my process

Ever since I was a little girl, I enjoyed making things and using my hands to express what was on my mind. I learned crafting, cooking and baking from my mother, Sylvia, and maternal grandmother, Rensie, spending hours drawing and making 'art'. I was fortunate to be in a home that valued the handmade and encouraged the handcrafted. I knew from an early age that design and art would be my future. I look back now and realise that my artistic skills and ability are a direct result of those formative years spent creating and crafting with my hands.

Print and pattern form a strong connection to how I see the natural world around me. I fell in love with the process of screen printing while at art college studying Textile Design. The rhythm and repetition of the squeegee as it passes ink through tiny holes onto the cloth, creating a pattern or picture, is still exciting even after all these years! As the screen is lifted, there's a moment of breath holding as the design is revealed with its variations and nuances. In a world of mass production and digitalisation, it's a gift to continue the art of hand screen printing and creating fabric with love. It's also important that each pattern I design has a story behind the print. It's a small insight into how I view nature and the beauty of the everyday, a narrative told through pattern and print.

I try to work as sustainably and ethically as possible. I use local suppliers whenever I can. I always save my scraps of printed fabric to be upcycled in other projects and patchwork pieces, incorporating a fibre to fibre response to recycling. My textile inks are mixed in small batches to avoid wastage and whenever I can, I use non-potable water to clean my silkscreens.