AUDRA OSBORNE: HUSTLE HOME DECOR

 

Hustle Home Décor is based out of Portland, Oregon. It is owned and operated by boss babe, Audra Osborne. Audra works include handmade macramé items that come in many forms. From keychains to plant hangers, we are looking forward to welcoming Audra into the Daughters Market fam. When Audra isn’t creating, you can often find her rescuing her plants from her beloved cats as well as marching alongside women in passionately fueled demonstrations. Continue to read on to learn more about Audra.

 

Tell us a little about your personal story and how you got to where you are now? 

My story is kind of all over the place. Really! I’ve been living in Portland since 2011. I moved here right after I graduated from the Savannah College of Art and Design. I have a degree in photography. I wasn’t super sure of what I wanted to do outside of school. I didn’t want to do commercial photography or wedding photography. So, when I moved here, I got a job in a restaurant and I worked there for many years. In the meantime, I volunteered and interned with non-profit photography organizations around town. I’m still actually working for a non-profit organization at the moment. In 2015, I actually started another business called Party Cat Photobooth. That’s actually my main thing right now. It’s super fun as I get to be creative and I make all my prompts and backdrops by hand and get to use my degree a little bit. It’s really fun because everyone loves a photobooth. Whenever I’m at an event, people are just, you know, enjoying themselves and laughing. It’s really lovely and infectious.

I casually started macramé in 2017 because if sounded fun and I really like working with my hands. I kind of tend to get antsy when sitting still! It seemed like something I could do when I’m watching tv or something like that.


What inspired you to start your business? 

I was kind of an organic process. I named in Hustle Home Décor because it is my side hustle. I didn’t really anticipate making much money when I started it. I started an Instagram when I started macraméing just because I was really excited about what I was making, and I wanted to see if anyone else was. I was pretty quickly direct messaged by a few local stores about carrying my work. Thanks to hashtags, which is so crazy. It really grew from there and doing markets is what really actually took my business to the next level. Doing the Night Market and Crafty Wonderland and stuff like that. Those were really good for me not just in terms of sales but seeing that there was interest in what I was doing. That inspired me to keep going. So, it was kind of organic and I wasn’t expecting it, but I just followed the path it was taking and said yes to any opportunity that came my way. Which is also why I’m talking to you right now!


When did you become interested in macramé and how did you get into this wonderful craft? Are you self-taught? 

I started macraméing in January 2017 and the actual day I decided to do it was the day of the Women’s March. I got home from downtown and was feeling full of energy and inspiration. I really felt as if I wanted to do something with my hands and that that been on the docket of things to learn. So, I taught myself how to macramé with a glass of wine and some rope! I actually wanted to teach myself for a while how to macramé because I have cats and I really wanted more plants in my house, but I needed them to be out of cat reach.


For those of our readers who may not be familiar with your body of work, how would you describe it to them?
Macramé is a fiber art, created using rope and making knots with the rope. I think when most people think of macramé, they think of the 70’s but it’s actually been around for a really long time. For centuries actually. Weavers in the Middle East used to use it. Sailors on ships used to use it to pass the time. There’s definitely been a resurgence in the last couple of years. Nowadays most people use it as plant hangers or wall hangings to add a different texture to a space. My particular style of macramé is geometric as opposed to the organic kind. Clean lines, and some brass elements to bring in a more modern design. I also really like to use color as I got bored with just the natural white pretty quickly. So, I use a lot of pre dyed ropes and I also ombre and dip dye a lot of my pieces. I sometimes include different natural elements like wool roving or crystals to add a different texture or focus.


What do you love about being a business owner?

I love being able to own what I do. I really like to feel completely compassionate about what I’m doing and to know that when I’m working, I’m working to make my own dreams happen as opposed to someone else’s. There’re people who work for other people and totally love it and I just have a hard time staying in jobs like that because it doesn’t feel exciting to me. It’s super hard to be a business owner but it’s super exciting to just be creating your own thing. Your own piece of the pie.

“It’s super hard to be a business owner but it’s super exciting to just be creating your own thing. Your own piece of the pie.”


Can you pick three words that describe how you feel when you are being creative? 

Relaxed, excited and renewed. I definitely feel relaxed as it’s a form of therapy for me. When I’m feeling stuck or not in the right head space, I try to make something new and it makes me feel energized and renewed.


What are some of your favorite products you have created and why? 

My favorites are my little air plant hangers. The idea for those came out of necessity to keep the plants out of reach from the cats. They love their plants. I love them because they are fun and little. It’s not a huge design choice for someone if you were to give them as a gift. I’m pretty certain that they are completely unique to me. Its super hard to come up with something new design wise in a craft that’s been around forever. I hadn’t seen them out in the world until I started making them and putting them online. I’m pretty certain that they are my first original design that no one else has done before. But honestly, one of my favorite things about them is people’s reactions to them. At markets, people will gasp and run up to them and giggle. It’s just a really nice feeling to know that something I made can make someone feel that way.


If you didn't have to sleep, what would you do with the extra time?  

Gosh, I don’t know. Make more stuff? It would probably be nice to have more time to do the not so fun aspects of business. Like accounting and marketing and all the stuff I always tell myself I don’t have time because I’m making things. But it’s such a huge part of the business and making the business successful. I would also love to have more time to take classes, in business or other creative fields. I’ve always wanted to learn ceramics.


What advice do you have for other female-identified business owners?

I would say to keep doing the work. Like I’ve said, it’s so much work to make a business run. If you have an idea you are passionate about and it seems like other people might be into it, just keep working at it. It’s 100% a full time and over-time job but it’s so rewarding to make something of your own. Just keep working, don’t give up.


Who is inspirational to you at this time of your life?

My mama! She’s always my inspiration. She’s an artist too but I also feel like we are the same person. She’s just such a hard worker and she is currently living on an island right now. She’s in Puerto Rice on a small island, Vieques. She’s working all the time, but she makes time to make paint for people, do murals and swim at the beach all year round.

 

Shop the Hustle Home Decor collection on Daughters Market!