A seachange can do wonders for one’s creativity – just ask Anna and
Michal Rutkowska. Trained economists and hobby bloggers, the Pol-
ish couple were holidaying in Australia when inspiration struck and
Anna, who had always been fascinated by fashion, picked up a pencil
and started drawing.
Her resulting brand, Seaside Tones, started out as an online-only
label, selling limited runs of womenswear via Etsy and through Anna
and Michal’s lifestyle blog. In the space of a few short years, it was
being stocked in boutiques across Australia and New Zealand, and
appearing at pop-ups such as The Big Design Market. Feedback
from these first face-to-face encounters with their growing fanbase
motivated the Rutkowskas to start planning the first Seaside Tones
boutique, which will open its doors in Sydney this year.
It’s an incredible achievement for Anna, a businesswoman and self-
taught designer who divides her time between Europe and Australia.
“I was born and grew up in Poland,” she begins. “As a 10-year-old
girl, I loved to draw clothes and dreamed about becoming a fashion
designer. But things turned out differently: I became an economist.”
Anna’s first career flouted the path sketched out in her bloodline. “My
family heritage in the fashion industry reaches back two generations,
as my grandmother was a seamstress,” she explains. “Not only did
she sew, but she also taught my father, who passed this knowledge
down to me. That’s why I was able to use the sewing machine to make
my first pair of trousers as a little girl. My mother, on the other hand,
owned a knitting workshop, where she designed and manufactured
yarn sweaters. I liked to help her and often visited the shop to get a
glimpse of her work, sitting by the knitting machine after school.”
These early encounters instilled in Anna an appreciation for quality
craftsmanship that she would carry with her into adulthood. Even
while working as an economist, she never repressed her creative
impulses; instead, she cultivated that kernel of an idea that she
might one day run her own fashion label. Along with her husband,
Michal – also an economist whom Anna met while they were both
students – she started Mammamija, a Polish-language lifestyle blog.
The first inklings of Seaside Tones can be seen in the blog’s aesthet-
ics, snippets from Anna and Michal’s life and travels with their young
son beautifully documented through Michal’s photography.
All that was needed for Anna to make her entry into fashion was a
little push. In the end, it came at a wholly unexpected time: while
she was holidaying on the other side of the world. “It wasn’t until my
first trip to Australia in 2015 that my dreams started to take shape,”
she remembers. “That’s where it became clear to me: I had a vision
of what the brand should be like. Enchanted by Australia’s alluring
seaside vibes, I sketched my first collection.”
The Rutkowskas launched Seaside Tones with Anna as designer (and
model) and Michal in charge of logistics. “He’s the one I trust the
most and who understands me the best,” Anna says of the couple’s
working relationship. “We get on great, often to the point where no
words are necessary. On top of that, we love what we do, so working
together is pure pleasure.” They both took a roundabout route, but
Anna has no regrets about the way things turned out. “I’m glad I took
this path and studied economics and law, as it enabled me to build a
solid basis for running my own business,” she says. “Now I’m able to
combine my passion with my profession.”
After laying the groundwork for the label in Poland, Anna and Michal
set their sights on expanding. Naturally, their first instinct was to
retrace their steps 16,000-odd kilometres back to the place where
it all began. “As the idea was born in Australia, it was obvious to me
that a branch of the company should be located there,” Anna reflects.
They made the first of many return trips to Sydney and established
Seaside Tones as a cross-continental brand.
The connections between Poland and Australia might not seem
obvious at first, especially when one’s mind wanders to a stereo-
typical portrait of Eastern Europe: harsh winters, cold days. But the
beaches and rocky cliffs of Sopot, the little town on the Baltic Sea
where the pair live, aren’t such a far cry from Botany Bay or Manly.beside the seaside
INSPIRED BY AUSTRALIA’S ICONIC SHORES, POLISH DESIGNER
ANNA RUTKOWSKA CREATED A SIMPLE, UNDERSTATED RANGE
OF ETHICALLY MADE LINEN GARMENTS THAT LOOK JUST AS AT
HOME IN THE CITY AS THEY DO ON THE COAST.
words EMILY LUSH photos MICHAL RUTKOWSKA