As Hyphen celebrates twenty years, it’s made me think about the path that led me here.

Twenty years ago, when Val and Neil started what is now Hyphen, I was in a very different stage of life. I was just a kid, and business was not on my radar. It is funny to look back on that time, though, and realise that even back then, I was manifesting a future in publishing and design.

Drawing, painting and colouring were constant hobbies of mine. I have very fond memories of visiting my grandparent’s place in Wagga. I used to spend hours sitting with my grandfather, a retired architect, in his art studio out the back of their house. A 100-pack of textas and a tilted drafting table: my 8-year-old heaven.

I grew up in a small country town in New South Wales – the one with the submarine, if you’re familiar. I went through primary school with a class of nine and loved everything about school. Like many kids, I dreamed of becoming a primary school teacher, and I used to force my younger brother into playing ‘schools’ with me all the time. A few years ago, when I moved back home during Covid, I rediscovered folders full of work completed during these sessions; worksheets that I had drawn up myself, or some that I’d cut out of books I bought from the news agency with my own pocket money. Only then did my mum make sense of the questions she’d received back when Tom first started school: Your son is advanced. Have you been teaching him at home?

Every worksheet had the name ‘Luke’ written at the top of the page. Not my brother’s name, but the person he’d rather be – our cool older cousin Luke from Melbourne. We idolised him and his older sister as kids. We would visit these Melbourne relatives at least once a year. Melbourne was a city that I always loved but never imagined I would live in.

Fast forward to 2020, I had finished my bachelor’s degree in graphic design in Wollongong and started searching for jobs. A design position popped up in Melbourne, designing textbooks and worksheets for primary education – something I was weirdly familiar with. The job was a 10-minute drive from Luke’s sister’s place, so I moved in with my other idol and a new chapter began. A few years down the track, after more experience in agency work, signage and mural art, I was drawn back to publishing with Hyphen.

As Hyphen celebrates its anniversary, I have enjoyed learning more about the journey – the highs and lows of twenty years of business. It is inspiring to watch an idea turn into such success. I wonder where the next twenty years will take me.

– Jane Heriot, Junior Designer