:: Meet Me At Mikes : Good Stuff For Nice People: A Week of Australian Fabric Design - Profile

You're designing some lovely fabric and crafty things now, but what were you doing before this crafty life? Thank you Pip, it means a lot! I've always been 'a wee bit arty crafty' as my Dad would say! In a previous life I suspect I was doing something really repetitive like Japanese stencil cutting or counting rice grains in a monastery.

Do you come from a long line of crafty people? Have you always made things? Not crafty people but creative thinkers definitely. My mum painted on silk, my oldest sister is an actor, next oldest sister paints gorgeous flowers, youngest is an emerging creative writer/artist, my brother plays the bass (!) he taught himself.

Then you add the other family members who are/were philosophers, academics, musicians, songwriter, linguist and its starts sounding like I grew up in a circus. I haven't always made things but I have always been drawing patterns in some form or another.

What other jobs have you had? Pizza Hut, bar worker, English teacher, retail, stylist, aged carer, and children's art teacher -all of which have kept me afloat to pursue designing fabric.

These jobs taught me self-discipline, commitment, flexibility and the importance of communication. Ive always been interested in making things look pretty- my pizzas were really pretty.

Is fabric design your crafty dream come true - or did you arrive at it unexpectedly? Yes (my dreams are coming true)! It has been a deliberate but adaptive process. I have gone the long and hard way about it but think the experience of learning to design and do my own screen printing is key to really understanding fabric. I used to love dot drawing with textas on tissues when I was 4- I mean seriously loved it; found it completely satisfying and relaxing (I was sick at the time).

I was lucky I went to a wonderful children's art school to paint every Saturday for years and years with my sister; over 4.5 years I completed a Degree in Visual Art majoring in Printmaking; then to further study in Sydney, to setting up my own retail outlet upon returning from three years in Japan; to a wonderful collaboration with Carly as Umbrella Prints. It really has felt like a journey and I'm buzzing at the moment.

How much time do you spend on your craft? How do you manage the craft/life balance? It feels like it's a part of everything I do. I would need another three lives to see all I'd love to do complete. Currently there is no craft/life balance ask my husband. Everything is either in our car or sprawled all over the kitchen table. Grace (my daughter) gets into it with me too because she loves drawing and chatting and bits and pieces.

What do your family and friends think about your crafty life, your blog and your work? My family is growing in confidence and very supportive but there is about a 5 minute max window to talk about what I actually do before eyes glaze over and boredom sets in! My family likes to talk about my daughter. My Adelaide friends love me but don't really know much about what I do because they aren't into blogging, small business or fabric!

Who inspires you? Crafty or otherwise, and why? So many people inspire me and for different reasons, I could write a ten page list. But a few would include: My sister Susan; she says ' Just Do it, Amy. Work your arse off. Aim big Amy. You just have to friggen go for it' ... and that's just to get me off the couch. Working with Carly is inspiring- any idea has its minute in the sun no matter how wild- she takes me seriously.

Visually if I look back, overall its the people who create a feeling of magic that have inspired me- Klimt, Andy Goldsworthy, Akira Isogawa, John Donne and Robert Frost poetry, Bjork, William Morris, Mogul paintings, tribal drawings, African wax-resist fabrics, Anno Mitsumasa, Ron Brooks illustration, Bronwyn Oliver's sculpture and Fiona Hall's installations, to name a few. I'm also a magazine freak and have been cutting up pictures and keeping images for about 15 years. I catalog them into colours, textures and themes. I find that inspiring.

What will you be working on in the coming twelve months? Is there something you really want to do - or an area of your work you want to improve or learn more about? We are really excited about our work and are about to print another two feature designs (one each). People have been very interested in our Patchwork Fabric #1 and we will continue with a #2- its a bit of a signature really.

We have a number of designs for products which just need time so stay tuned. Our Tandem projects have been so much fun we are continuing them and posting info about them on our 'website'. I'd like to learn more about how to relax and think about that work/life balance thing.

What do you find difficult about this crafty life? And what is the best part? Difficulties? Patience, focus and finance. It can be frustrating to wait. Best parts? There are many best parts...working for ourselves... drawing... working with lines and colours... someone in Alaska buying our fabric...

Do you find it difficult to balance the creative with the commercial when you are designing? Yes very much, most of my ideas are not mainstream commercial at all. The characters in my drawings are all outsiders in some way, my art is ephemeral or incredibly fragile, my brooches are unusual and my drawings are not really 'cutesy'. That's why Carly and I have so much fun with our Patchwork Fabric. Because the pieces are small we can throw in any designs we like and not worry about risking a huge run of one unusual fabric that may not sell.

Also having Carly's Nest Studio is great because we can make whatever we like- which attracts people who are looking for something that is NOT commercial. Our biggest fans seem to be other designers and artists. Overall there are parts of our range that would attract mainstream and other parts that might not (yet!), but there is no point being anything other than yourself.

Do you have time to make things for yourself? I never make things for myself! It occurred to me that I don't have any of my own work on my own walls. I struggle to even wear my own brooches in case people think I'm trying to advertise or something. On the other hand I dress Grace in our fabric because it suits her and is comfortable. I really love seeing how other people have included Umbrella Prints fabric in their lives and homes.

What's your view on the Australian Craft Movement - there seems to be a lot of people following both Contemporary and Traditional craft here. In your opinion, is it different to the US Craft Scene? I'm not that familiar with the US craft market except for a few exceptional designers and what I see on Etsy. I do think that people are returning to the warmth and comfort of handmade items in droves.

We are contacted a lot by people from America interested in textiles and wanting to know more about designing and printing. A number of people in US seem to be aware of what we are all doing here which is groovy! The internet is a wonderful way of ignoring the distance.