Who is your style icon and why?

One of the first knitwear designers I ever followed was Evvia, who goes by Loupy studio on Instagram. She was one of the first people I saw making freehand crochet goods, and it inspired me to get more creative and funkier with my own work.  

Lately, I’ve been loving Veldon Salim’s work, it’s so ethereal and always layered so well in the most versatile ways. Nong Rak is also a huge icon for me because of their brushed Mohair looks, they’re iconic and I love their work.

I also adore the work of Vitelli – who uses fibres in almost the exact opposite way to me, reclaiming waste fibres and needle punching them into fabric. I got to see their work in Error404 and the detail of individual fibre strands was insane – I would love to learn how to do that!

Favourite things about Naarms fashion scene?

Without a doubt, it has to be that I see much more support for slow fashion and small businesses. It’s so sexy seeing people in small brands! Love to see it!

Where do you see yourself in five years?

In five years, ideally, I would have learnt how to spin my own yarn, have my own spinning wheel, maybe live on a farm with some sheep so I can process fibres.

 But my goals for the next few years are to finish my uni degree, find more comfort in making things for myself, and meet a whole bunch of creative people in Naarm that want to work together on projects!

How did you start FibreF*cked? And, anything in the name?

I started FibreF*cked because I was posting so much crochet content on my regular Instagram account that I felt like I was annoying all my friends. I never intended for anyone to follow my account, I was just going to use it as a visual diary over the 2nd NSW lockdown to see how much stuff I could come up with.

The name was a kind of inside joke with myself, a lot of crochet artists I look up to and admire have delicate usernames that remind you of soft and beautiful creations. I couldn’t think of anything nice and I was never going to be a serious account or a serious business, and I just thought it would be funny. Now it just rolls off the tongue nicely and I don’t have the heart to change it.

From sourcing yarn to final production, could you tell me a little bit about what’s involved in the creative process?

To source yarn I usually spend a lot of the time browsing Ebay, which is the best spot for finding vintage and second-hand batches of yarn. I also have a list of bookmarked websites that must have been birthed in the 2000s by people who spin and dye their own yarn.

Sourcing good quality and hand-made yarn takes a lot of time, and to get this delivered it usually takes around two weeks.

I now have a huge collection of yarn that I’ve been using when time is scarce.

Everything that I crochet is free-handed – which means that I don’t use patterns and I make it up as I go along. I love this process for making items for myself, as I can measure it to my body as I go. It’s been tricky altering this process to other sizes and people’s measurements, but it just means that I take extra precaution and make sure that it will fit properly.

What advice would you give to someone who wants to start their own label but is intimidated by the highly competitive industry?

I think what I would have liked to know most of all, is how much time and energy it takes to start everything by yourself. It is so much hard work, and most of it doesn’t feel rewarding until you finally see some growth.

I think the best thing is to stay true to yourself and always put your own needs before your business. I’ve learnt that you can’t create when you’re burnt out and trying to do too many things all at once is a sure-fire way to depleting your resources.