Threeworlds Founders
 Matt Lees |
 Jason Ure |
Threeworlds was founded by Matt Lees and Jason Ure in the year 2001.
Matt had been making fire-gear for a couple of years, doing the markets selling his gear and generally helping to create a bit of a scene on the Gold Coast with his unstoppable enthusiasm and good spirit.
Jason had been doing much the same thing with the drums he was making.
Our ethos:
What we want to inspire:Threeworlds is a business run on community. We recognise the importance of connection as everything we have done wouldn't've been made possible without the help and support of customers and friends. In return, we strive for reliability and satisfaction with our 100% happiness guarantee.
We want to encourage feelings of childlike-wonder, fun, inner peace and self-discovery through multiple outlets so you're bound to find one that suits you whether through drumming, fire-twirling, music, dancing, meditation, yoga, or immersing yourself in nature.
What we do:
Burleigh Shop:Today, we have our shop run in James Street Burleigh Heads and our warehouse just around the corner on Kortum Drive. Here in Burleigh, we aim to inspire fun in all ages as well as a familiar sense of homeliness. The shop is bright and colourful, a sort of playground with instruments and toys everywhere, you're bound to leave with a smile on your face.
The fun doesn't stop when you leave the shop. We love getting involved in the community-run drumming nights held by the beach open to everyone and hope to bump into some of you there too.
Our warehouse is where everything behind-the-scenes happen. Our office is at our warehouse, where everything online is managed. Here, all of the online orders are packed and shipped. At the warehouse is also where many of our products are made by hand, and where any special orders are fulfilled.
Product Designing:
A big part of our business is designing and developing products. We try to create high tech products that are different from anything you can find anywhere else. Our products are developed and designed by us, here in the warehouse, and trialed to perfection. We combine fun and advanced technology and being in the scene and market for so long has given us first-hand insight into what makes a good product. Being well-versed in the toys ourselves means we can identify and address any issues that might come up and make the toys better than ever. This is all evident in the functionality, quality, and ease-of-use of our toys. You can be confident you're getting a well-made, thought out product from us.
By Threeworlds is the product development, manufacturing and research branch of our business. Our brands are sold and distributed locally as well as globally via our online website. We're really trying to create the best props for you by researching the best brands as well as spending hours creating our own. Our brands include LUMI, Contentrate, Matrix Dragon, Zen Slacklines, Fusion, SpinFire, TrickStix, and Beats Djembes.
Our History:
The beginning:
Before teaming up with Matt, Jason had been making drums in Victoria for 4 or 5 years, and then went on tour with his drum making operation, traveling to Tasmania firstly, then up to the Adelaide and onto Alice Springs, Darwin, and then across to the Gold Coast. On the tour Jason was running drum making workshops, drumming workshops, festivals and markets, and generally having a good time with his mobile business.
The two teamed up on the Gold Coast, having met previously in Victoria at the Raja Yoga Meditation Centre. The two bright sparks had both been studying the same meditation and philosophy and found they shared a similar passion for drums and fire twirling. They formed Threeworlds in the lounge room of their newly found share house on the highway in Palm Beach. What initially seemed like a crazy idea (turning the lounge room into a shop), turned out to be the start of a business that has grown at a steady rate to the icon it is now becoming on the Gold Coast.
The first shop:
One year after opening the doors (well, back then the doors were opened only after the customers rang the doorbell, and then only if Matt and Jason weren't out the front surfing) the business had grown to occupy not only the lounge room of the two-story house but the entire top floor. The bedrooms had been turned into an office, a workshop, a stock room, and an extension of the growing shop.
Matt, Jason, and their housemates, Jodie and Andrea ended up living downstairs, and out the backyard, which was now home to three caravans.
The shop had become a home of sorts for the customers/friends of the business. Threeworlds was fast becoming a community center of sorts. There were jam nights, parties, workshops, and people coming to help in the workshop making drums and fire toys. The house was painted from wall to wall with murals and other abstract art. Walls came down to make bigger spaces; the news came to run stories for the TV and for the local newspapers and magazines.
Threeworlds was recognised, not for its location, but because it was different. Not because of its marketing, but because it offered genuine community open to all.
Moving the shop:
The property market on the Gold Coast soon had the team up and moving to a new location. With a month's notice, Matt and Jason were to find a new shop, fit it out, move the shop as well as find a new place to live and move there too, all while running the current shop.
It was a time of quick decisions and hard work. They found a new place on the highway, but closer to the action, in Mermaid Beach. The move was only made possible by the teams of people that came with vans and cars, to help move the stock, and commence building a vibe again in a block of buildings that was seriously lacking anything close to the vibe.
The new shop continued to grow, as did the workshop attendance and the jam nights. And the shop they now occupied was proving to be a little small for their creative minds bursting at the seams with new ideas and expanding thoughts.
The shop two doors down became available one year from the time they had made their initial move. It was decision time again. The new shop was 300m2. More than twice the amount of space than the current one. But the rent was twice the amount too. After a few negotiations with the landlord and a lot of contemplation, they made the move. It was on again. Hoards of people came to build and plaster and paint and clean and finally move the stock two doors down. Again it was a mission unachievable without the help of the many customers and friends that had been formed over the years.
In 2012, they made the move from Mermaid Beach to James St Burleigh. Burleigh is the cultural hub of the Gold Coast. It has a friendly village vibe and they thought it would be most suitable for the vibe they were after. This turned out to be spot on, and here they still are years later. With a great collection of shops here, they have met a lot of like-minded people over the years and the Threeworlds community has only grown.
Where we are now:
So Threeworlds has been around since 2001. A long way from the humble beginnings, but still a long way from the aspirations and dreams of the future. The team has grown as we have taken on staff to make and manage the growth of the business. Still, there is a heart beating as Threeworlds is embarking on new ideas and creating new projects. The foundations, it seems, have been laid. The systems have been created and the people to run it are present. There is a slower movement in the air, as steady preparations are made for growth into new areas. There is a vibe of happiness and enthusiasm as we are all aware of the direction we are going.
So what does the future hold?
Well, we can only plan it. And make it bright in our minds. A future that would include multiple shops, tours, a community of people running and supporting growth in themselves and in the community itself, a world more at peace, and the people more at peace within it. There is a bright future being created and we wish to be a part of it, to help it grow and we would love for you to join us.
