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Who is Julie Tattam?
In addition to running Nest, Julie is a multi-award winning bodypainter and special effects makeup artist. Running Australia’s largest bodypainting agency Skincognito, she recently featured on 2 seasons of Celebrity Apprentice, The Bachelor, Australia’s Got Talent and a host of other programs.
Over 700 pieces of her work have featured in film, music videos, runway, advertising and events such as the Logies, ARIAS, and Mardi Gras.
Her clients include Ashton Kutcher, Camilla Franks, Justin Hemmes, Georgie Parker, The Veronicas, Chris Lilley, Kyle Sandilands as well as hundreds of other Australian celebrities, corporations and PR firms.
Julie is the founder of The Global College of Body Art, where she has trained over 600 artists. She is a national judge for the Australian body art awards and also runs a homewares company called Coast Collection, which produces luxury handmade sculptures and wall art.
How did she get into Bodypainting?
After an economics degree and 12 years in the financial markets, Julie felt a strong craving for a more purposeful life. She left the corporate world and volunteered in the children’s cancer wards of Sydney’s two largest children’s hospitals, setting up a free weekly face painting service to entertain the children undergoing chemotherapy. Over the two years at the hospitals, she developed a deep love of both painting, and the connection made with people while being painted. She had found her true passion and never looked back.
What is Nest and how did it come about?
In 2023, Julie started NEST - a nonprofit that weaves waterproof sleeping mats for people experiencing homelessness using recycled plastic bags.
Why did Julie start NEST?
Julie has long been concerned about Australia’s rising homelessness and the environmental havoc being caused by increasing soft plastic going into landfill and waterways.
She recognised that by combining these two problems with her passion for handweaving, she could ‘use one problem to help solve the other’.
The beauty of Nest’s model of involving school students in weaving these mats is that while the students are engrossed in the weaving, Julie also discusses with them the concepts of homelessness and environmental issues to build awareness and develop their passion for social justice.
Why did she call it NEST?
When Julie was little her Nan would look after her when she was sick. She would greet her at the front door and say “Come in and let me make you a nest” and she would lay a blanket and pillow down for Julie to snuggle in.
It was so comforting and Julie felt so loved, and it wasn’t the actual blanket or pillow itself that provided that love, but rather the warm feeling that someone cared for her and made her that nest. Julie’s goal is to be able to pass that warm feeling on to an adult or child experiencing homelessness. To provide both some physical comfort, but also the knowledge that someone cares for them, and made them a nest.