Perfect timing for Arlo & Co

Making the most out of what you have, such as a hobby and a home-made laser cutter, has helped Arlo & Co fill a gap for personalised artisan gifts.

Gemma Holt started Arlo & Co after posting a picture to Instagram of a cake topper she'd made for her daughter's birthday. Source: SBS

For Gemma Holt, business first started as a hobby that’s helped her tap into the 25 per cent of all national online retail sales coming from Victoria.

But when it grew into something much bigger, she knew she was onto a good thing.

Arlo & Co, based in Melbourne, specialises in personalised and meaningful gifts that range from name plaques and key tags to prints on birchwood panels and stone.

About 15 per cent of their exports are to the US and Europe and, the business has used social media as a core marketing strategy to leverage that.

Gemma's husband was an industrial designer so his expertise has helped in scaling the business. (Supplied.) Source: Supplied

Ironically, it was how she found traction with inquiries to a cake topper she’d made and posted for her daughter’s birthday.

It didn’t take long until she thought of creating things for others.

 “I wanted to think of a way to supplement my grocery bill, and use a bit of creativity, and maybe avoid going back to the nine to five if possible,” she said.

“In the beginning, we used a machine that my father had built as a hobby – a really basic laser-cutting machine, that was sitting in his workshop untouched.

Making keyrings is also popular for the business. (Supplied.) Source: Supplied

“I said, ‘come on Dad, teach me how to use this machine, I'm sure we can make some cool stuff with this’.”

A month later, in preparation for Christmas, Arlo & Co took off.

She said it got busy very quickly, then her husband joined before they realised they were onto something and she wouldn’t be returning to her job as a teacher.

Gemma did all of this while raising two children under the age of two.

The business does name plaques for nurseries, birthday and wedding signage for events and photographs on birchwood panels and on stone. (Supplied.) Source: Supplied

“My 8 week old was a bit of a cruel baby, she didn't sleep at all, but I guess if I was up at 2am, I might as well be posting on Instagram, or planning the next product, so it's a bit of a blur, that first year,” she said.

In the first year, the business grew by 350 per cent and more than 100 per cent over the past two years.

Though she wasn’t prepared for the rapid growth of her “hobby”, there are no regrets about taking it all on, and bringing it to a business with a team of 12 staff today.

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