Oat Studio

For Sarah Annand, textiles are the medium that fuses all her creative loves together. Her brand Oat Studio is a way for the designer to unite photography, painting and architecture in fabric design.

Sarah’s textile designs are a culmination of decade of experience in the local fabric industry, a degree in art history and her love for Canberra’s modernist architecture. An unexpected trifecta!

Read the full story here. 

Camille Laddawan

Behind an innocuous shopfront on Johnston Street, Collingwood, artist Camille Laddawan threads coloured glass beads methodically along a wooden loom, to create small patterned tapestries. She’s 18 months into this precise and rhythmic practice, spending her days considering colour, pattern and even her own alphabet in the designs for new pieces.

Camille’s current body of work, her first one, is dedicated to her family. By collecting personal documents spanning three generations from as far and wide as Perth, Thailand, Vietnam, Iran, Nepal, Greece, London and Melbourne, she has enshrined messages and fragments of letters into her colourful beaded artworks.

Read the full story here. 

Mia Boe

Without a doubt, Mia Boe is one of the most exciting emerging artists we’ve come across in recent times.

Spurred by historical inquiry, and the history of dispossession on both sides of her family heritage, the Butchulla-Burmese artist paints with a passionate sense of purpose. She depicts electric Australian scenery, interpolated with languid, dragging figures who are often imprisoned, or kept company by animals, food or spirits. She tackles enormous political issues, historical contexts and violent themes with colour and energy, creating worlds that are vibrant, emotive, bold and sometimes even playful.

Mia paints to reclaim the stories of the past, and in doing so, forges her own. Remember her name – she’s going to be big!

Read the full story here. 

Blazed Wax

Ruby Kannava and Emma Cutri are best friends who have lived together for five years, and have both watched one another grow seperate small businesses in that time.

During the extended lockdowns of 2020, the enterprising pair experimented with at-home candle-making to satisfy their creative cravings, and it worked so well that they winged it and launched a fledgling brand to sell their colourful, handmade creations. Blazed Wax was more than an overnight sensation; the first drop of candles sold out just hours after their website went live!

Read the full story here. 

P0LY Designs

The last couple of years have seen a new sub category of small businesses emerge in the design space. These are the businesses of people who lost their jobs, or whose workloads drastically decreased following the onset of the pandemic, and those who needed a creative outlet to keep their hands and brains busy during the many long months of lockdowns. One of those business is P0LY Designs, a pandemic pivot project founded by partners in love and life Lara Fisher and Andy Kepitis.

After 18 months of creating their tiled plinths, consoles and side tables from home, Lara and Andy have recently moved their fast-growing business to a beautiful new work space and studio in Fitzroy North. They’ve made more than 500 pieces to date!

Read the full story here. 

Trinket Solo

Megan McNeill’s first job out of uni was at a bed linen brand, where she worked 9-5, while also running her own independent fashion label, Rouda. She put out two collections, all whilst still working her full-time job, so it’s safe to say this Melbourne-based creative was born to be in textiles!

After a stint in London working for a print studio, Megan returned to Australia over a year ago and launched her own textile brand – Trinket Solo – all on her own.

Now, she designs and tufts her collection of rich, textural cushions, rugs and blankets from a warehouse space in Brunswick that she shares with a coterie of fab, women-led creative businesses. Living the dream!

Read the full story here. 

Nicole Lawrence

Nicole Lawrence is a master of materials. We first visited her in 2016 when, at just 22-years-old, she had launched a line of hand-pleated bags under the label Three Fold Studio.

Over the last few years, the industrial designer (and long-time Christopher Boots lighting employee!) has been working on her own new range of curvy, colourful lighting and furniture that celebrates both playfulness and functionality, with a massive emphasis on supporting the local industry.

As the winner of the Emerging Designer category in the 2021 TDF + Laminex Design Awards, it’s safe to say that Nicole is going places, if she isn’t already there!

Read the full story here.