You’re designing some lovely fabric and crafty things now, but what were you doing before this crafty life? Before I started to design textiles and home wares I was working as a marketing coordinator, then a union administrator. It was in this job that I could find any creativity, even though I loved working for the union. I have always had a passion for graphic design and had been experimenting with patterns for a while. After reading an article on textile designer -and now business partner – Lara Cameron, I decided to take the plunge and see what my patterns looked like on fabric. Fortunately others liked it as much as I did and that’s why I kept doing it… and to take one step further, we have now set up our own screen printing studio. I still work 3 days per week at an education institute but plan to dedicate myself completely to ink & spindle in the near future.
Do you come from a long line of crafty people? Have you always made things? It’s an interesting question, because I’ve never looked at it this way before, not until recently. My grandparents are both furniture upholsterers, my mum used to sew our clothes and make decorative pieces for our house and when I was a child we used to create lots of things. Things with rubber, tea bag wrappers, peanuts, fabric, wool, you name it, I’ve made something out of it. Mum doesn’t actively sew anymore, but my grandma can still be found on her industrial sewing machine every day. She and pop still upholster (part-time) and they make leather bags.
What other jobs have you had? I studied International Business and Management and always had this vision of becoming an international marketing director. I don’t think that’s ever going to happen, unless ink & spindle goes global 😉 Marketing and business is still my biggest passion and that’s what I’ll be doing for ink & spindle. Of course I’ll also keep creating, designing and printing… I’m keeping my options open 😉
Is fabric design your crafty dream come true – or did you arrive at it unexpectedly? I’m slowly getting used to the fact that I can call myself a ‘textile designer’ now, I still haven’t fully embraced that term. To be honest, I arrived at it totally unexpectedly. The reason I started designing is because I had a passion for graphic design but no formal training. I taught myself how to use photoshop and illustrator and learned how to make a repeat pattern for screen printing. I’m still learning lots of ‘short cuts’ and am totally loving it. For me it feels like we [ink & spindle] are creating our own dreams and making them come true.
How much time do you spend on your craft? How do you manage the craft/life balance? The time I spend on craft varies. We’re [ink & spindle] are turning our hobby and passion into something full-time. Our lives are textiles, printing and designing. I’m absolutely loving it!
What do your family and friends think about your crafty life, your blog and your work? My family is overseas and they love reading my blog because it’s how they keep up to date with what’s happening with me here in Australia. As for my friends, I met them through blogging [Teegs of course used to be my neighbour]. Most of the people that are close to me, love what I’m doing and support me.
Who inspires you? Crafty or otherwise, and why? My partner Marcel (www.bulbstudios.com.au), Lara (kirinote.blogspot.com), Teegs (inkandspindle.blogspot.com), David Attenborough, Kristina Karlsson, Lotta Jansdotter and numerous bloggers.
What will you be working on in the coming twelve months? Is there something you really want to do – or an area of your work you want to improve or learn more about? In the next twelve months we’ll be building our business, ink & spindle. We will start to take on orders from people who’d like to have their own pattern screen printing on fabric and we’ll also be building our own labels. New hollabee patterns and products will be released, we’ll have a grand opening, an exhibition and there’s also an exciting [secret] project that we’re working on. You’ll all find out about it once we’re ready.
What do you find difficult about this crafty life? And what is the best part? At the moment it’s quite hard to find a good balance between work, home and the studio, but now we’ve started it’s falling into place. There’s a lot happening at the moment and I have to get into planning mode to make it all happen. Luckily I have to fantastic business partners!
Do you have time to make things for yourself? Most of the things I make start as something for myself, friends or family. If I like what I made, then I refine it and sell it to others.
What’s your view on the Australian Craft Movement – there seems to be a lot of people following both Contemporary and Traditional craft here. In your opinion, is it different to the US Craft Scene? I’m loving the way Australians embrace craft and design. It seems like a huge hype now and the traditional craft is transforming into modern and contemporary craft. I’m not sure how different it is from the US craft scene, from the many blogs I read it seems that they’re transforming too. Of course the country is a lot bigger than Australia so I can imagine they’d have a bigger variety of craft.
