Meet Fay Kalinak, the creative force behind Graced Goods, a calligraphy and illustration business that transforms special moments into works of art. What started as a personal passion has blossomed into a thriving creative studio where Fay uses live artistry to bring beauty and meaning to weddings, corporate events and custom projects.
From mastering the delicate strokes of calligraphy to navigating the realities of running a small business, Fay has turned her artistic talents into something truly special. In this exclusive interview, she shares her journey from hobby to business, how she attracts new customers, the challenges she’s overcome and her best advice for aspiring creative entrepreneurs. Let’s meet this local legend!
Tell us about Graced Goods. How did it get started and how did your brand come to life?
Graced Goods is a creative studio that specialises in live and studio calligraphy, engraving and illustration. I basically take my skills to events and I surprise and delight people that come to these events with personalisation. Whether it’s engraving on something like a perfume or a product launch or whether I’m coming to a wedding and sketching a hundred guests, the idea behind Graced Goods is to come, surprise and delight.
I started Graced Goods after a career in preschool teaching. I did that for about 15 years and when that ended, I guess this is the time to pursue my creative dreams. When I built the brand, I knew I wanted it to be about creating an environment where people felt really good and really valued. I started with the foundation of knowing that for me it’s not about the end dollar sum, it’s about what can I do to really bring something special to my clients like weddings or events. It’s about capturing that feeling.
How are you putting your business out there and new customers finding you?
I’m putting my business out there online a lot. I think in this day and age, social media is a really big part of how I’m growing my business and how new customers are finding me. And then also word of mouth referrals are a really strong marketing effort for me, and I’m glad to say that most of my clients are really happy to refer me along.
For offline promotion, my go-to products are definitely the flyers and brochures. I take them to all the expos and events that I do, and it’s just a really great jumping off point for people to get to know my services and how they can work with me.
What kinds of things have you had to face and overcome while running the business?
I think the two main challenges that I’ve had to overcome were one: building up a strong network; and two: just learning where to allocate my funding at different stages of the business. I think with building up a network, it was tricky because I came into events not knowing anyone, so getting my foot in the door at first felt really slow and really difficult. But a big mindset shift I had came when a friend said to me, instead of thinking about networking as sort of an icky business thing you need to do, think about it as going out and making friends wherever you go. And that’s really, really helped me so much to just think about wherever I go today, I’m going to be on a mission to make some new friends, and that’s really helped me to grow such a strong and beautiful network of clients and other people who support the business.
What’s your advice for someone looking to turn a creative passion into a profession and a business?
My biggest advice for anyone looking to grow a creative business is to not give up. Keep pushing forward even when you think nothing is happening, it takes a bit of time to transition from creating for yourself as a hobby to creating for others as a business and bringing other people into your world.
I know there’s been times when I’ve just thought, where is my next job going to come from? Is this business going to be viable? But I promise if you keep putting yourself out there and if you keep showing up, don’t stop. You will get there.
VistaPrint believes in supporting businesses just like Graced Goods. As a customer of VistaPrint, what are your favourite products and how do you use them?
VistaPrint has been amazing at helping me create lots of beautiful branded merchandise that helps me put my business in front of people. Just to name a few, my flyers and business cards that I’m handing out when I’m talking to new people, a pop-up display that I’m taking to expos; it’s so big, so bold, so eye-catching and it really draws people in.
My other favourites are my branded apron that I get to wear and show off my brand, and my thank you cards. I send them out with all of my products and items that I’m creating for my clients. It’s just a really beautiful way to wrap up the experience.
Got a creative passion you’re ready to turn into a business? VistaPrint is here to help you bring it to life with custom marketing tools designed to make an impact.
Discover everything from branded apparel to marketing essentials created to help small businesses like yours shine. For more tips and inspiration, follow us on Instagram @vistaprintaustralia and meet more Aussie #LocalLegends on our YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/@vistaprintau.
