How to get a head in your career

FOR Andy Firth making artistic skulls is a deadly serious business.

The former boatbuilder at Coomera-based Riviera launched his Jack of the Dust business in 2013 and now has thousands of customers around the world for his weird and wonderful creations.

Some of the replica skulls are based on television and film characters, such as Darth Vader and Walter White, while others are inspired by real people including Christopher Wallace (better known as rapper The Notorious B. I. G).

People buy the skulls, which average $US350 ($463), as artistic decorations for home or businesses like bars or tattoo parlours.

Mr Firth said he first ventured into the world of skullcrafting when his roommates bought him one as a gift.

“It had a bit of a dragon on top and it was horrible. I cut the dragon off and starting painting it to see if I could make it look a bit cooler,” he said.

The end result was a mattblack skull with gold teeth.

Friends responded well to his creation, so Mr Firth decided to make more, this time using medical-grade anatomy skulls.

“There are heaps of skulls around at department or highend stores. But, they are all rubbish. Nobody was putting in any solid effort into making something unique.”

Before long he put the skulls up for sale on bigcartel.com. “The first light bulb moment came when I was at Riviera and I had a notification go off on my phone,” he said.

“Somebody sent me $300 for a skull. I thought, this is awesome. I was pumped.”

Mr Firth, who describes himself as a “workaholic”, eventually was forced to quit his part-time job at a video store, to keep up with orders.

In 2015 he was faced with a choice – grow the business or quit Riviera, where he had spent more than 10 years.

“I was starting to make more money from the skulls than at working at Riviera,” he said.

“Riviera was a dead end. I had already reached the pinnacle of my career. I asked myself if I wanted to spend another 10 years there and the answer was no.”

In November, 2016, Mr Firth decided to shift production from his home and purchase a 400sq m factory so he could expand his operation.

However, the first year after making the purchase was a struggle, as he was forced to spend considerable amounts of time setting up the production process.

“I was maxing my space out at home when I decided to make the move. I had to keep pushing. For a commercial property, the deposits are much bigger. I had to put down $100,000 just to get the loan,” he said.

“That took me down to nothing, which is good, because when you have the stress on it makes you work.”

After setting up the production process, he then put on additional staff, and ramped up production. The Hutchinson St factory now makes 150 to 200 skulls each month, some selling for $US799 ($1057).

They sell all over the world, including the US, where character skulls are popular, to France, where they favour a different variety.

“We have a skull that rolls into a snail. Something like that is popular in France because they vibe with that.”

He is now planning to make silicon masks and ceramic pieces (the current skulls are made using urethane resin).

“I’m forever refining the process, and experimenting with new finishes,” he said.