Way back in 1994 I was fresh out of art college, full of ideas and out of work, living in Bristol in the UK... No longer able to spend the day welding metal together I had to think of a new way to be creative. I loved the quirky designs of fashion designer Wayne Hemingway and his label Red or Dead, so inspired I picked up an old treadle singer sewing machine at a junk shop and started making purses out of AstroTurf that a green grocer gave me with little Subbuteo football players on them or fake daisies... Recycled Glamour was born!
Over the last 17 years I have made 100's of bags and purses, at one point I had a stall at the very wonderful Spitalfields Market in London and I sold in boutiques in London, Bristol and Brighton... I've had many other careers as an Art Teacher, Ceramics technician, artists assistant, lighting designer/maker. But I always come back to my handbags and purses! I now live in Auckland New Zealand (a very crafty part of the world), After the upheaval of moving halfway round the world I'm ready to get going!
Lots of my ideas for my bags are inspired by long ago happy memories of my Grandmothers house on Dartmoor in Devon, England. So Tweed, linen, and Houndstooth, silk scarves, Liberty Lawn and floral fabric feature in my designs.