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Hey Jude's founder on her dream job
Hey Jude is a Melbourne-based Vintage furniture store with a difference. We spoke to founder, Sarah Franzi, on her love for secondhand-goods and her behind the scenes sustainability practices.
Great Wrap: Hey Sarah, we love what you're doing over at Hey Jude Workshop, can you tell us a bit about your story and why you started? 
Sarah: Hey Jude was born from a love of vintage furniture but also represents so much more for me! As a new mum 6 years ago, I had walked away from a 10 year career in the wine industry and spent my days pushing my son around Melbourne, contemplating my next move. And as I gave thought to the somewhat confronting future of the world that lay ahead for my kid it occurred to me that I could do this thing I loved while also fuelling the activist in me.
The statistics behind ‘fast furniture’ and waste are horrifying and if I could help make a difference, no matter how small, then that was something I wanted to do. And so I started this little ‘thing’ on instagram, working out of my spare room. Eventually having to buy a bigger car. And then a van. Creating a website. To then building myself a studio on our property. It’s still just me at Hey Jude, but this is now my full-time job and it’s truly a dream come true.
Great Wrap: Fast furniture really is a huge problem! We love the views on your sustainability page, can you talk about your plastic-free supply chain?
Sarah: From the start I’ve always sent my parcels in reused cardboard boxes. I am the box scavenger. There’s no pretty parcels around here. But I couldn’t then use plastic sticky tape, so I had printed my custom water activated paper tape, which jazzes up my boxes and provides a little branding. I use a good old-fashioned stamp instead of ‘Fragile’ tape. And all wrapping/box fill is either reused, recycled and/or recyclable. In essence, my parcels are sent completely plastic-free. And all my packaging can be composted or recycled. Which is pretty cool!
As I grew big enough to start freighting furniture around the country, my dilemma lay with the requirement of my interstate carrier that my pieces were wrapped for transit. I tried using my paper hex wrap, but it didn’t quite provide adequate protection and ripped too easily. So for a while, with no other alternative, I did use traditional plastic pallet wrap but it always felt wrong. And I didn’t know what to tell my customers as I had been so proud of my compostable/recyclable packing materials. And then along came Great Wrap and it was the final piece of the puzzle. Made from compostable materials and made in Australia, it was an absolute no-brainer!
As I grew big enough to start freighting furniture around the country, my dilemma lay with the requirement of my interstate carrier that my pieces were wrapped for transit. I tried using my paper hex wrap, but it didn’t quite provide adequate protection and ripped too easily. So for a while, with no other alternative, I did use traditional plastic pallet wrap but it always felt wrong. And I didn’t know what to tell my customers as I had been so proud of my compostable/recyclable packing materials. And then along came Great Wrap and it was the final piece of the puzzle. Made from compostable materials and made in Australia, it was an absolute no-brainer!
Great Wrap: We're very proud to be one of the suppliers you're using at Hey Jude Workshop, how has the transition to Great Wrap been for you?
It has been a seamless transition to Great Wrap. It performs just as well as any plastic wrap I tried and it’s delivered directly to my studio. Easy peasy!
Sarah: As a small business owner in an increasingly challenging world, I strongly believe that it’s so important to support other local, independent businesses so for me it just feels good to be using Great Wrap.
Shop from the Hey Jude Workshop online store or follow them on Instagram.
