Our WMB Story — A Journey of Creation, Courage, and Continuity
Caption: The Rocks Market, Sydney — the season we found our hats.
People didn’t just stop by; they shared stories, offered ideas, and helped us refine every stitch.
Together, we co-created what would become WMB Studio’s signature — wearable art that serves earth and humanity.
Born from a mother’s hands and a community’s heart — WMB Studio creates wearable art that serves earth and humanity.
WMB Studio began not as a brand, but as a heartbeat — With My Boy.
In 2016, I started designing mother-and-son matching wear from our dining table.
The early years were quiet — one stitch at a time, one design at a time — learning, refining, and simply showing up.
2016 — where it all began.
What started as mother-and-son matching wear soon became a rhythm of love, laughter, and creation — each stitch a story, each piece a connection.
In time, that quiet joy of creating at home became a spark to share beyond our walls.
One birthday at The Rocks Market in Sydney, I felt an impulse to try something new.
That year, 2019, we set up our first stall — our first time meeting customers face to face.
The first day, we sold nothing.
But I stayed.
The Rocks Market, Sydney, 2019 — our first day trading as With My Boy. No sales, but a new chapter quietly began.
The next trading day, we brought our new designs —Aboriginal Artwork Australian Bucket Hats — to the market.
And people gathered. They saw, touched, shared experiences, and connected.
People didn’t just pass by — they stopped, they cared, and they shared ideas.
They gave my designs a second chance.
Together, we experimented, refined, and within weeks, co-created the final hat.
By the end of that season, we had found our signature piece and sold over a hundred of them.
That year, we received an Export Market Development Grant from the Australian Government — a small recognition, but a proud reminder of how we exist as one to co-create and rise together, as long as our hearts align and our passion persists.
The Rocks Market, Sydney — the season we found our hats. What began as a small experiment soon became a story of connection. Customers stopped, shared stories, and offered ideas. Together, we refined and co-created what would become WMB Studio’s signature — wearable art that serves earth and humanity.
Then, the summer fires came.
During a short trip to Canberra with my son,
we woke to the strong smell of smoke in our hotel room.
Outside, the park that had been green the day before
was swallowed in a heavy haze.
We packed quickly and fled home,
driving through smoke that blurred the horizon
and stirred questions about life, loss, and purpose.
What stayed with me most wasn’t fear —
but the firefighters who ran towards the blaze
as we drove away from it.
Their courage and devotion — I couldn’t forget.
I began fundraising, simply wanting to give back.
Customers turned friends — both nurses and mothers —
offered their free hours to sew and paint,
driven by a shared urge to say thank you.
Together, we created, we gave, and we healed.
When I heard that our signed "thank you" boards
were left in the firefighters’ lobby for all to see,
I was humbled.
We had raised just over a thousand dollars,
but what stayed with me was what they gave in return —
their quiet service to earth and humanity
and through their lens, we found hope, courage, and deep gratitude.
That was when WMB found its true calling —
wearable art that serves earth and humanity.
St Ives Village, Sydney — our first community fundraiser for the NSW Rural Fire Service. Friends, families, and customers came together to write messages of gratitude for the firefighters who ran toward the flames while we fled to safety. It was more than fundraising — it was healing, together.
After years of being told that natural pregnancy was nearly impossible,
I fell pregnant again — naturally.
When my daughter arrived, she filled a quiet space in my heart
with joy I hadn’t known before.
Through her, I began creating again —
without boundaries, wildly and carefreely.
My soul yearned to dance in the rain,
sing in the mountains,
and travel the winds with her.
My designs began to bloom
with her laughter
and her light.
They came into my world with light in their eyes and laughter in their breath. In their presence, creating felt like breathing again — natural, healing, and full of wonder. Every piece I made from then on carried a touch of their love — alive, warm, and true.
Our days were full of laughter, play, and creativity —
and somewhere in between it all,
WMB Studio found its purpose.
It was never just about clothes;
it was about connection, courage,
and creating beauty from everyday life.
And then, life showed me more.
I fell pregnant again —
and this time, it became a loss.
A pregnancy that flickered
between hope and heartbreak.
At what felt like the peak of my creative life,
I found myself hollow — unable to serve.
I packed up, storing my pieces carefully,
and left my business to find myself —
while my designs quietly waited for me to return.
That was when WMB became Working on My Bold.
For a long time,
I worked on my bold as if I were defining who I was meant to be —
seeking the light, trying to find belonging.
But I could never find the light I was searching for —
because I had never looked within.
That light had always been there,
held in our tenderness,
our journeys,
shining through the marks and scars we carry.
Through “Working on My Bold,” I learned that courage can be quiet — found in kindness, in creating with care, and in walking through each day with calm and grace. This is me at 42 — still living, still discovering, one gentle step at a time.
We each have our own kind of bold —
our gentleness, our rhythm, our soul language —
urging us to live, to create, to heal
in ways that align with our spirit,
to honour our humanity,
to give,
and to grow.
Today, WMB Studio continues that journey.
Our pieces — from heritage-inspired hats
to hand-sewn accessories,
to avant-garde maxi skirts
worthy of the red carpet —
are gentle reminders of beauty, courage, and connection.
Through wearable art,
we honour the earth and our shared humanity,
celebrate our differences,
and hold the truth that when we create and give together,
we rise — and heal — together.
—
— Catherine Yang