I have been wearing and creating with sustainable clothing for the past 30 years, however the process and passion for creating fashion and art wear from deconstructing and re-constructing pre-existing garments really evolved and began to prosper in 2004. It was then that I commenced selling my unique fashion garments through well known stores in Perth, where I was living at the time.

I call myself a constructor as opposed to a designer, as to this day I have never created any piece of clothing from a pattern and flat cloth. This process never really interested me, whereas the potential that existed to extend, alter or improve an existing garment is totally fascinating for me. I construct items of fashion through a process of deconstruction/reconstruction, whereby I take pre-existing recycled garments/items and remix them into new and innovative designs. The latent potential within second-hand clothes/materials to be transformed and repurposed has always exhilarated me.

I am incredibly excited by the potential that exists in taking fashion beyond its use by date and breathing new life into it. I still get a frisson of delight when entering an op shop or market, dreaming of what treasures may await me. The creative process begins right there with finding potentiality in items and imagining how they could be transformed. I then like to explore themes of texture, colour, form and history in order to bring together a collection of elements that will coalesce in a newly developed garment. For me play, and often laughter, is definitely a major element in the construction of fashion garments. Taking ready made garments and turning them inside out, upside down, back to front, sideways and recognising potential new ways of re-representing them is fun and innovative. Sometimes ideas just come out screaming at you and other times you have to work a little harder to see the potential dynamic.

Being able to construct a garment that is truly individual is so exciting. Knowing that no where else in the world will anyone have a copy of it, is such a wonderful thing when we live in a time of mass produced items. Even celebrities wearing highly expensive couture run the risk of seeing others dressed in the same outfit. To top it off, I simply love the idea that you can create something unique whilst also supporting the environment by repurposing things that already exist.