As I entered Echa's home I am greeted with a warm welcoming hug from a bright bubbly self assured woman who knows who she is as a person and what she is about. With her baby Kyson on her hip and a beaming smile on her face we walk through to her living area where we sit down for a catch up.
"I just cant wait to show you!" Echa exclaims as my toddler tottles off to join Kyson with his toys. Echa leads me to her new workroom where her brand new sewing machine her partner Josh purchased for her sits proudly perched by the window , various gorgeous materials fill the room bright and bold ready to be creatively crafted into clothing masterpieces.
I run my hands over the materials, such beautiful quality and I pick up an item which has been lovingly worked on by Echa. The workmanship is flawless, the stitching neat and of high quality. You can tell this is her passion. She oozes enthusiasm and drive, her eyes sparkling as she shares with me. "Most of those I have sold", she says excitedly.
We lay all her creations out on the dinning room table to marvel over the delicate details, the tiny pom poms, the matching bows for the mums. Only a few weeks ago this was all a dream and now it is her reality.
I began to ask Echa how this all began for her, why did she decide to create clothing for children, and adults alike. "Well", Echa began, "I guess it started when I was a young girl. My mother used to put me into modelling competitions and I was a shy girl. So my mother sent me to classes to learn how to gain confidence to speak in front of others. I would go to various events and I would spend hours drawing costume ideas of dresses I wanted to wear for these events. I would show my mother and she would make them for me. I do not know if you know but as a teenager at Highschool I had a freelance job - a side job to make extra money I was a promotional model for businesses doing photo shoots, not a catwalk model just a photography model".
"So designing began at a young age for you then, a childhood dream", I stated.
"Yes" replied Echa,
" I learned to sew by watching my mother, I would just sit and observe her, I was not allowed to touch the sewing machine, but I would watch how she did things."
"Where did your mum learn to sew? " I enquired.
"My mother did a 2 year course learning how to create various things using sewing machine. My mum can create full on wedding dresses she is so clever." Echa shares.
"When you began your venture you started by hand sewing the clothing before you got your sewing machine? that is impressive. "
"Yes, I did. I knew I wanted to do it, it is my hobby, my passion. I didn't really care if I didn't make money from it I just wanted to see what was possible and to do what makes me happy. When I was growing up my mum made us kids learn to appreciate the things we have. You can't always go and buy new clothes, so when my school uniform would get a hole in it I would hand sew it myself to mend it. There was no throwing things out unless they were beyond repair. That is also how I learned to handsew, it also taught me to appreciate what I had and look after my things. It made me have gratitude for what we had not worry about what we didn't have. We were not poor , but we were not rich either, we were an average family, we were not spoiled , its not like today where you can just go buy a new one to replace the old. Instead we fixed things. I want to teach that to Kyson. To appreciate what we have in this life. I would even sew my own socks, even socks was the cheapest but its not because we cant afford but its to learn how to appreciate things we have. Get new stuff only on birthday or occasionally if we really needed them. "
"You have a lot of passion, its so wonderful to see. Starting up your own business is no easy feat and here you are doing it, you should be so proud." I stated.
"My partner Josh is very proud of me, he is making me my own area where I can have my business. He says I can paint the walls any colour I want because you know me, I like colours! , He is making me a special rack to hang my creations and is buying me a workbench too. "
"He sounds so supportive and loving towards you. Its wonderful" I said.
"He is", Echa said smiling.
"Echa looking around your sewing room there are no patterns you follow, how do you get the designs for your clothes? "
" I create them from my own imagination and creativity. I draw them up myself. I take things into consideration using little bit of extra fabric incase they shrink in the wash. So I make sure I am getting it right. You know we go to school and we are told how to do things and we do them , how boring! , Clever is not enough, you need to be a little crazy, a bit out of the box creative - a touch of crazy!" Echa said laughing.
I looked at her gobsmacked and impressed, here was this couragous woman sewing her own designs she had created in her head and here they were manifested in front of her out of pure passion and will power. Her can do attitude was inspiring.
"Are you ever worried someone will copy your designs?" I asked.
"Oh no! " said Echa, "They couldn't do that because I am unique and they do not know what is going on in my mind when I am creating. They could try, but they are not me, so no I am not worried." Her self assured confidence was amazing.
"The fabric you use is beautiful, Is it all from Indonesia?"
"No not all of it. But I buy good quality materials, I want my clothes to be of high quality, but I sell them at reasonable prices because I want people to buy them. To me this is more than a business it is a hobby. I've started out small and already I have a lot of orders in for Christmas. I have adults see my designs on children's clothes and have asked me to create them in adult sizes. I like adult style clothes but for children. Like boutique style. "
"How did you come up with the name the Cultured Bubba. I know you leaned towards Kyllection for a while as it had Kyson's name in it, so how did you choose?"
"Well I decided not to use Kyllection because Kylie Jenner has a range out and people put #kyllection and I didnt want to be seen to copy that. I went with The Cultured Bubba because the main reason I began making clothes was for my son Kyson. I wanted him to know his Indonesian Culture. The motif of the fabric and the style its Indonesian. We call it Batik. It is like a cultural identity. I want Kyson to be proud to wear his culture on him, not embarrassed. I want him to embrace the Indonesian side of who he is."
"That is really beautiful Echa, I am sure he is so proud of his Mumma too. Thank you for the interview today. I am so excited to see where this business venture goes. I can see this becoming quite big."
"I have had some adversity, but I hold my head up high. I stay positive, I have no room for negativity in my life. I know some people wont understand how special the fabrics are, and how important it is for me to be self expressive about my Indonesian culture, but I do and that is what counts."
"All successful business woman face some sort of adversity. It is about overcoming it and rising above and it sounds like you are already doing that so go you, you are amazing! "
"Who knows one day I may need to hire staff if I get really big. At the moment I have not created a website yet as I am just keeping it to a small community but when I am ready I will go bigger. "
"Have you considered selling your clothing at the local markets?"
" Yes that is definitely something I will look into, thank you so much for all your support."
"What are bestfriends for hey! Thank you for allowing me to interview you today! I am very proud of you! "
Echa had a special surprise for me, she had made a t-shirt for my son Jordan with a matching bow for me. See below ,
Here are some of the creations made by Echa from The Cultured Bubba.
Please if you would like to see more gorgeous lovingly made products from Echa or want to make any orders or purchases please ask to join her Facebook closed group called
"The Cultured Bubba" !
The cultured bubba fab. Jordan you and mummy look beautiful and very cool indeed. Love Nana. X