Peace by piece: mindful puzzles with Okay Lady
Okay Lady Night Dancer mindful puzzle, with artwork by local artist Alice Lindstrom.
When you think of self-care, me-time, chilling out and mindfulness does a jigsaw puzzle come to mind? Though I grew up with a puzzle-fan for a Mum, I can’t say I’d ever pieced-together the therapeutic side to puzzles.
But when I saw the beautiful, artist-print puzzles by Okay Lady, I knew the concept was beyond brilliant. Not only would doing a puzzle require patience and the often much-needed time-out, but your finished product would become a work of art - by a local female artist no less - making puzzles cool again.
I caught up with Anthea from the Okay Lady girl-power team to find out where the simple-yet-amazing idea of beautiful mindfulness puzzles came about - and why they can be important tools in a busy life.
Where did the concept of Okay Lady begin? I can see there's a founder who loves puzzles and knows the value of me-time! What has been the timeline so far?
Head Lady Kristy came up with the Okay Lady concept, when she realised her love of puzzles was actually providing some space in her world to decompress and recharge her batteries. Her social life was incredibly hectic and was becoming a source of anxiety, so once she gave herself permission to say "no" to every single invite coming her way, she really embraced the idea of JOMO - the joy of missing out - and realised the benefits of staying home.
Using jigsaws as a mindfulness tool suddenly seemed so obvious and she wanted to share that with other women - but Kristy wanted her offerings to be beautiful and not a secret shame of a hobby!
After 12 months of hard work researching and sourcing local female artists, licensing their work and ensuring they were paid properly, plus putting together a team of like-minded females from contract lawyers to designers and social media manager, Okay Lady Puzzles launched into the market in March 2019.
Since then Okay Lady have been featured in frankie, The Age and had a huge debut at The Finders Keepers in July, appearing again in October.
Okay Lady with their stall at the Melbourne Finders Keepers event in July. Photo credit: Samee Lapham
Okay Lady at its core is about female empowerment, being "okay" with taking time for ourselves. Why do you think this messaging is so important today?
We're not just "okay" about self-care, we shout loud and proud that it's CRUCIAL in being able to lead a balanced and fulfilling life. Women in particular are shrouded in guilt when it comes to doing something for themselves - as if it is selfish and everyone else's needs MUST come before their own.
We think you need to put your own oxygen mask on BEFORE you can be a good friend, lover, daughter, employee, mother or any of the other eleventy billion hats we seem to wear on the daily.
OL is like your bossy bestie shouting from your IG account "you need to look after YOU Lady and we are giving you the permission to do so!"
What has the response been like from your customers and social media audience? I can imagine you have a growing fan-base of women who just love your messaging (like I do) - is it building into a community of more than just puzzle lovers?
We soft-launched Okay Lady in November 2018 - four months before we had the puzzles in stock - because we wanted to build a community of like-minded women. Sure, we sell jigsaws at the end of the day, but the idea that our social media could connect, encourage and empower women was just as important.
We also like to challenge the idea of self-care being so much more than a bubble bath - we aren't afraid to delve into uncomfortable waters to challenge the audiences' thinking when it comes to setting boundaries, saying "no" and being forthright in their ability to lean into their own needs.
The response has been phenomenal! The positivity in our comments section is a testament to Instagram having the ability for good, for support and for unity. Our IG fam is worldwide, connected and full of beautiful souls that spur us on each day to continuously create thoughtful messaging.
Having women share their stories or successes or fears, or send a message to say "I saw your post about getting a pap smear and I just booked mine" is so humbling and obviously so much bigger than a regular marketing plan.
The puzzles themselves are being received with much enthusiasm and are being adopted in the way Kristy has intended - so many women are taking a risk in buying one to try, being pleasantly surprised by the relaxation they are achieving and then becoming hardcore puzzlers! We LOVE saying "told you so".
The Her Best Friend mindful puzzle by Okay Lady. Super cute artwork by Queensland artist Sophie Beer.
What is next for Okay Lady - are there plans for other me-time products, or expanding that community into things like meet-ups & talks (I would also love that!)?
Right now we are gearing up for the retail silly season and making plans to increase the range of artworks in 2020.
We were lucky enough to win a space activation at the upcoming 9 to Thrive women's summit in Melbourne this November, so we are getting a chance to try out some ideas for events, which is an incredibly lucky opportunity and one we want to expand on in the new year.
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Check out Okay Lady’s range of adorable, colourful artwork puzzles online at www.okaylady.com.au and you can join their supportive community on Insta @okayladyau.
Okay Lady’s Australian female artists include: