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Tell us about yourself and what you do at the EPM/LB...
My label is called Folkstore and I design a range of hand embroidered cotton blouses and dresses and wildflower fedora hats, botanical smudges and wildflower gratitude bundles. I love foraging and collecting in nature, drying flowers and creating beauty using natural materials. My fashion designs are inspired by my travels to Asia and an appreciation of the incredible generational artisan skills of the cultures I visited. I collect hand embroidered pieces from many cultures featuring folk art and botanical motifs which inspire me to create my own range. I always prefer natural materials and create small batches being conscious of being kind to Mother Earth.
When did you first know you wanted to be creative?
I love marrying creativity and running a self-created business. I remember my sister and I were always having little stalls at home as kids - selling baked goods, dried and fresh flowers and whatever we could rustle up that we thought our prospective buyers would like! I have always enjoyed making things and the endorphin rush that you get from creating! I also enjoy the way customers respond to my wares and how it makes them feel. Probably having someone like and buy my handmade dyed top and taking it off my body to sell to them, was a real creative high and inspired my love affair with creating, business and fashion design!!
Describe your perfect day...
Self care mummy blissfulness! Morning yoga and meditation, delicious home cooked organic food, a few cups of spiced chai, a little creative making in my workshop listening to inspiring podcasts, an evening massage and bath with essential oils and magnesium salts and a good book in bed-you did say my perfect day!!!!
What is your best ever creative moment?
Walking into the flagship Sportsgirl store in Chadstone when I was 30 and being featured as their new young designer, front of store with a vintage wardrobe filled with my up cycled and handmade wear. It was surreal after working at home in my little studio on the kitchen table and doing little market stalls. Also having my home and business featured in Home beautiful and Burkes Backyard and a little interview on the old Bert Newton show and watching it with my proud Grandma!
Describe a lesson you learnt from a creative failure...
I tried to open a kids fashion and homewares store ''Babe in the Woods" when my daughter Coco, my second baby, was only 2 months old. It flopped and was very stressful -in hindsight I was way overextending myself as this was my second store, a new business and a new baby-what was I thinking?!!! My lesson was to use my wisdom about how much I can manage and to be careful to keep a balance between work and family life. I should have just enjoyed the precious months with my new little babe, my ambition and entrepreneurial spirit made me a little reckless, but I learnt lessons about precious boundaries.
What's the scariest movie you have ever seen?
I can't do horror as I'm so empathic I feel it all!!! Can't really do anticipation either very well, which cuts out most movies- I'm a sensitive one! At 13 yrs I went to a girls slumber party and they played 'Evil dead'-I was horrified and spent the whole movie with a pillow over my head! Game of Thrones was so creatively amazing that despite the violence I kind of endured through the whole series, I would just run out of the room at the scary violent bits and got my partner Marc to call me back when the scene was over!!
What’s the best advice anyone ever gave you?
Use your wisdom! To me that means using both mind and gut together, intuition and gut instinct blended with rational thinking and knowledge.
What's your favourite tunes to get you in the creative mood?
Actually I'm more of a podcast girl! I love listening to interesting interviews on topics such as spirituality, health and wellbeing, environmental issues and peoples personal journeys and learnings. Astrologically I'm a double Sagittarius and I've always enjoyed learning new things, I don't think you can ever stop learning! I love doing this whilst I am bundling up my wildflower smudge bundles and find it quite meditative. Music wise I love mellow folk based music, rap drives me nuts!!!
What do you love most about the EPM/LB?
I love how beautifully curated the market is, with so many beautiful soulful wares that make your heart sing. I also love the bush environment, it feels so earthy and natural and uplifting to be setup amongst the gumtrees. I also enjoy my market community and fellow stallholders who have become friends and catching up with them on the day! EPM is definitely the most beautiful market in Melbourne!!
Where do you see your business in the next 5 years?
I am interested more and more in sustainability and would love to source organic fibres and expand my hand embroidered range. Wholesaling may also be a possibility as I have done it in the past. I also like to live life without to many plans and see where life takes me, I like the factor of surprise! Working in other countries with local artisans is also a dream so we will see!
