A desire to get away from the stuffy life of desk work saw Emily Hessell landing a dynamic and independent career in glazing. It wasn’t a profession the 29-year-old said she thought she’d enjoy a decade ago, but Emily has settled into the glazing industry like a well-installed pane. Fresh out of high school, Emily found herself stuck at a desk working as a draftsperson, something she’d vowed to avoid.
“Something I said in high school was I’d never get an office job funnily enough – I did drafting for about three-and-a-half years,” Emily said. “I said enough’s enough and applied for about 15 different apprenticeships doing pretty much anything that wasn’t a sparkie, mechanic or plumber.
“Glazing was the one I heard back from, so I went for it, I didn’t know what a glazier was at the time, but I went for it and now I love it.” Eight years on from her first step into the world of glazing, and it appears to be the right move for Emily. Starting at 7am each day, the Perth-based glazier predominantly does commercial glazing for mid-to-low level apartment blocks amid what is a construction boom in the city. Jobs can vary in terms of difficulty and workload, but Emily said the key principles never change.
“It can get quite technical, but at the end of the day it’s a square going into a square hole,” she said. When desk work again crept into Emily’s life six months ago, she decided to go out on her own and start up Hessellmakes. “I was doing office work again … the opportunity came up to do some contracting and work for myself and I thought ‘why not?’,” she said. “It’s been pretty great; I’ve been lucky to tee up someone I used to work with to team up.”
Out on her own
Glazing to the beat of her own drum certainly wasn’t on the cards entering 2022, but Emily has no regrets so far. “I do this trade because I’m just as capable as anyone else, I think it’s just about sticking with it and seeing it through,” she said.
“Taking that step was the scariest bit, but I think that leap has worked out and I’ve ended up where I want to be in the end.” Emily Joined the NAWIC Women in Trades committee after awarded the NAWIC Tradeswomen of the year in 2020 and judging the 2021 awards. “Being in the WiT committee has been great, the support from meeting women who are in a trades and have been through similar experiences has been a welcome change,” she said. “It’s nice to know there are plenty of women out there trying to push for change within the construction industry.”
Glazing hasn’t always been a smooth journey for Emily, but it’s been one she’s relished as she continues to grow both Hessellmakes and her personal glazing skills. Her advice? “Just stick with it, some days are really hard, and people say things that aren’t exactly nice.”
“But you need to take the good with the bad up until a certain point,” she said.
