ABOUT

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About

The fabulously quirky Mount Vic and Me® was established in 2013 by designer Kara Cooper in the historic village of Mount Victoria, high up in the Blue Mountains, west of Sydney.

Kara’s collection of art tea towels, t-shirts, socks, greeting cards, sneakers, skirts, mugs, cushions, upholstered vintage chairs, wallpaper and fabrics are created in a fabulous 100-year-old café on the highway in Mount Vic. The studio is a mash of colour, textures, retro fun and nostalgia.

A lot of Mount Vic and Me’s products including art tea towels, greeting cards, brooches, skirts and socks have the Australian Made campaign’s tick of approval. Political themes are designed to amuse fans of Kara’s work, and her unique Australiana designs look fabulous splashed across cushions and upholstered retro chairs.

You’ll also find an eclectic mix of other designers that work beautifully with Mount Vic and Me, sometimes vintage and sometimes new.

A ‘working studio’…

With Kara busy designing the range and helping Kym packaging the products and distribute orders across Australia, keeping a good work/life balance is important. That’s why the studio is not always open to the public.

Kara takes advantage of the magical Blue Mountains surrounds by taking bushwalks, hanging out with the kids, weeding her veggie patch and tending to her chooks.

To hear about open days in the studio, check out our homepage and social media pages for upcoming open dates.

If you have stopped by and see that we are not open, but can see the team working inside on online orders, you can knock to see if you can come in and browse. But please do not be offended if we refuse entry – we are probably busy getting orders out the door!

Kara Cooper

Designer and director

Kara

Kara completed her Graphic Design education in the early 90’s (pre-computers!) and has worked across Australia for design agencies in Sydney, Darwin, Alice Springs and Brisbane.

Kara’s love of vintage textiles started at a young age as her mother ran a 2nd hand clothing business. 1950’s frocks, hat boxes and hawaiian shirts still inspire her design work today. Kara worked as a teenager for Sheridan store, David Jones where she discovered the fabulous joy of 1980’s-1990’s bed linen.

The beauty of the Blue Mountains has always inspired Kara as a child with so many happy memories. She and her husband and kids moved to the quaint village of Mount Victoria in 2012 after living in the Mountains for many years.

Kym Wilkinson

Customer service and despatch

Kym

Kym oversees the packing of orders each day, chatting to our awesome retail and wholesale customers, our stock control (no one loves counting up stock!) and organises our cake days… She writes out long customer notes in each order and LOVES to hear back from you guys.

The studio usually has The Cure playing when Kym takes over.

When the studio is open, you’ll usually find Kym is the first to open the doors in her retro dresses and a fun brooch on. (Kara is trying to convince her to start an insta profile featuring her fun jewellery and dresses!).

Julie Denis

Packing and despatch

Julie

Julie is our casual dispatch/packing extraordinaire.

She loves packing up orders for all our lovely customers, tidying when we make big messes and rearranging the shop area when we have open days.

When Julie isn’t working she loves holidaying in her caravan around NSW and wishes she could do it more!

Brett Williams

Web development

Brett

Brett is the one working on the back end stuff on Mount Vic and Me’s website. He loves solving all things technical and keeping on top of it all. Updates, themes, better ways of working and searching for plug-ins to make life easier! Originally neighbours, Brett has worked with Kara on design projects for many years.

Brett’s other life includes his love of guitars, family time and playing gigs across Australia with The Choirboys.
We acknowledge the traditional custodians of country throughout Australia and their continuing connection to land, sea and community.
We pay our respects to them and their cultures and to their elders both past, present and emerging and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.
We are a proudly inclusive company and an ally of LGBTIQ+ community and the movement toward equality.