By NARELLE COULTER
IN a hyper busy world, Andrea Hopgood has carved out a business where people are happy to pay to slow down, chat, relax and create.
Andrea operates Paperworks Gallery from her home in Berwick.
She and husband David purpose-built a light, airy open shed a few steps from the back door of their historic Inglis Road property to house Paperworks.
On the day Grow visited, sun filled the Paperworks studio, music played softly in the background and the walls were filled with paintings and ceramic creations, many of them Andrea’s own.
Playing distractedly with a paintbrush as she speaks, Andrea said Paperworks offered “a slow comfortable relationship, a connection through art“.
“People are really seeking time for themselves but also conversation. I’m selling a slow, comfortable relationship.
“This is a peaceful place to be and work. I play music; we have a glass of wine. One woman said to me ’I just love you because you make me a cup of tea’.“
The former art teacher offers small classes of six to eight for adults and has recently resumed classes for children.
She also conducts workshops and hosts events and exhibitions.
She has achieved, you suspect, the perfect work life balance.
Andrea’s first steps towards self-employment started when she opened a small picture framing business to supplement her income as a part-time teacher at Kooweerup Secondary College.
She then opened a little gallery in the main street of Pakenham sharing space with a real estate agency.
The death of her son, Frazer, in 2011 brought the wrenching realisation that she didn’t want to return to classroom teaching and instead wanted to grow her own business.
“Business is not my strong suit. It almost happened by necessity. My son’s passing forced me to realise that I wanted to be at home. It forced me to grow the business, to look at my skill set and put myself out there and forge a different working life.“
She soon realised that her years in the classrooms had equipped her with skills that were transferable to business; skills like time management, communication and budgeting.
“My artistic brain had to change shape and consider things like marketing and networking, which was a challenge. I don’t feel confident in that area but you just have to do it.
“I think I was actually holding it back. It was a beast raring to go.“
Andrea quarantines two days a week to concentrate on her own work. One day is devoted to bookwork and social media and two days to teaching.
She said the City of Casey had been “fabulous“, particularly the “very strong arts team who have helped me and encouraged me“.
She has also had enormous support from family and friends, not least husband David who is also an artist. Many of his sculptures fashioned from reclaimed timber and metal dot the grounds of Paperworks.
And of course, then there are the giant cypress pencils, a neighbourhood landmark.
Faced with cutting down seven massive cypress trees two years ago, the couple hired a cherry picker and David fired up his chainsaw creating giant coloured pencils.
“It was a lovely process, it really opened up our property,“ smiled Andrea.
“And it’s all interconnected because doing that has made people notice the business.“
“Everything evolves and changes and I’m open to that.“
After concluding the interview with Grow, Andrea headed off to the city to an art exhibition with two students who have become friends.
“A lot of people are interested in art but feel there must be tricks, they don’t know about. I want to make it accessible to everyone,“ she explained.
“I like to think I am helping people on their artistic journey and exposing them to things they would not have looked at previously.
“This is not a fast-paced business. It’s slow, it’s meditative. It gets under your skin.“
