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FEATURE: MADE BY HARLS
MADE BY HARLS
WORDS BY: HARLS / PHOTOS BY: MADE BY HARLS
FROM KERSEY PADS TO A CULT FOLLOWING: HOW ONE WEEKEND WARRIOR BUILT A BOUTIQUE BRAND
By all accounts, life on WH Pastoral in Manilla, NSW, is busy enough. Between juggling the roles of wife, mum, friend, colleague, small-business owner and selfconfessed“ weekend-warrior” campdrafter, Harls has never been one to shy away from a full plate. But add to that a thriving handmade saddle-pad business and you begin to understand the quiet determination behind the brand Made By Harls.
For Harls, horses, campdrafting and all things handmade have always been intertwined. So when she stitched together her first six kersey saddle pads and casually popped them on Facebook, she never expected what happened next— they sold out in 20 minutes.
What began as a simple creative outlet quickly snowballed into a stream of custom requests, each order requiring hours of design work, supplier coordination, deadlines and postage logistics.
Nights and weekends disappeared into the craft she loved. It was fulfilling— yet relentless.“ I adore creating fully custom items. But at the end of the day, I’ m also a wife, a mum, a friend, and I love my drafting.”
A Creative Legacy
Sewing is in Harls’ blood, though she laughs when admitting she didn’ t always appreciate the skill. Her mum ran a boutique seamstress business, and like many teenagers, her 15-year-old self resisted the lessons.
“ It’ s amazing how we tend to veer back to what we know,” she reflects. And eventually, she did.
Australian Quarter Horse Association- www. aqha. com. au