Hayley King (AKA FLOX) on creating collections, building a team, and 20 years as an artist

Want the inside scoop on what it takes to thrive as an artist and creative business owner for 20 years?

In today’s episode, I had Hayley King (AKA FLOX) on the show sharing her amazing journey from street art beginnings to building a thriving creative business with hand painted commissions, large scale murals, and producing seasonal luxury bag and personal stationery collections.

Hayley opens up about building a business that stands the test of time, growing her team, setting up her studio, and the practical steps that took her from independent artist to a recognised brand name over two decades. As well as Hayley’s approach to creating product collections, what marketing tactics actually worked for her, and how she handled rebranding after 20 years.

Whether you're just starting out or looking to level up your creative business, this episode is a MUST listen!

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Hollie Arnett: Welcome to the podcast, Hayley! Let's start by talking about your visual brand, because it’s so beautiful! You have the most gorgeous typography and colour palette and an amazing logo. I would love to know the kind of evolution of that brand from the beginning.

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Hayley King: It's absolutely been an evolution. This being my 20th year in business 2025, looking back at where I started and the lack of skills I had back then is reflective of how the brand is perceived.

In the last three to five years I've spent a lot of time trying to elevate the brand. Part of that was rolling out a brand new website and having new logos created and coming up with a fully professional brand.

The brand is me. It is my artwork. That's what it centres around and my roots are as a street artist. I still paint murals, which is a big part of the overall brand. From humble beginnings painting walls to now moving into an era where Flox has become a household brand name in New Zealand offering high end products while maintaining integrity in the New Zealand art world.

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Hollie Arnett: I think it's so cool to hear and great for people to hear that your brand doesn't have to be where it is now. In the beginning you started, it was what it was. It's a great reminder that it doesn't have to be perfect in the beginning. You just want to get started. And then it takes time to elevate it to a point where you feel like it really reflects you. In the beginning, were you doing all of that yourself, the design, the branding?

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Hayley King: Absolutely. In the beginning, your resources are limited and the money for outsourcing is limited. I've always been a hard worker and I was up for the challenge of doing everything – from my own books to cleaning the toilets.

“For other artists or brands wanting to get started, you can't expect to be the hero first thing. You've got to work hard and make mistakes to understand where you are going.”

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Hollie Arnett: Tell me about how this current brand iteration came to be.

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Hayley King: A lot of the drive comes from the product component of my business. As I've made connections with suppliers in China, Hong Kong, and India, and as those relationships thicken, you start to reflect back on, "Now I'm doing luxury bags. How do I want people to perceive me?"

I think one of my best attributes is that I'm willing to move along and not get too stuck. The products have had a significant impact on brand perception and elevation. The other side – picking up the spray can and painting – that stencil as an art form has also developed. My colour palettes and concepts have elevated. Maybe it's not elevation, maybe it's just getting older and wiser in my decision making.

I'm also thinking globally now. My larger goal is to export these products to the world. I want someone in the UK or US to pick up a Flox bag or stationery and feel connected to it. The collections I'm releasing are very much inspired by Aotearoa, but I'm creating pieces that are generally inspired by nature that a global market can connect with.

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Hollie Arnett: What has helped you keep your branding consistent?

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Hayley King: It's having people around you that are specialised in what they do. Half the time I feel completely out of my comfort zone. I have a business mentor and I'm working with a consultant who's getting me set up with a new 3PL here in New Zealand. It's about not feeling bad about asking questions and bringing people on board that are really good at what they do. That's what's helping us drive forward as a house of Flox team – bringing in the right people.

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Hollie Arnett: That's great to hear. I think it's really helpful for other artists to understand how you've brought in specialists. You obviously have a team now. How do you know that you're ready for a team?

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Hayley King: The hardest person to hire is the first one. It's when the time and energy you're putting in outweighs the fact that you could be outsourcing that work. It's a bit like that for every employee. "I don't have time to do my socials anymore. I need someone to jump on that."

“Take baby steps. It's a good piece of advice I once got – don't put big timelines on things. Have reasonable goals, but they must be flexible. Move reasonably slowly and keep an eye on things so you won't over commit.”

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Hollie Arnett: Who do you have on your team now?

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Hayley King: I've got a studio manager for my physical showroom which doubles as my workspace. I have team member who manages customer sales and online enquiries. I have someone on socials and marketing who does MailChimp and is working on the website. And I've got someone doing all my bookkeeping.

Beyond that, everyone else is contract based – graphic design work, I contract out. We're becoming our own wholesale distribution company, working with a third party logistics provider here in Auckland.

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Hollie Arnett: How has having a physical space changed your business?

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Hayley King: It's been hugely beneficial having that space for about 16 years now. People know they'll see Flox artworks there because it's the only place in the country that exclusively sells the artworks. Products are available throughout the country, but the artworks are only available there.

First and foremost, it is a working studio space. Sometimes people walk in and it's a mess, but people quite like that because they can see things happening and feel they're behind the scenes.

Since COVID, the physical aspect has changed dramatically. About 80 percent of our sales come from online now compared to 20%. But there's still an element of "come meet the artist or see artworks in the flesh" that you can't beat.

There are incredible tools creating a shopping experience through the website. I use an app called Smartest so I don't have to take photos of my artworks in interiors anymore. I can put my artwork into different interior contexts, which helps for online buying.

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Hollie Arnett: That's amazing. I love that way of thinking about creating experiences online that feel more tactile when they can't be in person. We've talked a lot about the products that you make. Obviously you do the artworks and the commissions too. What lessons have you learned from taking your traditional art and applying it to physical products?

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Hayley King: The biggest hurdles have been connecting with suppliers and creating rapport. It's a huge level of trust with these manufacturers. We've had major hiccups with products coming into the country – a whole container of bottles from China where the bamboo lids went mouldy in transit.

You don't know what's around the corner. All you can do is base decisions on the experience you build up over time. We're in a good position now with incredible suppliers, and we don't have too many suppliers either. We've stripped that back.

New Zealand is such a small marketplace, which is hard to navigate with minimum order quantities offshore. You can't do everything because these suppliers are working with big companies around the world.

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Hollie Arnett: So it sounds like finding those people and then committing to those relationships and building them, having a few really good key relationships rather than loads of relationships, is the key there.

So you recently released your Ahi collection to celebrate 20 years of being an artist, which is incredible. How do you create a new collection like that?

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Hayley King: My process for products is linked to my art making. The products need to represent the artist and the artwork. I want that authenticity to come across.

I'll visit suppliers and trade fairs and source products, then think about how I can customise them. I'll have a "hero artwork" already completed that inspires the entire range. I'll create artwork with different layers and elements that can be pulled out separately and used in a more simplistic form for the products.

I'll also select hero Pantones for the range from that artwork. Now we have an incredible brand kit with guidelines that even I refer to. Sometimes the first sample range inspires me back – I've just pulled colours from Ahi and remixed them into four hand painted artworks for the Wellington Art Show.

I'm on this nice slow-moving treadmill where I'm creating collections and allowing them to inspire me back to develop new collections. Earlier, I may have created collections and then jumped completely away once that season was over, but now there's a natural evolution.

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Hollie Arnett: That's really cool. I love hearing about that cyclical process where you create art, find products to put it on, use brand guidelines to refine things, and then get re-inspired to start the process over again. It's such a nice, natural evolution of your style and brand rather than changing completely between collections.

How do you structure your year for product development?

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Hayley King: It ebbs and flows. I'm in "mural season" now when the weather's good. For products, we have three cycles throughout the year based around the New Zealand gift fairs in March, June, and August.

Working with offshore suppliers means massive lead times – you've got to allow 90 days on the boat. You're reverse engineering back from each date to have samples ready. We've just finished the 2026 diary and calendar a couple of months ago, the earliest we've ever had it done.

You have to think far ahead, especially with dated products that have a short lifetime. Your sale bracket for diaries is really October to December.

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Hollie Arnett: That's great insight for anybody listening who wants to get into products—to start thinking way ahead of time. You have 27,000 Instagram followers and you're obviously doing a lot of other marketing. What marketing strategies have worked best for you? Any that aren't social media are especially interesting.

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Hayley King: I have a love-hate relationship with social media. What has been successful is the narrative and authenticity of what I love doing. From small beginnings, I picked up a spray can and painted walls. I loved that it could connect with a wide community.

Galleries can feel intimidating, but putting art on the street means everyone can see it.

“My marketing strategy for the first 10 years was me on the street painting murals, pushing the name Flox, and creating art for the people.”

Nowadays I pay for marketing campaigns to our MailChimp users and Google Ads. For social media growth, we create value for the community through giveaways and giving back.

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Hollie Arnett: I think that's all really great. I love hearing that getting into your community and doing local things can make a really great impact before focusing on global reach. Those technical things like giveaways are great ways to grow your audience too. Are there any mistakes you've learned from that you could share?

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Hayley King: The learning curve has been creating a life that's well balanced. As a mum with two boys, it's been challenging over the years finding that beautiful synergy of work-life balance. I have a radar on myself consistently to make sure I'm present and have time off for myself too.

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Hollie Arnett: What advice would you give to artists wanting to brand their passion?

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Hayley King: Don't look too far ahead. Take baby steps, set reasonable goals, and prepare to do the work. Keep doors open – if you're studying fashion design, that doesn't mean you have to be a fashion designer. Those skills can cross over to many disciplines.

“Nothing ever goes to waste in the creative sector. A lot of skills from one part can translate completely across to different disciplines. Be kind to yourself.”

Hollie Arnett: Thank you so much. This has been so great. I personally have loved talking to you and learning more about your business and how you do things and how your brand has evolved. I know that everybody listening is going to have the same experience. I will leave a bunch of links to your stuff in the show notes for anybody listening. Is there anything you want to tell the people or anything you want them to go and check out?

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Hayley King: I guess they could go and have a look at the new website. I'm still calling it a new website, but I think we launched it in October last year, so it still feels very much like a baby, but I'm very proud of it. It took months and it really has taken us to the next level! So if you have some time, go and check out the Flox website at flox.co.nz.

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Hollie Arnett: Go and check it out just to enjoy it, but also as an example of an artist website, it's incredible, truly incredible! I think you definitely have taken it to the next level. And it's such a great example of how you can present all your work and your story and everything. As I said, I was WOWED by the branding! Definitely great to go have a look.

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Where you can find and connect with Hayley King (AKA FLOX):

Website: flox.co.nz

Instagram: @floxnz

Facebook: @floxnz