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haul is an independent design brand based in Fitzroy, Melbourne
Australia.
Makers, merchants, madmen since 1998.
The LONGhaul.
It was late last century and Scott Kilmartin had returned from years living in the US and Europe running bars and flogging software, in debt and determined not to become another shark in a suit.
The parents had a garage that soon became a number plate punching workshop. The mother's seamstress skills meant ideas became samples, then bags. The pool room became an office and the father constructed a market stall. A little business called "Urban Boomerang", was born.
A journal became a range of number plate accessories. Rubber truck inner tubes morphed into bags. Markets evolved to trade fairs and retail sales. Urban Boomerang moved to Melbourne and old billboard vinyls entered the mix. In 2004 the business became haul.
Fast
forward a few years and haul is green, street, design, with a dose of art stirred in, using both found and recycled materials for installation art pieces and urban lifestyle
accessories. haul also makes product for organisations from their advertising billboards,
turning them into iPad cases, conference document satchels & messenger bags.
In 2008 haul was named the City of Melbourne Business of the Year.
Bigger but not big.
haul is still a family show. The mother still makes
rubber bags, the father still works the haul stall at Salamanca Market
and the brother collect number plates in WA. There are more haulers
these days and of course Gus who keeps us all relatively sane.
The landscape is a changing, words like twitter, facebook, foursquare, linkedin & tumblr are now part of the picture.
And the beat goes on...
In early 2012, another retail space: TOWNhaul will open in Melbourne's city laneways and more products
and materials are percolating away on the drawing board.
stay tuned...
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