· By Maria Nilsson
WRAP UP
We farewell yet another swift but cherished year in our Atmosea life, and it wouldn’t be the end of 2018 without a little self-reflection on where we’ve been, where we are and where we’re going, as we count our blessings that we made it through our third official year.
Maria, our very own Atmosea Monarch, takes a tender seat as she flicks through Atmosea’s historical archive to marinate in the brilliant, bad and heinous moments that have put her to where she is now.
~ 2016 was a year of challenges - I was working from our shared house in Suffolk Park where I made an office out of the ramshackle garage, to explore the pattern making, sizing and fitting, that begun Atmosea. I worked two jobs to cover the cost of production, and life was just go.. go.. go! October was born and so was our firstrange. Inspired by the movie Life Aquatic, the beautiful figures of women everywhere and nature’s subconscious hues in pastel winter skies and transparent turquoise water were enjoyments and observations that transformed into a unique collection of wetsuits, with an intention to make women feel comfortable, free and capable of anything they desire.
2017 was, like anything, positive and negative, but we had a lot more fun and learnt more from experimenting with turning the negative into positive. I worked really hard to improve the fitting of the suits, and to produce better quality garments, motivated by the feedback from our friends and fans. This was also the year that we introduced our first swim range, completely emerging from the forces of freedom. I wanted them to be simple, but function in a complimentary and malleable way, channeling the inner tom-boy while embracing our sultry selves. We also wanted to approach the ideas of women being miss-represented in the media, as the current social media climate circulates around hairless, bronzed, and thin women, free from scars, bruises or cellulite which only ostracizes and alienates woman who compare themselves to this dominating narrative.
This swim wear range was to remind us that, yes, we can get confused and feel estranged from the flood of unrealistic and photo shopped imagery, that we found it important to share real stuff, free from filters and edits, so that we don’t feel like we are any less valuable with our hair, bumps and bruises. These make up our roadmap of where we’ve been and embody the marks that tell stories and diversify us, sameness is delusional and perfection is unrealistic. We want to make women feel great about themselves just as they are! (wetsuit look book).
2018 concluded to be a great year for Atmosea, and with gratitude, Atmosea has grown into a self-sustainable business. This year, we focused on sustainability, tackling the challenging entity of reducing the amount of plastic used during production, which ended in making us a plastic free business, as we replaced our plastic with cassava and corn starch. This, we are proud of and feel like we are giving back to our earth, rather than taking advantage of it.
Our new swimwear range ‘Be a Lover’, was introduced as a love letter to your body, inviting you to thank it and clothe it in pretty, thankful joy. These new suits represent a special kind of love for us at Atmosea, they reminded us of the power of sisterhood and how it needs to be shared. We will always hold the banner high for sister empowerment, wanting every lady ocean dweller to feel connected to a supportive and welcoming community.
Our new wetsuit range, Blue Dreams, took on a whole other level of comfort and passion, with fits that hosted the capability of adapting to all different body types, with a softer feel and a flattery like no other, we couldn’t help but wear our creations with a slight ingredient of smug.
So, we thanked, we hustled, we cried, but we smiled so big even the clowns were threatened, growing into a wee Atmosea community where we have Cass (Sunshine and the Eccentrics) our sales agent, Daini our content wiz, Pete (My husband) contributing photos, videos, website wonders & my right-hand man on board. Plus, all the ambassadors - the faces of Atmosea, artists and friends that are constantly helping out to build this amazing wealth of love.
Our content is aimed at positivism, bringing you up, informing and reminding you of the importance of difference and celebration of, with a little help from our ocean appreciation suits. Our word wizard, Daini, has helped to build our voice and communicate what it means to be a woman, who loves the ocean, today.
Yes, we are still learning, as hiccups become our very best-friend. This year, because of pure experience, we ordered too little of stock, because we just didn’t expect you guys to love it with so much enthusiasm, so we are running very low but we have re-ordered more and it will be here at the end of March. Don’t give up, that sold-out piece will be back!
2019 is here, and boy are we excited and appreciative. We’ve got loads of ideas brewing and things ‘cooking’ as we speak, with the aim to manufacture our products from recycled materials. We also have our very first artist resident coming all the way over from Europe, Filippa Edgehill, who will be staying with us for a month and hosting an art show at Yeah, Nice gallery in Mullumbimby this Saturday the 19th. Amongst many surf trips, adventures and fun to be had, 2019 is suiting up to be successfully colourful and busy.
With the generation and contemplation of our next range, we invite you to be involved as you are the ones that propel us into a successful and empowering brand, let us know your favourite styles, colours, ideas – we want it all!
AND finally, THANK YOU – from the bottom of our very chuffed hearts, appreciation is at its highest. There are ups and there are downs, but we are all in it together.
Written by Daini Stephenson