Meet The Clearers
Professional Home Organisers – The Clearing Concept Story
Julia and Estelle had always shared a desire to become professional home organisers. But despite being colleagues and good friends, this mutual desire went undiscovered for three years!
It was one night over a bottle of wine and an Indian takeaway that the pair made the discovery. They realised that going into business together was a no-brainer, and so The Clearing Concept was born. By the end of the night, they’d named the business and even bought their website domain – thankfully without making any alcohol-induced typos!
“If we have so many things that we can’t even appreciate what we’ve got, then what’s the point?”
Estelle Bates
Co-Founder
Growing up in a house of ‘organised chaos’, I vowed that when I had my own home I would focus on the ‘organised’ part and skip the ‘chaos’. Don’t get me wrong, I like my stuff and am in no way a minimalist, but if you ask me where anything is in my house I will know. Since becoming a mother, being organised has become more important than ever; I don’t know how we’d all get out of the house on time otherwise.
My motto has always been ‘a place for everything and everything in its place’. Not that the place never changes; I’m constantly making sure that my space works for me and the life I lead. I have always said that if I could tidy and organise for a living I’d be happy. And here I am, bucking the trend of over-consumption and mindless purchasing, to encourage people to surround themselves with things that make them happy. Things are meant to be used and people are meant to be loved. If we have so many things that we can’t even appreciate what we’ve got, then what’s the point?
For the first half of her career, Estelle used her foreign language skills to manage over 500 business-to-business clients for a multinational corporation, specialising in health, hygiene and medical products. More recently, she has spent over ten years working for a luxury health, fitness and lifestyle retailer, managing staff, promoting a healthy lifestyle and keeping the stock room very tidy.
“I realised that my clutter, no matter how well organised it was, prevented me from moving forward.”
Julia Mirzoian
Co-Founder
From a very young age it became clear that I was a natural-born organiser. Whether it was theme parks and hospitals in my favourite childhood computer games (please don’t judge me), or websites, retail stores and managing directors within my professional careers, I brought order wherever I went. But somewhere along the way I lost sight of what I was organising and why. To be completely honest, I became a bit of a hoarder and struggled to let anything go.
I simply couldn’t find my direction in life, and after a lot of soul searching I realised that my clutter, no matter how well organised it was, prevented me from moving forward. Clearing my clutter gave me a new sense of clarity and made space for what was really important to me….organising! Clutter is more than stuff, it’s a direct manifestation of what is going on in your head and I feel privileged to be able to help others to find the value not only in their belongings, but in their lives too.
Julia spent her younger years training to be a ballet dancer and attended The Royal Ballet and The Elmhurst Ballet School. In her professional career, she spent over 10 years managing luxury boutiques and later worked as PA to the managing directors of a designer fashion brand. In recent years, she became a qualified ballet teacher and set up her own business providing adult ballet classes to the local community.