Helen Duckham was a legal nerd, too qualified to succumb to the pressures of daily corporate demands and dreamt of having everything. With her similarly frustrated friend, award winning florist, Pip Graham she launched Pipduck in 2006.
Pipduck's quest is to scan the world for the epitome of the most unnecessary and frivolous must have of the developed world…They became the first and now the largest distributor of designer wellies in Australia and New Zealand.
Helen lives with her partner, Daryl, a registered nurse and has a 2 yr old daughter, Astrid. She is currently 38 weeks pregnant, expecting her second child.
She runs her own company, Pipduck, importing, designing and manufacturing designer wellies…
Helen Duckham
C4K: Give us a little bit of insight into your life and how you got into designer wellies!
HD: I'm lucky in that I can do my office work from home and I have a warehouse where I store stock. I travel to Melbourne for trade fairs twice a year, but I live in Sydney where the the other major trade fairs are held which is much more convenient.
I came up with the idea of Pipduck through necessity. I wanted to earn a reasonable income, while enjoying time at home with my children and being a stay at home mum. I have a thing for shoes and boots and I saw these amazing designer boots in Europe and began importing them into Australia from a number of designers like Tamara Henriques. Soon after I worked out how to go about manufacturing and designing my own, and began that stage of my business. It's been growing ever since.
C4K: When did you go back to work after having Astrid?
HD: I haven't stopped working really. I continue to run the business even from the hospital bed! but I do have people who work for me, so often my work during busy family life revolves around taking phone calls and managing.
C4K: What were your main motivations to return to work/study and what was the hardest thing about it?
HD: I had no choice really. When it's your own small business and you're at the heart of it, you really have to keep going in order to keep the business viable. And financially, my partner and our family depend on the income I generate.
C4K: Who looks after your daughter when you're working?
HD: It varies really, but mostly Daryl, will look after her. Otherwise I pay for one on one care at our home. I live away from my family, but when I have big events scheduled and I have to be away, my mum or sister will travel to us to help look after Astrid.
C4K: Daryl seems to be pretty useful!
HD: Yes! He helps out a lot, and is very good at domestic duties and takes a good deal of responsibility for that side of things. I employ people to help out wherever possible and I have a cleaner, a book-keeper, packer and sales assistants so I don't get too overloaded.
C4K: Does Astrid go to any form of child care – for social reasons if not for your work?
HD: I haven't started Astrid at child care yet, but I will send her when she is at least 3 – mainly for social interaction and developmental reasons. I think it's important that she learns to adapt to a different environment, a different approach to play and learning by adults that she's not used to. It's also important for her to interact with other children and make new friends.
C4K: What will you look for in your child care arrangement?
HD: Mainly I think it will be a loving, nurturing and attentive environment that will allow Astrid to feel secure. I need to start thinking about the sort of child care service that will offer that. At the moment I'm with Astrid most of the time, or she's with other family members so she receives consistent care from people she knows, so I want to maintain that sort of security but within an environment where she can also grow socially and expand her horizons a bit.
I'll definitely be taking a look at my local options on careforkids.com.au!
Helen is very kindly offering our readers a chance to win a pair of her fab new range of boots, worth $139.
Click here to enter and tell us what you think about the Child Care Rebate frequency. Don't forget to have a look at the new range on Pipduck.com.au and let us know which design you'd like from the Pipduck range (excludes Tamara Henriques) and your shoe size (european 36-41).
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