IN THE SPOTLIGHT: LUXEY CUP
We are Luxey Cups biggest fans, and not just because they support our caffeine addiction. Thanks to their stylish & fun multipurpose reusable cups, our family alone could be saving up to 800 coffee cups a year from hitting our landfills. Here's our virtual coffee catch up with Sandra-Lea, Co-Founder of Luxey Cup, wife to Co-founder Andy and mom of 2.
Tell us a bit about Luxey Cup. Where did your initial inspiration come from?
Luxey Cup is a super cool, super sexy reusable cup that is really simple but does the job. The inspiration didn't really come from anywhere apart from a desire to do something really great and good. Andy (my partner) and I would just always talk about what we "could" do and one day I called him while he was at work and said why don't we do a coffee cup? That night after dinner he sat down at his really old laptop and a really clunky version of AutoCAD and drew what is now the Luxey Cup. He called me over and said "what do you think of this?" And I said - "Yeah, that should work!" We really wanted to do something meaningful with our lives.
Your family is gorgeous, what is it like running such a successful company as husband and wife, especially with two little people along for the ride?
Honestly, it's really intense. It's full-on. Stresses are high, tasks are big, decisions are big - life is just super-sized from what we remember. Andy and I have very clear roles in the business and we stick to them, we don't even try to "help" with each other's work and it works so well. He thrives in his space and I thrive in mine. So while we are with each other all day and are working on the same dream we do work separately. The kids are really here for the ride. They know Luxey, they see and know and love the staff, they see the incredible things we do each day like Andy importing containers in from overseas, seeing his designs on the computer then them turning up in shipping containers, they see me on videos (Instagram stories) each day, they are with us at photo shoots, they are here and see all of it. They know mum and dad work their butts off and we live in our warehouse so they live and breathe the business as much as us and I think that's good for them.
On that note, what are the important 'non-negotiables' in your week or what some would see as obstacles that you have managed to overcome to ensure everything functioning smoothly.
Well, I don't really see anything in our lives as obstacles to be honest. We leave the house, I mean warehouse every morning and head to the Noosa River to grab a coffee. In the evening we always eat dinner together as a unit and Andy and I always end the night with some time together on the couch, even if its 10:30pm. We will always make time for our relationship, no matter what.
What are your favourite daily rituals to make sure you are looking after your body and mind?
To be completely honest I use to be much better at these things pre-Luxey and while the kids were younger. These days I count my shower as my meditation. ha ha.
No but seriously, I will try to meditate in the evenings. In the shower I say my lines over and over "I am loved, I am worthy and I am supported". I drink 16oz of Celery Juice each morning, at the moment while it's warm here in Australia I try to load up on heaps of fresh, cooling fruit. We get in the ocean on the weekends and try to be in the sun in the morning. While the kids are young and Luxey is growing we accept there isn't that much spare time to be had but we are ok with it. We'll have seasons in our lives when there'll be more time and that will be great also.
What’s next for Luxey Cup? Do you have any exciting collaborations, products or events that are in motion that you can share?
Next stop is our own LUXEY HQ. We have totally grown out of our two warehouses now and are in talks with builders about our new space. It'll be what all our Luxey Dreams are made of. Retail, Dispatch, Offices, Stories, Film, Photo room. All the things. We are very excited to be in a space that we fit into! ha ha.
We do have a smoothie bowl/lunch bowl in the works if you follow us on Instagram. We've be working on the design for few months now and it's getting close.
I feel like everyday at Luxey is exciting, so exciting that I feel like I have to tone it down a bit sometimes.
What are your 5 top tips to implement sustainable practices within the household, especially with two children?
I had to really think about these things!
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Composting and worm farm garden. We don't have one now as we hardly have a patch of grass but in our old home we have veggie gardens and compost cannons.
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Packaged food we don't do. Lunches and snacks are wholefood will little to no packaging and we bake every Sunday for school. I know it doesn't seem like much but so much waste is totally unnecessary from food that's not even food most of the time.
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In our bathroom we don't do bottles as such or chemicals or toxins. Things like bars of soap and shampoo bars, bamboo toothbrushes, moisturisers for our body is just a jar of coconut oil etc. We never shop at chemists or the "body section" at the supermarket. Honor and Haven for that matter see me use reusable pads when I have my period etc so its just the way they'll grow up is you just don't need much.
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We shop at local farmers market. We love knowing our farmers, eating with the seasons. We love love love food and we all get so excited about coming home from the markets with an abundant boot full of fresh delicious fruits and vegetables!
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Clothing, we don't buy or own many clothes! I make sure our wardrobes are high quality and minimal. We just wash and wear, wash and ware until they die, then retire them to PJ's and buy again what we need, high quality. We don't need that many clothes and teaching the kids you don't have to buy buy buy and spend spend spend all the time is super important i think for many reasons.
We absolutely love the Luxey Cup story. What is one moment or milestone that really felt like it made the most impact on Luxey Cup and you personally?
I feel like there is tons. The day we made it across the line on our crowdfunding campaign! It was so close and we just scraped in but that was a huge huge huge moment for us and all of us really. And to really think about it, I would have to say 2020. When all the craziness was happening outside the warehouse, Luxey was fully blooming inside the warehouse. Luxey grew very organically very dramatically, more people started to learn about our brand, our customers turned into super fans and while 2020 was a hard year it was our best year.
What is a quote that you live by?
I don't really have one but like I said about the shower before "I am loved, I am worth and I am supported"
Find your Luxey Cup here. Don't forget to follow on socials to take part in the Luxey community including the daily staff meetings ;)