Hello! I’m very well, feeling festive despite all my plans being cancelled, trying to keep the festive mood going.

I grew up in a small village in Herefordshire, very close to the Welsh border. I spent most of my time playing on my trampoline, playing in fields with other kids from the village, nothing that noteworthy. It was a nice childhood, it was only in teenage years that I became restless and wanting new experiences beyond what I already knew. I worked a lot as a teenager, every weekend and holidays, my parents knew I had acquired a taste for nice things so made me get a job, I’m glad they did that.

At that time I wasn’t really interested in women’s clothes, but from watching some fashion shows it seemed like there was endless ways to express yourself through fashion. At school and college I loved being the only boy in a classroom of girls, I felt comfortable in that space and presumed studying womenswear would be the same, which it was. I also had mad main character syndrome so being the only anything was great for me. I’ve always been more into art, it comes naturally for me, I just channel it through fashion. I was very ambitious at art college and realised I was doing well at it so it was clear to me that I had to go to one of the best fashion schools there was.

Going to Marc seemed very unattainable for someone with no money or prior experience, which made me want to do it even more. I was honestly surprised that they took me on, I wrote to Bulmers cider in Herefordshire asking for money, as that’s where they produce it and they gave me £300! This made so much sense for me at that point. I managed to live in a medical residency, I lived with a surgeon I had never met or spoken to before and slept on her sofa, I couldn’t believe how welcoming she was. I took away the realisation of how incredibly hard everyone works in fashion and that most of the time its no joke, just hard work and long hours, but also that it’s way more than a job and more of a all consuming lived experience.

I always knew I would end up working for myself again, It was important for me to work in fashion after graduating, I worked with so many inspiring people and learnt so much but the desire to express myself truly was so strong so it was only a matter of time before I started my own thing.

It started when I was still working for other brands, I would paint and make artworks in the evening and on weekends, the feeling I got from doing it was incredible. I’m a strong believer in art therapy and have kind of turned my career into one big art therapy session. The challenge I always find is monetising my creativity in a way that feels authentic, turning an art project into a brand but still feeling like it is an art project.

After 5 months of working on the collection I felt like the balance was right, most pieces in the collection are a direct reaction to the piece that came before it, I didn’t want the collection to look designed, or for there to be one overpowering piece, everything had to be balanced out. Costume pieces and easy to wear pieces.

I think it’s easy for a brand to get completely bogged down with producing clothes, It takes so much time! I like to have the space and freedom to work on new ideas.

This collection was very joyous, probably the most obviously joyous work I had made, it probably had something to do with the time I started working on it which was Jan 2020 - bleek - before this collection I was always trying to express this energetic energy through my work, this time I wanted to build on that by inserting pieces or symbols that were recognisably fun, so thats when smiley faces, jester outfits and child like interiors started to emerge. It’s only looking back that I can see why this happened, at the time it just naturally happened.

Yes I only want to show my work in a physical space from now on. In 2022 I’m going to have my first exhibition showcasing my fashion and art. I’ve realised that physical spaces are so important to understanding my work. I’d love a shop too.