I have always had a love for fabrics, fashion and textiles since my early childhood and when I was growing up I wanted to be either a ballerina or fashion designer!
I was always artistic and enjoyed making things and I had to fit this in between my hectic schedule of learning ballet 6 days a week before and after school. I really enjoyed pottery, sculpture, drawing, painting, copper art and even macramé and string art! I learned how to sew, knit, crotchet, do tapestry and embroidery from my mother and grandmother when I was young and I remember designing and sewing my first outfit when I was 9 years old.
Since the mid 80’s I have been designing jewellery for our business and managing the admin, accounts and website and once my children were older I began to look for other things to do as an interest outside of running our business. My daughter, who had finished school, was now studying fashion design and she told me about a course I might like to study - Textile Design and Fabric Printing. I had to produce a portfolio with drawings, painted artwork and designs for the application and I was really scared because this was something I had never done before! I waited anxiously for 8 weeks to see if I would be accepted into the course and had almost given up hope but then the letter came to say that I was accepted into the course 😃
During this full time year of study I learned about Surface Pattern Design and I decided that this was what I wanted to do. Six years later and after taking numerous other courses I have worked to create an extensive portfolio of designs and illustration art which I will be exhibiting in New York at Blueprint, an independent Illustration and Print Show this May 20th - 22nd.
