Gold Coast creatives and owners of The Edit Suite.
Gold Coast creatives and owners of The Edit Suite.
Gold Coast locals Kara and Josh Hamilton are one of the most creative husband and wife teams on the Gold Coast. Owners of multi-faceted business The Edit Suite, they work with many local businesses you know and love (plus national and international ones) to create epic content we are always in awe of.
We sat down for a chat with Kara and Josh about working with the UFC and their latest creative venture, the GC Podcast Studio.
How long have you been Gold Coast locals?
Josh moved here in 2007 and Kara moved here in 2005.
What do you love most about living here?
Josh came from New Zealand, so he loves the weather and being out on the water fishing on the boat, skateboarding at all of the amazing parks and surfing. Kara loves pretty much everything: the sunshine, the people, the beaches, the shops, the food! Such a good place for our kids to grow up – so many opportunities here.
Tell us about your business The Edit Suite, what do you do?
We are a team of videographers, photographers, licensed drone operators and motion graphics designers. We thrive on discovering authentic, creative and engaging digital content. Each project is always different, we work with a range of diverse clients producing business stories, promo video, branding content, event content, aerial work and more.
How did the biz come about?
Six years ago after having our first son we decided to join forces and quit our jobs to see if we can turn our passion into a livelihood, we sold our house and bought all the equipment, rented a space and started on this journey. Josh was always going to succeed, he has an amazing eye for detail and is a perfectionist and he just needed a boss like Kara to make it happen. From there, we kept building and growing and now we are lucky to have brilliant staff and a studio large enough to fit our photography studio and a giant pink skate ramp.
What have been some of your favourite projects to work on recently?
We’ve been really lucky to work with so many amazing clients lately including Uber Eats where we travelled to 7 cities across Australia and New Zealand filming and taking photos for some restaurant case studies. We also worked with Visit Victoria for the UFC late last year in Melbourne and produced a video for them to promote the Australian Boomers vs The USA Basketball team which included several trips to Marvel stadium filming with legendary graffiti artist Sofles. The video documented the Boomers brainstorming ideas for Sofles to create a giant piece on the side of Marvel Stadium featuring legends of Australian Basketball.
What’s been something you’ve loved about having to stay home the last few weeks?
We actually used the downtime to start another business called GC Podcast Studio. It was perfect timing as we had planned to set up a while ago but never could find enough time to actually do it. So now we are all set up and ready to roll and are pumping out our own podcast called Call a Creative. The studio is for anyone who wants to start their own podcast. All they do is come up with the idea and we can do the rest.
Are you working on anything exciting at the moment?
Recently we finished up a campaign for Destination Gold Coast called Come & Play and we were lucky enough to explore and film at 30 amazing locations around the Gold Coast from wining and dining, to diving with turtles to jumping out of airplanes. It was so fun and we met a bunch of lovely people along the way. We’ve also just finished up a large campaign with Study Gold Coast featuring all of our amazing educational providers to promote the city to international students.
How can Gold Coasters support your business?
We love telling the stories of our local businesses and creating content they can be proud of. We create most types of content so we are lucky to have so many different clients. If anyone out there wants product photos, portraits, as well as brand videos plus most other things give us a call or email!
What’s the plan for the rest of 2020?
Well we did get hit pretty hard lately as did a lot of people but we are trying to get the business back to normal and are really looking forward to getting back out shooting everyday. It’s been a crazy time so we are hoping that we can travel again soon and get around to all of our amazing clients to create content again. Who knows though, never thought we would have gone through this sort of thing!!!
Any advice for someone looking to start their own creative business?
Put your heart and soul into it, focus on every detail, provide a high quality product that your client loves and have fun with it. It’s not easy to get established with a lot of other companies out there these days, so try and find your style and run with it. It can take a while to break through too but hang in there.
Tell us your favourite restaurants on the Coast…
We live close to Double Barrel Kitchen in Mermaid, so go there a fair bit. The staff are super nice and the food is epic! For dinner, we love taking the family to The Collective for the variety of choices or Miami Marketta for the same reason.
How does your weekend usually look?
We love heading out on the boat cruising up to Straddy or one of the many beaches up around Wavebreak Island having a BBQ and swimming, fishing and relaxing up there. We pretty much do that most weekends!
Before now there were many things we thought could only be done in person but, throw a global pandemic into the mix and suddenly innovation becomes the name of the game.
Fine dining for example – generally enjoyed within the confines of a restaurant. Not anymore, you can now eat fancily in the comfort of your own home. Group exercise classes, there’s an online version of that. The world has pivoted and we love it.
The latest thing we Gold Coasters have come up with is a digital library where you can borrow books without having to leave the comfort of your couch. Perfection. Especially since it’s World Book Day on April 23rd and what great timing (for a change).
Of course, there have always been books available to purchase online but borrowing? We think not.
Since Gold Coast Libraries have had to close recently, they’ve gotten onboard with the Nassau Library System to create temporary digital library cards for those who don’t already have a membership and with it, you get access to over 50,000 audio and e-books.
Which is enough to last you for quite some time.
You can choose from the latest best sellers and all your favorite authors on a wide variety of devices including Amazon Kindle, iPad, iPhone and Android Devices.
When the Gold Coast Libraries reopen, you will be able to stop by to convert your digital membership to the usual full three-year library card with access to the physical collections and in-Library services.
So, it’s win-win Gold Coasters.
It’s also the perfect plan for kiddies who might have already run out of books to read (same) and might be driving you a little bit crazy looking for activities.
Click here to fill out your application form and get browsing.
Happy (almost) World Book Day.
Words by Kirra Smith
It’s not very often we get to bring you news from Benowa but today is a day that we do Gold Coasters and it’s very good news indeed.
The lucky suburb is the brand new custodian of Double Barrel Kitchen & Bar 2.0 and that’s certainly something to celebrate.
Found on Sunland’s new Marina Concourse (opposite RACV Royal Pines Resort) and overlooking the lake, the newbie is stunning, all bright and airy with huge overhanging lights, a community-style table in the centre and an arched bar where you may perch on leather stools and gaze lovingly at the perfection of it all.
Water views and a breezy outdoor area complete the picture and it all comes together to create a setting you will absolutely want to spend all your spare time in.
If you’ve visited Double Barrel Kitchen & Bar’s first venue in Miami you’ll know they’re all about breakfast, lunch and coffee and in particular, tasty dishes you aren’t likely to sample anywhere else.
The breakfast and lunch menus are both extensive so we’ll chat about a few highlights that you should absolutely taste ASAP.
Starting with breakfast, the most important meal of the day as they say. There’s a bakery section which is SO GREAT and it’s filled with croissants and bagels and banana bread and all the very best things.
There’s a bowl section including bowls of the granola, Acai, spring oats and warm greens varieties plus all the breaky classics you know and love.
Our most favourite section though is the DBK Essentials section because it’s filled with things like Cauliflower Cheese and Corn Fritters, Brekkie Terrine and Apple & Rosella Country Pie for dessert. So good.
When lunchtime rolls around there are entrees like Jar Set Pork Rillets, tacos and arancini, mains like Truffle Mushroom Risotto and King Prawn Angel Hair pasta and Chicken Spatchcock with a blue cheese puree that we are now in love with.
There are also gourmet burgers including a Pork Belly Bahn that’s one of the very best we’ve ever tried (by far).
Drinks-wise there are milkshakes (best), smoothies, coffee by Supreme Roasters and of course a selection of alcoholic beverages including everyone’s fave sparkling tipple Moet & Chandon. Love you.
All perfect for a laidback morning of indulging in delicious goodies while overlooking the water and laughing with the gals.
If you’re looking for us, that’s exactly where we’ll be.
LOCATION: Shop 5/11 Marina Concourse, Benowa
HOURS: Open daily from 6am
Words and photos by Kirra Smith
The Collective in Palm Beach only opened Boxing Day but already it has become a firm favourite on the Gold Coast social scene.
Now the venue has launched a build your own banquet menu to showcase the best from each restaurant and allow you more time to chat.
The new menu, incorporating food from all five of the exceptional restaurants, is jam packed with the best options from each because sometimes it’s just to hard to choose.
Luckily, with the introduction of the banquet menu, you can try a variety of small to large dishes and desserts for $40, $55 or $70 per person.
Small plates range from Pork Belly Nuggets to Hoison Duck Bao while medium plates include Singapore Chilli Crab, Tacos and Chorizo Balls to name a few.
Moving on to large plates (because, why not) choose from Gourmet Pizzas, Pan Seared Snapper Fillet and Souvlakis among many other options.
Once you’re done with all that, it’s dessert time – Nutella Pannacotta perhaps?
Available to groups of four people or more, the banquet is the perfect way to enjoy a variety of dishes and make sure you don’t miss a minute of catching up with your mates.
HOURS: 7am to 12am daily
LOCATION: 1128 Gold Coast Highway, Palm Beach
Words and photos by Kirra Smith
