Mara Harding: Mara Designs Revisited
On today’s episode of the Woodpreneur Podcast, we re-visit a favorite from our last season of the podcast, our sit down with Mara Harding.
Mara began her journey into the wood industry when she was 41. When her children began to reach the double-digit ages, she began to wonder what her purpose was on the planet. At the time, she owned and ran an advertising agency, and while she had several big clients she felt that it was not her calling, so she shut the agency down at the age of 40 to begin her new journey.
After shutting down the business Mara took about four months to decide what she wanted to, and she had an opportunity to create some Christmas designs out of wood, which led to her “aha moment.” This revelation caused her some issues as she had no training, no passport, no experience, and no access to mentors in Jamaica that could teach her woodworking.
Beginning the Journey
Mara mentions that she started her education in woodworking with a lot of YouTube videos, and it began to flow from there. She called a contractor friend who had recently cleared a large tree for a project, hired some guys with saws to cut it into pieces, and then used that one tree to create her first several pieces. Mara began by making simple floating shelves, and each time she sold out of pieces, she used the money to buy equipment like a saw, and more trees for materials.
One day she was overseeing a project where a tiler was using an angle grinder to cut the tiles out of a bathroom, and she realized that kind of tool must work on wood as well. Mara then went to YouTube, researched it, bought one through Amazon, and then started practicing with it.
When she started out, Mara was working underneath a tree in her front yard, and now has a two acre property with three 40 foot containers, yet she only sources wood from rescued trees. Since her first tree was rescued from a contracting site, she started reaching out to other contractors, farmers, and government agencies, and continued using these rescued trees as her only source of wood. Mara is proud that she never cuts a tree down that isn’t being rescued, which has earned her the nicknames Tree Whisperer and Tree Boss.
Becoming a Woodpreneur
When Mara began her journey in the wood industry, nobody was doing live edge furniture in Jamaica at the time, it was an entirely new concept. She went on to create a resin studio, which nobody was working on at the time either. Her advertising and marketing background gave her the idea to stamp every one of her products, to ensure that her branding was perfect.
To do that, she launched her products with 100 pieces in various forms, including everything from charcuterie boards, chandeliers, wall sconces, benches, and any kind of item that her customers would like. She then invited people from all over Jamaica, and spoke to a news team to get a feature that they ran on Sunday two days after everyone received their invitations.
Then Mara contacted Samsung and got a sponsorship, which allowed her to place sign-in tablets at the entrance to the product launch, and combined it with an incredible video showcasing her journey that played over wireless noise-cancelling headphones to attendees. She adds that after all the presentations were finished, she sold every single one of her 100 items.
Mara mentions that some people did not believe that she could keep up the pace she set, and she delights in proving them wrong! Covid-19 had an enormous effect on her business, and she became incredibly busy with commissioned work until she found herself getting burnt out on it at the start of 2021 when she closed commissions. Currently, she’s focusing on the roots of her business, by letting the trees that come to her dictate what they become, which allows her to work more fluidly.
Steve notes that Mara’s successful launch created a community around herself that allows her to invite sales rather than forcing them. She’s bringing her customers along for the ride with her as she travels along her personal journey.
Developing Her Business
When asked what challenges she faces, and whether she is alone in her work at this point, Mara notes that she has developed a team to handle what she calls the heavy lifting, which is made up of primarily grinding, fumigating, sanding, and other preparatory tasks. She adds that she does an enormous amount of work with electric hand tools, especially chainsaws, and has recently hired a sawyer that allows her to stand back and create and dictate the carving while he handles the actual sawing. This process allows Mara to stand back, move around the piece, and get a more cohesive look at what she is building.
She explains that the biggest challenge she faces is the tedious process of doing everything with hand tools. However, the advantage of this approach is that every piece is done by hand which ensures that they are completed to the standard that she sets and believes in. Mara goes on to say that her lack of official training also creates some advantages and disadvantages in that she can’t always go step-by-step the way that a trained woodworker might, but it also gives her full creative freedom in a way that official education might stifle.
Mara explains that she has been getting very interested in lighting, and that she has spectacular chandelier designs in her head that she hopes to make a reality, but is hampered by the lack of lighting component companies in Jamaica. A big goal of hers is to become the most renowned Jamaican Woodpreneur, in the same way that Usain Bolt or Bob Marley are famous around the world for their work.
Steve’s Advice Corner
When prompted by Steve about what advice he could offer her, Mara mentions that her primary challenge is to learn more about the possibilities that different lighting components could add to her work. She states that she gets an enormous number of lighting requests, and she would love to learn more about the options available to her, to let her imagination run wild when designing pieces.
Steve recommends that she create a pitch deck based on a list of lighting companies around the world, and reach out to them with her branding and see if she can create a deal to provide her with new opportunities in that medium. He also suggests bringing kilns into Jamaica since nobody on the island has that service running, but Mara explains that they considered that option already, but the prohibitively high energy costs of the country means that running a kiln would not be profitable for her.
Mara notes that she has an incredible problem where she doesn’t bother to run a website or a showroom with her products because her items sell out almost as quickly as she lists them. Since she is a one-person operation, she has to do everything herself. Steve acknowledges that, but suggests that running a website would be beneficial for a mailing list so that she is not entirely reliant on someone else’s platform.
Now that she isn’t doing commissions, having the ability to showcase her collections through her website and a mailing list will ensure that she can sell out as she develops her ongoing projects. When asked about advice, Mara suggests that especially with Covid-19 going on, to work from your heart, feed your soul, be happy, and enjoy the process. Being a Woodpreneur is a blessing in her eyes, and she advises people to remember that they are extremely blessed to be doing what they are doing, especially when times are hard.
Personal Journey Instagram: @mara.harding
Finished Products Instagram: @maramadedesigns