When I first started pole dancing in 2011, there weren’t many pole wear brands to pick your booty shorts from. There were the ‘pole fitness’ labels designed for the girls who were poling for the cool flippy tricks, and if you wanted ‘exotic’ pole wear, you sequined an old bra and sewed on some elastic from Spotlight to give it a ‘strappy’ look.

These days we have so many great choices, but today I am going to introduce to you a fresh Australian label and the pocket-rocket behind it all. Meet Emma from AMBR Designs – a real life sassy little mermaid, who brings her bright passion and positive energy to every garment she creates.

With a new collection just around the corner, Emma reveals what it’s really like behind the scenes building pole wear empire, as well as balancing her life as a pole instructor, semi-pro competitor and school teacher.


From the studio to the stage
Emma discovered the wonderful world of pole dancing in 2011. She went along to a free trial class with a girlfriend and hasn’t looked back since. Coming from a dance background, Emma had been looking for a new form of dance, as she started to outgrow her ballet, jazz and tap classes.

“I had just finished up doing ballet and then I was kind of on the search,” says Emma. “I tried hip hop, and I tried a few other different styles of dance which I also loved. But then when I found pole, I was like this is it. This is the one! It’s so cool though with pole [that] you can bring all those different aspects of dance in. Like you can do ballet, or more jazz or hip hoppy – so I was like this is the perfect mix of everything!”

Emma had been a student a Pole Divas Mornington for about 3.5 years when an instructor position opened up and she applied. Emma has now been teaching for about 6 years and absolutely loves it. When asked if she has any proud pole teacher moments, Emma earnestly tells me every class there’s one. “Just like when someone does a straddle or even someone might feel comfortable taking off their jumper or just like dancing it out – just so many! I just have the biggest cheesy grin for the whole hour of every class,” says Emma.

Emma then took to the competition stage in 2017, giving us flirty, high energy routines, displaying the perfect balance of tricks and dance. Last year Emma decided it was time to really focus on competitive pole and see how different her routines could be from one comp to another, learning a lot about her style and ‘go to’ tricks in the process.

“I would definitely say I am more of a static dynamic kind of girl. But my dance style, it’s a little bit different I would say because of the ballet aspect – I like the slow movement. But then I actually really enjoy dancing to like pop-y, fun songs,” says Emma.

The hard work paid off, as Emma placed second at the Victorian Pole Championships – a total surprise to her! “I applied and I was like hmm not sure if I’ll even get a look at, but I was absolutely blown away! I told my whole family not to come to the comp so they didn’t come!” Emma says laughing. “I think because there was no pressure, I was like alright I feel like I’m a bit over my head so I can just literally enjoy dancing. It was a lovely surprise, so that was cool.”


If that was a surprise, Emma was about to fall off her pole at what was coming next. After competing at the Miss Pole Dance Victoria heat, and absolutely slaying the stage, Emma was announced as Chilli Rox’s Showgirl! This gained her immediate entry into the finals – the epic Miss Pole Dance Australia.

“That was mind-blowing! OUT OF THIS WORLD! Never did I ever think that would be me! It was an exciting day at school when I got tagged in Chilli’s post announcing it,” says Emma.

The day Emma found out she was going to be competing at MPDA, she was teaching woodwork. “I had my phone in my pocket but I hadn’t checked it, and I could just feel it was vibrating – it was going off chops!” laughs Emma. “Then when the bell went, all the kids went out to recess and I was looking at all these tags and comments, and I had missed calls. Everyone was like ‘watch Chilli’s post!’ I watched it and I literally just stood in the woodwork room and cried!”

Emma performed an incredible routine that was steaming with sass and full of energy. “I definitely died the second I walked out past those wings off stage!” she laughs. “But it’s funny, like you get so many emotions at once, and when I was onstage it was almost like an outer body experience! When you hear the crowd cheer, you just keep going – you don’t even think about being tired or fatigued. I was like I’ve just got to give it everything I’ve got, and if I pass out the second I walk out to those wings it’s going to be worth it!”

While Emma isn’t overly superstitious when it comes to comp day, along with always watching the tech runs to get her pumped, you will find 3 things in her pole bag.

“I take a Prima,” she says bursting out into a laugh. “Like a pack of Prima’s [juice boxes] and a packet of sour straps. They’re my two go-to’s for snackies! And then just Dry Hands – gotta have the Dry Hands,” Emma giggles. Absolutely brilliant that the school teacher packs a Prima and lollies for the big excursion to MPDA!

While 2019 was an incredible comp year for Emma, we did get a glimpse of her onstage in 2020 at Exotic Generation Australia, just before the coronavirus related restrictions were enforced.

Emma, along with her friends Maddy and Allira, did a group show to Beyonce, wearing pink wigs and delivering some serious girl gang chorey. It was an even more special experience for Emma, as these girls were her original pole instructor's way back in the day.

“I got to dance with not only my best friends, but my teachers, and they’ve been a massive inspiration to me for my pole career,” says Emma. “The whole show was really cool! I mean, the first time Exotic Gen being in Australia was a cool achievement for Australian [pole] dancers – it was awesome!”

Throughout these pole dancing years, Emma felt there was always something missing in the pole wear market. Pole wear that looked great but practical enough you could still whip out a Fonji in. So, enter AMBR Designs – a pole and active wear brand brightening the path to your pole dreams!

Beginning AMBR Designs
Emma started AMBR Designs while she was studying design at University. She tells me she has always loved being artsy and creative.

“I’ve always loved drawing and designing and painting all through school. Mum has kept some of my old exercise books and you can see there’s just drawings all over them! My English teachers and math's teachers at the time were like ‘Em, you can’t just draw your life through high school!’” she says laughing.

When she finished high school, Emma had wanted to become a costume designer, loving the glitz and glam of costumes from her dance background. However, she was shattered when she wasn’t accepted for this course (which ended up getting cancelled as fate would have it!). Emma spent the summer working, and successfully applied for a Textile Design course at RMIT starting the following year.

Emma chose to go down the path of printing, which enabled her to translate her drawings or paintings, onto fabric. “I loved seeing a hand rendered design be either printed or painted onto fabric and then you could use that fabric. I was like this is SO cool! I could take my paintings so much further than just on a canvas or in my sketch book,” she says. “That’s when I started really thinking perhaps maybe I could do this for a career or a hobby that could almost go somewhere.”


The name AMBR Designs was actually inspired by Emma’s Nan (shout out to Nan!). Emma had to start putting a name to her designs at Uni, and went to seek out some advice from her #1 fan.

“My nan is like the go-to! She is the best person to come up with names for anything. I was like ‘Nan, I want to start a brand and I don’t want to call it Emma Shanahan designs – do you have any good ideas for me?’” Emma tells me. “She’s like, ‘Why don’t you link it to yourself somehow? You’ve got red hair, why don’t you do something to do with red? It’s quite iconic the colour of your hair’ and I was like ‘Yeah that’s a good idea Nan!’ And she said, ‘Why don’t you go with amber? Amber’s a colour of red, but you could mix it up and just change the spelling a little bit?’ And I was like – that's it! It’s done!”

The first AMBR creation was a circle beach towel. Emma designed 4 patterns and placed an order of 400 towels. “I didn’t really think about how much room 400 circle towels would take up (sorry Dad!),” chuckles Emma. “It was the very first time I’d dealt with manufacturers or importing goods, and this stock arrived on Christmas Eve, on a big truck on this pallet. I was at work, working at the surf shop, and Dad calls the surf shop and he’s like ‘Emma, where do you plan to put these 400 towels?’ I was like ‘just in ya garage thanks Dad!’” she says bursting out laughing.

That summer, Emma did a lot of market stalls and hustled super hard to start spreading the AMBR name. It was while working at the surf shop, Emma had noticed a gap in the market.

“I was at the surf shop and I had lots of girls coming in looking for bathers or swimwear that they could also surf in and workout in,” says Emma. “As well as, I was dancing at Divas and there were pole brands which were rad but they were very plain. I was like ‘oh I wonder if I could melt these two ideas together?’ I could create a garment that you could wear at the beach or at the gym or at the dance studio, that was fun! So that’s where it like all stemmed from – that’s the very first beginnings of AMBR.”

Prints to pole wear
AMBR prints are bright, beautiful with a touch of boho, and will have you shaking your booty on even the dullest of days. What’s even more amazing is that Emma designs the fabric prints herself! “I normally sketch everything first and then I paint it,” Emma explains. “And then I scan it or take photos of it and bring it into my computer and create pattern repeats. I normally try to create coordinates with these pattern repeats so then I can choose which looks best, so I’ve got a few options. Then I send these
designs off to my suppliers, and then they print them all and create my garments.”

So where does Emma find the inspiration for her dreamy designs?

"All different places! My most recent collection, it's called ‘Lost in Love’. A lot of my girlfriends over the summer got married, so I felt like I was surrounded by so much love and joy. I was really inspired by everyone’s weddings and hen’s parties and just kind of friendship and love! So that’s where this collection has kind of stemmed from,” she says. “One of my girlfriends had this beautiful lace on her wedding dress and so I was like lace! And then that’s where this red print that you’ll see has come from. Then there’s flowers and kisses, and it’s all just very light and lovey.”

Along with designing the prints, Emma has also put together the styles and shape of her clothing. During the first AMBR collection, she tells me it took a lot of samples to find the perfect cuts. The first sample for her high waist bottoms started off looking like they had just escaped from the 70s!

"Once I got that garment pattern down-pat I was like yep let’s lock that one in. Like I added the high waisted [bottoms], which again so much sketching from my end just working out measurements and just trying stuff on me holding up the measuring tape!” says Emma with a giggle.

Whether it’s trying the samples on her friends, Mum or herself while her partner does the measuring, Emma is always testing out AMBR styles to make sure they will work perfectly for us! With such great support surrounding her, Emma’s squad really does jump in (literally into her clothes) to help bring AMBR to life.

Photoshoots, promos and the post office
You know that buzz you get from nailing a pole trick you have been working on for months? That flutter of excitement in your stomach, followed by a burst of adrenaline to do it again? Multiply that by 100 and that’s how I imagine Em feels on AMBR delivery day – when her precious babies finally arrive. However, the work doesn’t end there.

Emma wears all of the hats at AMBR Designs. Designer, creative director, photoshoot planner, marketing, promotion, wholesale, customer service, web design, social media manager, even packing the orders to take to the post office. This girl does it all – always with a massive smile!

“It’s good I guess I just know my business inside and out,” says Emma laughing when I point out how busy she must be. “I definitely have a lot of help from my brother, my partner and my parents. When it’s release date or when a collection’s about to be launched, they are definitely the backbone – they are always there for me. Mum will be running down to the post office, my brother will be helping me pack orders, my partner’s there just to listen to me talk about how I don’t know what I’m doing!” she says
with a giggle. “I love it, it doesn’t even feel like work. Doing the photoshoot with the girls is just so much fun! I actually get FOMO from my own photoshoots – I’m like ‘ohh I want to be in it!’”

The photoshoot for a new collection is one of Emma’s favourite parts of the process. Seeing her creations coming to life and being worn as she imagined all those months ago, is super rewarding for her.

“I can’t even explain it! On Friday when Maddy put an outfit on, and it’s the first time I’ve seen somebody put an outfit on besides from myself when I get the samples – I just cried,” says Emma laughing. “It’s so cool to see an initial idea standing at a girlfriend’s wedding, to the final outcome looking at a friend wearing an outfit.”

AMBR photoshoots look like the perfect girl's day out and have you wishing you could dive straight into the pictures to hang with the ‘AMBR Angels’. Emma plans all of the concepts and ropes in her beautiful friends to model her magical creations. For one of her collections, Emma even have them rolling around on roller skates out the front of Luna Park in Melbourne on a sunny winter's day. “The girls were rolling around on their roller skates and then we got quite a crowd watching! We shot out the front of Luna Park, and as we were shooting, this giant flash mob came who all danced in 70s and 80s
workout gear,” Emma laughs. “They all had these headphones on – it was like a silent disco flash mob! And I was like this day couldn’t have been planned even if I wanted to!”

Recently Emma shot her newest collection, ‘Lost in Love’ and once again, the sneak peeks have us begging for the release of these gorgeous styles. After searching for the perfect location without much luck, Emma decided to turn her own house into a “old school, eclectic, bougie house” for the shoot. Nothing a trip to Bunnings and 2000 feathers off eBay couldn’t help with!

"It worked really well! It was actually really funny; my house is TINY and we’re shooting and I’m laughing just like ‘do you reckon all small businesses have done this?’” Em tells me. “My room was so small I had to open the window, and I’m like photographing out the window! But it came up really well so you would never know,” she says with a grin.

AMBR Designs has really grown over the years, becoming an established online business. Emma no longer needs to do the dusty market stalls early on the weekends, as she has been able to build her brand online gaining more exposure with every new collection.

"I created my own website a couple of years ago and I’ve just been adding to it,” says Emma. “For this new collection, I’ve actually built a whole new website on a new platform which I’m excited to launch – I’m really excited to share it with you guys!”

Emma has been working with Shopify to launch her new site, adding a few new aspects to it – including AfterPay! She thanks her 16yr old self for learning how to code MySpace pages back in the day, laughing at how it has actually come in handy coding the website. While it can be challenging, Emma does really enjoy the marketing side of AMBR.

"I love creating the concept, like the story behind like the design and showcasing that. And I love all the colourways, so I guess the entire picture of it,” Emma says. “I like bringing it all together, it’s like a cute little package doing the marketing – it's like the bow on top.”

AMBR Designs today
From long market days to a booming online business, AMBR has certainly grown and evolved since the beginning. Once only stocking circle towels, AMBR now has all of your needs sorted for quality pole and activewear.

Last year Emma introduced leggings and long sleeve tops to AMBR. "I’m friends with lots of girls who do lyra, and they said ‘oh Em we can’t do lyra in crop tops and booty shorts’. I was like ‘don’t worry girls – I got you!’ So that’s the reason why I wanted to do leggings and long sleeve tops,” explains Emma. She is now also introducing cropped jumpers to her range.

“They’re actually like long sleeve baggy tees but I’ve made them so you can ‘crop them your way’! You can literally get some scissors onto them and cut them and they won’t fray, they’ll just roll!” Emma tells me with excitement. “So if you want them shorter or longer or no sleeves, you can just cut them to however you want to wear it. I wanted it to be a little versatile like that as well!”

Emma is always open to suggestions from her customers. “I LOVE getting feedback – it's the best thing ever!” she says. “I think that’s the way that a business can grow. If you’re not so much open to feedback, you can’t really go much further. I love hearing ‘oh we’d like a thicker band here’ or ‘a wider section here’. And I definitely try to do as many things as possible, even just keeping them in mind for a collection down the track or a new garment style.”

AMBR Designs has now even gone global, with Pole Junkie jumping on board and becoming a stockist– a huge achievement for Emma. AMBR has now travelled as far as Switzerland, Scotland and France!

Emma explains it can be tricky to know how much to order with the release of a new collection. "I never know, like this collection could be the biggest flop and all my friends could be getting leggings for Christmas presents,” Emma says bursting out laughing. “I never know, I never know! Kind of like the first drop a collection is always like oooh is this going to work?”

Chasing the AMBR dream
While Emma adores this wild life she has created for herself, sometimes it can feel a little like going too fast on a spin pole! Emma tells me there can be tricky times.

"There’s definitely a lot of stressful moments,” says Emma. “Literally like 3 days ago when I had these two photoshoots planned on the weekend, I had half of my stock stuck in customs. Knowing that it had been there for 2 weeks and it still wasn’t going to arrive before the photoshoot, that was me calling Mum crying,” she says laughing. “Mum’s always like ‘so have we got a breakdown coming up?’ And I’ll be like ‘yep um tomorrow night at 4pm – I'll give you a call!’ But it’s so fine! If that’s the worst thing – it's
so fine. That’s probably the most stressful thing – waiting for stock to arrive. Because it’s like you’ve done all of the hard work and then you’re just waiting for it to be in your hands!”

What has been the biggest lesson AMBR has taught Emma over the years?

"I think to be true to yourself and go with your gut feeling. I think if you’re not stoked with a design or style, then if you’re not going to love it then I don’t think that many other people will love it,” Emma explains. “You need to whole-heartedly commit and believe in your designs, then I think that projects onto other people as well.”

Having created a thriving life for herself, while loving every aspect of her world, Emma would love to see AMBR go even further – ideally releasing 4 collections each year. This would involve taking a big chance on herself and perhaps making some lifestyle changes.

“I’m thinking if I want to try and grow AMBR a little bit more, then I just need to invest some more time in it to make that possible. So something might have to give, and I don’t think it will be pole dancing!” Emma laughs. “The big dream would be to run AMBR fulltime and still dance, but until then I’ll be teaching kids how to build wooden boats at school!”

Finding balance
With 3 jobs and a drive to continue growing AMBR, how does Emma manage to squeeze it all in?! She gives Beyonce a run for her money that’s for sure.

“Sometimes I will get into a little rut, but I find I am the most motivated when I am busy,” says Emma, explaining if she has too much time she will stew on her prints and ‘over-design’ them. “If I’ve only got a day where I’m like okay I’ve gotta get these designs done, they’ll be so much better than what I would have done if I had more time. I would say definitely be planned out, be organised. And I would say just look after yourself as well – surround yourself with really supportive people.”

How does Emma ‘switch off’ from it all?

“I really enjoy spending time with my partner and zoning out. Like hanging out with our dog (Archie) and going for a walk down at the beach – I really enjoy that,” smiles Emma. “I can chat to him about dancing or work or AMBR, but then we can just completely forget all those things and just chat about other stuff so I really enjoy that zone out time. I’m very lucky.”

Forever creating something, Emma also really enjoys renovating with her partner. “We did a little renovation on our house and we’re planning in about a month’s time to build another house on the back half of our block,” she says. “So that’s also what I’ve kind of been doing in some free time – lots of planning and designing that. I guess still designing but designing more like interior stuff which I really enjoy! Maybe my partner and I can get on The Block one day!” laughs Emma.


Reflecting on how hectic her life is sometimes, Emma tells me, “I definitely wouldn’t change it for the world! I enjoy all my jobs and they’re all really different as well. Like I get enjoyment and I love seeing my kids learn and grow, and then I love designing, and then I also love hanging out and dancing with the girls, so I’m very lucky.”

AMBR advice for hustling hard
As queen of going with your instincts, what are Emma’s top tips for someone looking to chase their own passion and build a life they also love?

“I would absolutely say go for it! Like my friend said this quote a few years ago, he said ‘if worst case scenario it’s just time and money’ and I was like [that’s] so true! Like if that’s the worst thing that can happen you just lose time and you lose money. But you might have learned so much or you might have experienced so much or met so many people,” says Emma. “And that’s the worst-case scenario! If the best-case scenario is it thrives and it’s incredible, then you’ll absolutely know no turning back. So I would just say go for it! It’s just time and money.”

“If AMBR was to stop tomorrow, I definitely wouldn’t be the person I am today without of going through all of those experiences from AMBR,” Emma continues. “So I’m super grateful for everything that’s come from it so far and hopefully there’s more to come.”

There will definitely be more to come from this amazing girl, who’s spark and positive vibes flow through every garment she creates. Emma has built not just a brand, but a contagious AMBR energy that we hope will rub off on us, like the glitter we roll around in onstage.