Merchant Road
Taking shape beside a Monet suitable backdrop, Merchant Road offers bespoke experiences from the heart.
Words: Emma-Kate Wilson
Merchant Road founder, Jane Marx (far right) with members of her team. Photo - Marie-Luise Skibbe.
Lunch is served under a leafy canopy for a Merchant Road event. Photo - Marie-Luise Skibbe.
Melbourne-based Merchant Road is about the experience, the table, the flowers, the setting, and sharing it with the people next to you. However, this is not your usual event hire. Jane Marx set up the business in 2019 to support young women from refugee backgrounds to find employment in Australia.
Jane has always loved creating beautiful experiences for people around food. “Sharing a meal with one another is the foundation of our social lives,” she shares. Through this emerged a chance to offer advocacy and support for the women in the program.
Merchant Road events take shape beside a Monet suitable backdrop, with vivid green lilies covering a tranquil lake set in a natural garden. Photo - Marie-Luise Skibbe.
“I was raised with the belief that this is the kind of country where if you have a good work ethic and self-confidence, you can do anything. ”
“To work hard and to prove yourself worthy or people’s time, money, attention, you need to be given an opportunity in the first place, and somebody at some point has to be willing to do that,” says Merchant Road founder, Jane Marx. Photo - Stina Evjan of Gold and Grit Photography.
After working as an English teacher to women who had recently sought asylum in Australia, Jane began to understand that amongst the usual set of challenges these women faced, a lack of opportunity was number one. And so, once Jane realised, she was “actually a pretty terrible teacher,” she set up Merchant Road and the paid eight-week training program Many Hands.
Merchant Road offers unique and beautiful dining experiences for businesses, but as Jane muses, “if they express support for our social mission, then that’s a bonus.” Their individual selling point is the end-to-end service; every step of the experience is curated by them, from writing the menu, to styling, florals, service, and organising photography.
Merchant Road events take shape beside a Monet suitable backdrop. Photo - Marie-Luise Skibbe.
“I’m fascinated by the concept of hospitality as it relates to identity-formation; it is a crucial part of who we are,” says Jane Marx. Photo - Marie-Luise Skibbe.
“The purpose of the program is to encourage and inspire, and to show the young women we work with, that they can find work that is meaningful and fulfilling. ”
“It’s important that we are able to curate the entire experience and ensure that the end result has a consistent look and feel throughout,” shares Jane Marx. Photo - Marie-Luise Skibbe.
At Many Hands, Jane says, “participants are paid the casual award rate when undertaking the program, and... we offer graduates casual employment at our events upon graduation.” But the experience can be taken to mainstream work, outside of Merchant Road, such as the award-winning architectural and cultural laboratory, MPavilion.
Working in this field has led Jane to some critical reflections. “The institutional cruelty of our immigration system and so-called border control is an affront to human rights, decency, and fairness,” Jane argues, “and doing this work has only deepened my disgust toward how this government treats people seeking protection in Australia.” However, individual change and seeking out positive, strong, enduring partnerships has allowed Merchant Road to grow and help those most in need.
“It’s important that we are able to curate the entire experience and ensure that the end result has a consistent look and feel throughout,” says Jane Marx. Photo - Stina Evjan of Gold and Grit Photography.
A table set and ready for a Merchant Road event. Photo - Marie-Luise Skibbe.
“I love to curate dining experiences for our guests that are beautiful, considered, and genuinely different, and I am also a strong advocate for the young women we work with to have the same opportunities I did.”