b'gold standardIt was then that Billie and I went on a holiday withright: A range of creative activities and discoveriesResenethekidsandreflectedonourcareers.Wewroteaawait visitors at MoPA. Not only were ReseneHalf Newmassive list of all the key lessons wed learned in ourproducts used across the entire facility, but childrenDenim Bluecareers so far, documented what we wantedandcan also try their hand at using them to decorate a donated vehiclewhich has been given new life as didnt wantin the next chapter of our life, and alsoa constantly evolving art project. Interior walls in Resene what we thought the perfect recipe for a great businessBlack White, Resene Half New Denim Blue and Resene Tuna looked like. From that list, MoPA was born! and ceiling in Resene Tuna. We wanted to build a museum that helped foster the specific skills in our children that are now broadlyResene ReseneacknowledgedtobeabilitiesthatarentgoingtoBlack White Tunabeautomatedandreplacedbymachines.Forthe most part, these skills are about community, humanlearned the lessons of the first year of operation that connectivity, problem solving and philosophy and, mostwe felt confident wed ironed out all the creases we importantly, creativity! And we were overflowing withneeded to before setting off on the path to scale.ideas for how wed do it. But of course, the project wasnt without its trials and From inception to opening, Tom says it took twotribulations. Name a challenge and weve hit it, laughs years to pull it all together. About three to six monthsBillie. All I can say is that several very experienced were spent fleshing out MoPAs overarching conceptmuseum directors with many years of experience told followed by more months to plan the museum in detail,us that we were 100% crazy; that there was no way we including all the brand elements, the cultural principles,could do it ourselves, and certainly no way we could the educational backbone of the exhibits and customermake a childrens museum privately viable.experience. When he and Billie finally found the realBillieisanincrediblyexperienceddesignerbut above: MoPAs colourfulour customer so, so well, and I know what is right forestate they were looking for in August 2019, it tookshe hadnt designed anything like a childrens museum cityscape is a favouriteMoPA so instinctively that my energy just builds withanother nine months to complete the fitout and finallybefore, says Tom. Similarly, I had plenty of experience creation in the Geelongevery idea, which compounds quite quickly. It really isopen the museum. starting and operating new organisations as well as basic museum and featuresincredibly rewarding to work on your own brand and seeGeelong was the perfect place for our first museumconstruction knowledge, but nothing quite like MoPA. Resene Roadster, Reseneit all come to life. for so many reasons. Firstly, its the most amazing placeBut one thing about Billie and I is that we both run at a Adrenalin, Resene Paperto raise a familywith a community and lifestyle thats Doll, Resene Broom,Tomsskillsandbackgroundwerealsohugelychallenge and revel in the learning process. And so, very Resene Sandy Beach complementary to the endeavour. I studied advertisinghard to find anywhere else in the world, really. Youngproudly, MoPA is entirely our creationevery single and Resene Black.then worked in marketing and media on both the clientfamilies are flocking to the area, making it a fantasticinch of the place has been painstakingly concepted,bothworkedlongerandharderthaneverbeforein and agency sides for the first 15 years of my career.growthcorridor.Itsalsoawonderfullycreativecityrefined, drawn, scrapped and redesigned over and overour lives to make MoPA a success. In that process, we Resene Someamazingbusinessleadersencouragedmetothats home to a world-class gallery and an ever-presentuntil we just knew it was ready to build. have overcome physical, financial, cultural and family Sandy Beach moveintomoregeneralandbusinessmanagementschedule of arts and cultural events. Plus, Geelong isThrough the process, Billie learned to design exhibitschallenges, and this just makes us even more proud of Resene roles towards the latter end of that, and that was wherestill affordable. With real estate prices and the cost ofand honed new spatial design skills while Tom learnedwhat we have created and what were now scaling up.Broom I got the opportunity to start a new division within a bigliving in more metropolitan areas skyrocketing, the costto draw in CAD and render 3D buildings and intricateWhenitcomestotheirfavouritefeatures,Tom ResenePaper Doll business. This was my first foray into entrepreneurship,ofoperatingorganisationslikeoursisalsoclimbing.technical drawings. After we had everything planned outsaystheirPlayandArtBasedLearningOutcomes and I ended up building quite a big team, doing $20mGeelongofferssuchagreatlifestyleandplacetoto the millimetre, through sheer necessity, we recruited(PABLO)topthelist.PABLOisthenameweve ReseneAdrenalin revenue within three years of operation. After that, Ioperate a facility like MoPA, without the premiums ofabove: Billie says her favourite colourhelp from family, friends and some local craftspeople togiven to our rotating schedule of activations. These are joined a startup to try and get some skin in that gamethe big smoke. We felt we could take a risk here withoutthat shes used so far is Resene Bilobaphysically assemble and finish the museum. But, proudly,always super fun and creative, they change seasonally ReseneRoadster and see what all the fuss was about. After three years inbeing completely silly and it allowed us to iterate it intoFlower. We used it on a door in thethere isnt an inch we didnt paint ourselves. and they are always linked to early learning outcomes the tech startup landscape, I left that business feelinga great model that we could scale. museum alongside a deep grey withResene Thecoreingredientwehaveinourpartnershipthat fall within the kinder curriculum. Some weeks, we Resene a touch of blue, and I still dreamBiloba FlowerBlack very tired but better educated in achieving product- We went into Geelong knowing full well that MoPAabout that colour! It is as deliciouswhichgaveustheconfidencethatwecouldprovepartner with the local gallery to extend an exhibition market fit with new products, designing for scale andhadthepotentialtogrow;wehadplanstoexpandas it gets. Image by Joyce Watts,them wrong is tenacity, adds Billie. We have alwaysintoachildrenscraftactivity.Onotherweeks,we financing and managing rapid growth. right from the get-go. But it really wasnt until we hadwww.tothotornot.com. beenridiculouslyhardworkingpeople,butwehavebring books to life through multimedia presentation or 54 blackwhitemag.com blackwhitemag.com 55'