Shaun works from home on his own, so without markets he just doesn’t stop talking to himself. (The children stopped listening to him years and years ago!)
Your beautiful images capture the essence of cities and places from Australia to Europe. Which city has been your favourite to photograph on your travels and why?
Every image of every place is a moment in time with a history and a story. For every image facing one way, another is facing the other direction. There are moments of pure joy and excitement, moments of wonder, and moments of complete sadness and despair. But even those negative memories are a part of Dani’s story – and our story – that are fundamental to making us who we are today.
Dani says that any photo taken on the road between Melbourne and Sydney is her favourite. The road to Sydney helps heal her soul because it leads her to her MIL’s house, where she is nourished in every sense of the word. (Though she’d not be sure about showing off about that because she knows she hit the MIL jackpot and doesn’t want to rub it in anyone’s face.)
All businesses have their ups and downs. What has been the highlight of your family business so far?
The location guessing game – we love to play with customers.
We would love to hear about your creative process, everything from finding a location to framing the artwork.
Location scouting depends on how much time we have and how far we can travel or where can we stop on the way. It’s scouring Google Maps and the internet for walks (nothing too long, let’s be honest, we have our limits), waterfalls and off-the-beaten-track beaches.
The photography process is nothing out of the ordinary, but leaving Shaun with 100s to 1000s of photos to sort through keeps Dani laughing.
Shaun’s creativity takes over in selection and photo editing (unless Dani overrules his editing choices, but that isn’t very often) and then his patience is his virtue from that point forward. Between getting the printers to produce what they are supposed to without stopping midway because they just felt like it, and getting all the dust out of the frames… he’s a freaking saint! 🙂
And one final question to round off: Could you tell us four things you absolutely cannot do without in your family businessrr?
1. A camera (obviously)
2. Our 15-year-old pack horse car that has taken us everywhere and survived everything that we throw at it, inside and out… And there’s a second part to that answer: Our mechanic. 😄
3. Our children’s agreeability to participate in our wild and crazy plans
4.. Humour
Oh, and that intriguing and unique name, Harli & Dash?
Fun Fact… Harli is a combo of our children’s names: Harry and Amelia, and Dash combines our names, Dani and Shaun.
Photo credit Dust & Salt
