LIVE ON THE BRIGHT SIDE

 

Some clothes help you blend in.

 

These pieces have other plans.

 

A hand-painted appliqué can turn a blazer, jacket or coat into something with personality, humour and its own visual presence. Something people notice. Something they ask about. Something that can change your mood before you have even left the house.

 

Wear it because it makes you smile.

 

Wear it because colour feels better today.

 

Wear it because you have somewhere to go.

 

Wear it because you are building a new version of your life and you want what you wear to catch up.

 

Sometimes transformation can begin with one visible detail.

 

 

ART YOU CAN TAKE INTO THE WORLD

 

I create each appliqué as an original textile artwork.

 

Some are bold characters and images that already exist in my wearable art collection. You may find one that feels completely yours without changing a thing.

 

Others begin with you.

 

A photograph, phrase, memory, person, destination, symbol, ambition or personal reference can become the starting point for a new work.

 

I interpret that source through my own contemporary visual language using colour, line, character and composition.

 

The result is an artwork inspired by your story, not a realistic photographic reproduction.

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CHOOSE THE ONE THAT FINDS YOU

 

Sometimes you do not need a custom commission.

 

You see a piece and know immediately.

 

A face. A character. A colour combination. Something funny, strange, glamorous or impossible to explain.

 

That is enough.

 

Existing hand-painted appliqués are available individually and can become part of your own clothing.

 

New pieces are continually created, so the available selection changes.

 

 

OR CREATE SOMETHING THAT DOESN’T EXIST YET

 

You do not need to arrive with a finished design.

 

Bring me the beginning.

 

It could be a photograph you keep returning to. A person who changed something in your life. A visual symbol connected with what you want next. A place. A phrase. An absurd private joke. An image that gives you energy. Something from your past, or something connected with the future you are moving towards.

 

I take that starting point and develop it into an original piece of wearable art.

 

Something personal does not have to be serious.

 

It can be funny.

 

It can be outrageous.

 

It can be beautiful.

 

It can make no sense to anyone except you.

 

It can exist for the sole purpose of making an ordinary Tuesday considerably better.

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DRESS FOR THE REALITY YOU’RE CREATING

 

Objects can become part of the way we imagine ourselves.

 

The image you keep seeing, the symbol that reminds you where you are going, the colour that changes your energy, the strange idea you cannot get out of your head. These things can become part of what you wear.

 

Your clothes can carry fragments of the world you are building.

 

A custom appliqué can be a marker of a new chapter, a reminder, a source of confidence, a joke shared with the world, or a bright interruption in an otherwise ordinary day.

 

There does not always need to be a profound reason.

 

Sometimes looking in the mirror and thinking, “this is fantastic”, is reason enough.

 

 

MAKE SOMEONE LOOK TWICE

 

Wearable art changes the social life of clothing.

 

People notice it.

 

They ask questions, smile, start conversations.

 

And suddenly the thing you put on that morning has created a small event between two people who might otherwise have walked straight past each other.

 

If you enjoy pieces with character, clothing that feels alive and the occasional stranger asking, “Where did you get that?”, you are in the right place.

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MAKE IT PART OF YOUR CLOTHING

 

You can order an appliqué as an individual artwork and arrange the application yourself.

 

For suitable garments, you can also enquire about having the piece attached for you.

 

After we confirm the artwork, garment, placement and practical suitability, you can send the garment to me. I will apply the finished artwork and return the completed piece to you.

 

Garment suitability is always confirmed first.

 

 

HOW A CUSTOM COMMISSION BEGINS

 

Start with a short enquiry.

 

Tell me what you are imagining and the kind of garment you have in mind.

 

You do not need to send every photograph or explain the entire story in the first message.

 

I will reply privately by email. From there, you can send reference images and we can discuss the idea, artistic direction, approximate size, placement and quotation.

 

The commission only begins once we have agreed on the direction.

 

 

HAVE AN IDEA?

 

You may already know exactly what you want.

 

You may only have one strange sentence, one photograph or one colour in your head.

 

Both are perfectly good places to begin.