Maybe it was growing up on Sydney’s Long Reef Beach. Maybe it was watching too much Gilligan’s Island. But us Aussies live on the world’s largest island (unofficially). Our home is girt by sea – as we sing in our national anthem. And 85% of our population lives within 50km of the coast. We are the Saltwater People.
I’m Mandy Urquhart and My Island Home is my summer love child. It was inspired by life on the coast, the beach, and the easy-breezy Sydney summer…
It’s a little bit “chilled-out beach chic” and a little bit “relaxed resort holiday”. We prefer things to be hand-made of natural materials by craftspeople and artisans. We started slow and small in 2001 and that’s the way we like it.
The original My Island Home was a little tropical homewares store located in Sydney’s fashionable Double Bay. Over the 16 years there, we also started selling what we called resortwear - clothes you can wear with flats to the beach, or dress up with jewels and accessories and hit the town.
In 2003 we were one of the first online retailers in Australia. We’ve featured in many Australian and international fashion and style mags. From Coastal Style and Amex’s Departures mag for Platinum card members in the US, to Vogue, Elle, Marie Claire, Harpers Bazaar and the good ol’ Womens Weekly in Australia. We’ve sold to international rock stars and fashion icons, local movie stars and the odd princess! You could say we know the ropes.
Since moving online-only in 2017, we no longer sell hard-to-ship homewares. It’s all about fashion, jewels, and accessories now. And they’re lovingly made in small quantities by small, generally female-run companies like ours. We’re not a big operation. We’re happy hanging out, on island-time, enjoying the sun, sand and surf. Welcome to our happy island home.
