My passion in creativity started at a very young age. My family loves to tell stories of how at Playcentre I would sit for hours at the collage table, or at home how my favourite game was to pretend to be Robin Hood. At school, I wasn’t so interested in doing my assignments as I was in decorating the pages. Hours alone reading helped foster my imagination and an enduring love for history, which lead to me embarking on a degree in Classics and Anthropology from Victoria University in 2008. I met my husband Benjamin around the same time, who introduced me to the Society for Creative Anachronism, a world-wide medieval re-enactment organisation. I had no interest in sewing at the time, and had to be cajoled into making my first dress for my first event.
But seeing the lords and ladies in their finery, living history through their outfits, inspired me to endeavour to make my own beautiful dress. Little by little, I taught myself how to sew. And somewhere along the line, the overwhelming desire to spend my life sewing and creating costumes was born.
In 2013, I started my Diploma in Costume Construction for Film, Theatre and Allied Industries at Toi Whakaari New Zealand Drama School. The vast array of skills and knowledge I gained there have enabled me to be involved in a variety of projects since graduation in 2014; from heading the wardrobe department in several moderate sized theatrical productions, to private commissions and has even allowed me to create a World of Wearable Arts entry, The Eyes Have It, which was accepted into the 2016 show.
The ability to create objects with my hands is the passion which drives my life. I cannot go a single day without sewing or thinking about my sewing projects, or researching new techniques which will improve my work. In today’s ready-made world, I take pride in the fact that I have the time honoured ability to make something personal and beautiful which someone else will also enjoy.