Until a decade ago, Efrat Gilon was a full-time mother. After her third daughter, Naama, was born, she decided to also do something for herself and took a home styling course. After the course, she realized that the field was less related to her, but the turnaround was not long in coming.
In 2014, a friend of hers asked her for help editing a family album. They sat down at the computer, sorted and edited materials. After they finished, the company mentioned to her that she thought a lot of people needed help in the field.
“After a night of thinking, I turned to someone who dealt with arranging houses and asked her to check if she might have clients who would like this service. Apparently the stars aligned in exactly the right place – after a few days the first client came to me. From there, everything is history.”
Efrat’s studio – the “curator” – edits and handles everything related to the photographic history of families: children’s albums, trips, deceased relatives, etc. Her clients sometimes bring tens of thousands of photos with them and she turns them into albums, with all that implies.
“I work with the COSTUM MADE method, and not one album is the same as the previous one. I start each album with a ‘blank page’ and edit it while referring to the nature of the client and the subject of the album. The editing is done with professional editing software and the printing is done using the best raw materials.”
For the customers, it is mainly a sigh of relief. “After the materials are transferred to me, the customers are grateful that someone takes this ‘bag’ from them. At the end of the road, you can really see and feel their excitement that I turned the large storages into albums that will remain for them and their children.
“Many moments are stored in our memory drawer, but they are not right next to us – they are scattered among virtual clouds, mobile phones and other storage solutions. They are close but actually very far away. My goal is to perpetuate these memories, the good and beautiful moments that are no longer there.”
Although today the business is on its feet, the beginning of the road was not easy. “The jump into the water was done in stages. At first I was in a very small studio and there were a lot of setbacks – periods of no clients, low activity, decreasing income and at the same time constant expenses that continue. It was not easy, but today I believe they were good and right. They taught me to manage the This thing, adjust the product costs accordingly.
“As a freelancer who works alone, I often encounter the difficulty of the operational load – uploading content, managing sales, conducting meetings and handling everything related to bookkeeping. Also, there are very high costs for maintaining the computer equipment, my backup servers and the editing software.”
Finally, Efrat shares her ambitions for the future. “I want to continue to be good and professional in what I do. I see the business growing and continue to give customers the preservation of memories they need.”
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