WILLOW BY THE SEA

We recently came across this gorgeous baby product while scrolling through Instagram. The design of the packaging, featuring a super cute beach scene illustration is what caught the eye. With a little more digging, the fact their products are 100% organic made us love them even more. Willow by the Sea was founded by husband and wife duo, Corin and Luke Ryan, after they realised most ‘organic’ and ‘natural’ baby products had added nasties. This, along with their decision to move back to Newcastle, Australia from New York after their first daughter Willow was born so she could grow up with the ocean breeze was their inspiration behind the products. 

When asked, what’s the best and worst thing about working with family, Luke says, “The best thing is getting to spend time together and getting to see all the little things you would most likely miss if you were at ‘the office’ all day, like Willow learning to walk, or beginning to speak, or simply laughing at something ridiculous. These little moments are the memories I will have in 20 years from now and a major reason I wanted to create this company. It’s also knowing that we are creating a future that directly impacts our family which is really rewarding, hopefully something Willow and Indie can inherit some day. The worst thing, could possibly be discussing work a little too much and understanding a midnight meeting about the latest packaging probably doesn’t need to happen!”

Luke goes on to add that the biggest lessons learnt as a family business include “patience and diplomacy toward each others thoughts and recommendations. In my previous role working as a Marketing Director for a large corporate company, you can be quite candid in feedback and pushing things forward. The same approach doesn’t really work with your wife unless you want to be sleeping on the couch for a couple of weeks.” Fair enough. 

Made from 100% organic botanicals, waxes and oils, specifically designed to be gentle, safe, and free of any nasties, Willow by the Sea delivers balms, oils, butters and bath teas which mums can use with peace of mind and which babies like too. 

We further question Luke about his advice for others in family businesses. He says, “My advice is (to) find what will ultimately make you happy and really go after it. We can either make our own dreams come true or let someone pay us to make their dreams come true. We wanted a life where we could spend more time together as a family and create something that was truly good for people. It’s been amazing getting to wake up each morning (without an alarm) and love what you do each day and we hope that comes across in the products we create.”