Professionals Tamborine Mountain 
The Handmade Cottage is one of Gallery Walk’s original attractions, with over 24 years of history behind its lovingly crafted wares. Dorothy Holloway and her husband Lloyd are more than happy to share a few nuggets of insight they’ve collected over their years of bringing their amazing gifts to the mountain.
by Kyle Hitchmough
How long have you owned this store?
We’ve been here 24 years. We’re one of the originals. There’s two p
eople here that are originals, there’s Wanda, the quillow lady, and us.
How did you get started here? What was your inspiration?
I’ve always done craft. In Sydney, we were going to craft shows and decided this is what we want to do in our retirement. We got a redundancy package, so we moved up here and we’ve loved it ever since.
For those who might not understand, what is it you sell here?
Just gifts! Unique, all handmade by me, mostly. Not everything, I’ve got two or three ladies that do a little bit, some beautiful knitting. But I do most of it.
Is there anything that’s notably more popular than the rest?
Oh, my teddy bears! I have a whole window full of them. And I make all these porcelain dolls. That’s how we started, actually, as a porcelain doll shop, Country Crafts. We’ve changed since they’re not as popular these days, but I still make them from moulds.
What goes into making the stock here?
I work all day on my days off, sewing all day. We’re only open three days a week now, because we need to take it easy! We’re getting on, and we don’t want to be rushing through our lives. And we need a little time to put things together!
What goes into an average day here for you?
Just talking to people, mainly, and selling a few things. Thursdays are always some of the slowest days, according to our records. We don’t really know why.
Are there any particular trends in your clientele?
We actually run a craft show up here. It used to be for the Rural Fire Brigade, but we’ve changed a few times with our donations. The ladies that come to the craft show are the ones that come back and support me! Plus, the tourists that pop in. They always say “Oh, you never see anything like this at home!” It is a big shop; we have multiple rooms of vintage things.
Can you tell us more about this craft show?
Well, I don’t think we’ll be doing it this year because of COVID. We didn’t do it last year, and that was a shame. We’ve been doing it 17 years, every year in October, a three-to-four-day event at the community. It’s very popular and well-received, people look forward to it.
Are you locals? What’s your opinion on the Tamborine Mountain area and community?
Yes, we live on the mountain. They’re such loving people. They all help each other. It’s a really good community. On the Tamborine Mountain community Facebook page, you’ll see someone saying “Oh, can someone give me a hand with moving a fridge tomorrow?” And people will say “Yes, I can!” and they don’t even know them. It’s such a nice community.
What’s your favourite thing to do on the mountain?
We like where we live, we spend a lot of time there! It is a nice property out on the end of the mountain, with a beautiful view. We like to have coffee while looking out at the lovely mountains—it’s like being in a café in Switzerland.
What do you think a shop like yours really provides to the area?
Happiness. Our shop makes people happy. It is a tourist destination, so the tourists love it, and we get a reasonable amount of support from the locals. Everyone comes in here and walks around with a smile, and they all come past and whisper “What a beautiful shop!” They tell me how there’s no shops around like it, and we’re very proud of it. We keep on improving it!
We are always looking for new topics for our blog. If there’s something you like to see more of, email your suggestions to: social@professionalsserendipity.com.au, or email the writer at kyle.hitchmough@hotmail.com.
