Behind the handmade wooden homewares, the custom-made and personalised pieces and the range of inspiring prints for your walls, is father and daughter duo Ray Leetham and Katy Thomas.
As the masterminds behind online boutique The Eye Spy Milk Bar, Ray makes all the wooden homewares and Katy adds the finishing touches, which often feature a little paint and glitter job! Katy also designs all of the prints in Melbourne, loving the fact that she gets to keep the whole design and manufacturing process local. “In a world where so many things are made overseas, it’s refreshing and unique to bring the handmade element to life,” explains Katy. “Our aim is to create a range of fun homewares at an affordable price. We take everyday items and look to inject a splash of colour, a personalised element or a mix of interesting patterns and textures.”
A keen collector and design enthusiast, for many years Katy had been taking orders from her friends for her Dad to make a range of custom-made homewares. The interest continued to build to such an extent that she decided to launch The Eye Spy Milk Bar Etsy store last year, to house the collection of her Dad’s handmade homewares and make taking orders that little bit easier.
With many of the pieces custom-made, all products can be configured to fit a customer’s exact requirements or personalised for the perfect gift. “A customer might have specific requirements for a bedside table and we love creating something to fit. We don’t like to work in mass-produced quantities, but focus more on creating and designing custom-made pieces or a limited run of each piece.”
With many of The Eye Spy Milk Bar’s homewares perfect for weddings and events, you can also hire some of them for a special day, including wedding signs, benches and ladders. Most items ship Australia wide, with larger pieces being delivered within Melbourne’s metropolitan area. Shop online.