Marli Kelly will host an Iris Apfel party later this month, where participants can embellish a pair of glasses in the late fashion icon’s whimsical style.
Photo by
Megan Fisher
Marli Kelly garners her own joy from “watching joy unfold” within the women who come to her floral workshops.
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It’s a pleasant symptom of overhauling her entire outlook on life after getting the unpleasant diagnosis of primary progressive multiple sclerosis in 2018.
She grieved the news in several ways, but perhaps the most significant was for her identity.
“The biggest grief with MS is losing who you thought you were,” Ms Kelly said from the kitchen table at her Tatura home, which was adorned with sunglasses and embellishments in preparation for a unique workshop at the end of the month.
“When we meet people, we all ask, ‘What do you do for work?’”
Participants can bring along a pair of glasses frames and enjoy an afternoon of crafting, food, champagne and fun.
Photo by
Megan Fisher
MS impacts a person’s central nervous system.
Ms Kelly had trouble with both physical movement and cognitive ability, not conducive to many working environments.
She chuckled, recalling the moment she described an air ambulance helicopter flying over as an elephant, but it was no laughing matter when she was forced to medically retire from her job — working with words she could no longer easily find — as a parliamentary media advisor.
At the time, Ms Kelly was a single mum to an 11-year-old.
She had to find a positive space to redirect her energy to avoid drowning in her heavy grief.
“I’ve always been arty,” Ms Kelly said.
“As a kid, I made museums and cubbies; I’ve always been a forager, collecting gumnuts, stones, leaves.”
She created Marli Kelly Designs to bring workshops and joy to people through flowers, installations and art.
“Just for fun”, she began running workshops for women to make flower crowns, wreaths and frames.
“Women don’t often give themselves permission to go and sit and do something for themselves,” Ms Kelly said.
On Sunday, August 31, between 1pm and 4pm, she will host a first-of-its-kind fundraising workshop, where participants will decorate a pair of glasses frames, inspired by flamboyant fashion icon Iris Apfel, who once famously said, “Life is grey and dull, so you might as well have a little fun when you dress.”
The event, to be held at The Teller Collective in Shepparton’s Fryers St, is tipped to “take on a life of its own”, by Ms Kelly, who said people who came to her workshops on their own always left with new friends.
“By the end, everyone is interacting; for me, that brings me joy,” she said.
Tickets to the event are $70 each and include grazing platters, a dessert board and champagne, as well as supplies to decorate the glasses frames participants are requested to bring along.
Ten dollars from each ticket will go to a breast cancer charity.
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