Meet the talented Husband and Wife duo behind Block Shop Retailer Black Mango
- 23 Aug 2018
With over thirty years retail experience in Adelaide, husband and wife team Daniel Wright and Kylie Porter-Wright launched Black Mango in 2015 with a desire to bring beautiful, impressively designed furniture to the online marketplace.
“In addition to creating a business that brings great products online, we wanted to do something together that was versatile and gave us the scope to spend time with our children,” says Kylie, mum to Tamia 16, Marni, 14, Mack, 12. We asked Kylie to talk us through her love of design and desire for balance."
What is it like working with your spouse?
We work really well together. Daniel is great with the nuts and bolts, operation and finding our pieces and I look after customer service, photography and social media. On the whole, it’s working well for our family. It is busy because our children are active, although we wouldn't have it any other way. Online businesses are about being flexible, to work on the go where ever possible and making it work for everyone. That’s how we operate as a family. For the five of us, Black Mango is wonderful.
Most people think we are a big corporation although we have kept a small team, with us we have Stacey our graphic designer and all round wonder and our lovely warehouse staff, together we all love what we have created and are a great team.
How did you come up with the name Black Mango?
Honestly, New Year’s Day 2015, Daniel and I took the children out for breakfrast, It was a transition time for us and we were talking about our new business idea. We started talking business names, fun names like “red banana", and I think it was Daniel, who said, “What about Black Mango?’ And that's the one we went with.
What’s your favourite room in your own house?
We have land which is wonderful, with large windows framing the views, our lounge area filled with Black Mango pieces is one of our favouritie spaces to be. One of our newer pieces, the Cloud Sofa, is an absolute fave. It is super comfortable and accommodates all of us perfectly for cuddles and movie nights. We go Slate covers during the colder months and swap to the Stone covers over summer.
Kylie and Daniel's beautiful living room. How comfy does that 'Cloud' couch look?
What is your favourite design piece in your own home?
It would have to be our front door. We basically built our home around it! It is over 200 years old, so unique and is the perfect piece to welcome in our friends and family.
No words for that incredible front door! The families gorgeous dog Marshal in front of the Venice Bench from Black Mango of course.
What are you excited about for the business?
This year we are focusing on a few new lovely linen blend colours, introducing tables and more lighting. Also, after selling out so fast the first time around more rocking chairs have just arrived which is exciting.
We are not about offering thousands of pieces. We are about offering selected, timeless pieces to enhance the home and bring you a little smile when you walk past them in the room.
We realise it can be daunting purchasing large pieces online without ‘test driving’ them first. We get it and that is why we honestly still appreciate every single enquiry and sale and do not take for granted the trust that our customers have in us and our brand.
Shop Black Mango's range HERE
Did you like this blog? Subscribe to our newsletter to be the first to receive news from The Block! Subscribe now to receive $20 off your next order.