let me introduce myself
Hi, hello, I'm Amy Crow!
I'm the founder and designer of Forge Forward! I've had a pretty up and down time in my creative career so far - I go into make up when I couldn't get into a fine art degree. From make up I then went into hairdressing. I started my first business as a mobile hairdresser in 2013! Here's a bit of a time line of events about me and Forge :)
becoming a graphic designer
2013 - 2017
When I was mobile hairdressing I met a graphic designer called Brooke who blew my mind! I was so interested in graphic design that I enrolled at the same college as her and in 2014-2015 completed an Adv Dip of Visual Communication. After college I got a full time job with a really cool company, and yet I didn't like that very much. I did a short course in UX design and later in 2017 I went to America with the team from Mad Dance House (who I was working with at the time!) and that was wild! I came home and started my second business: FUTURE = FEMALE
pop ups
2017 - 2020
F=F did some really cool things, like pop ups in Winn Lane, Young Henry's in Sydney, Lost Palms on the GC and a few in between. It gave me a love for creative retail and after a few years of that, I opened Forge Forward at 709 Ann Street in Brisbane's Fortitude Valley. 2020 as you know was a rough one! A truly terrible year to start a physical retail shop open to public. I had the shop for 3 years, and closed at the end of 2022.
the covid years
2020 - 2022
The Forge Forward shop was a very fun, creative and expressive time, despite the ceaseless horrors. We held events and markets, panels and talks, creative humans ran workshops and we had rotating feature artists take over the walls and front windows. We changed business models a few times and learnt a lot along the way!
Present day
2022 - 2025
The end of the shop, wasn't the end of the brand. This is Forge's 5th year and I'm only just starting to care about my margins now. My journey has been winding to say the least, but I'm finally in a position now to work on Forge with my Whole Ass! You can find me at events like The Great Artist Market and SUPANOVA!
