The ones to watch.
Often overshadowed by cities like Melbourne and Sydney, Brisbane/Meanjin creatives have too often been siloed in the Australian fashion industry. But here at Fashion Journal, we’re always looking for the country’s next generation of emerging designers – wherever they are.
For a group of designers in Brisbane, community friendships have become a means to support and nurture the evolving identity of their city’s fashion community. Their unique design styles find synergy through found objects and fabrics, play and absurdity. Being serious about the not-so-serious sets the thematic landscape for a small group of independent designers.
Brisbane labels Bulley Bulley, Homejob, Katalyst, Kat Walsh, Kingdumb and Nel recently collaborated on a photoshoot capturing their distinctive styles and showcasing the changing creative identity of Meanjin. Below, we chat with each designer to hear how they have found success through friendship and community.
Bulley Bulley
In the sunroom of a Queenslander, sisters Kiara and Bianca Bulley run their label Bulley Bulley. The duo’s designs take silliness very seriously, working with the notion of dress as play and performance.
As a creative duo, what role has friendship played in your work?
It has always been pretty clear that our relationship as siblings is more tightly knit than most people’s. We are very close in age, we share friends and live around the corner from one another. We both studied fashion at the same uni and work in the same industry. We frequently joke that we are completely interchangeable.
Have you ever felt isolated as an independent designer?
Absolutely! Working in a partnership really helps with loneliness, but connecting with the broader community of creatives can be challenging. Hustle culture is another hurdle, particularly for designers in isolation. It is so hard to see your own successes, to cheer yourself and to comfort yourself in [the] way that friends… can.
Where do you think you would be if there wasn’t a supportive community around you?
We would be feeling lost. Having a group of peers means we have a space to voice dumb questions, wild ideas and the everyday calamities that come up as we are figuring out how to run a fashion brand. Without that space, it would feel like head-butting a wall on repeat. One of the best things about having a community of designer friends is that we can offer each other perspective, encouragement and sympathy.
Katalyst
Kate Evans has been a much-loved Brisbane designer for the last four years. Using textile experimentation and deadstock textiles in a small catalogue of styles, Kate creates abstract, elevated clothing.
Tell us about your brand.
The brand is driven by my passion for experimental textiles and detail-oriented design. I love finding fabrics with a texture, colour or detail that is weird and interesting and seeing how I can lift that up and showcase it in the best way. I love to combine this with a utility-focused aesthetic, [making] structured clothing in durable and comfortable textiles, framing these experimental elements in a real-world context that people can love and wear.
How have you seen the creative identity of Brisbane shift since you’ve been designing?
In the last few years, there have been a lot more boutiques launching that feature independent designers and are open to stocking small quantities and limited-run products. These places have provided opportunities for designers and makers at the beginning of their careers to display their craft in more sophisticated physical retail spaces.
As a community of designers, do you have any shared values, aesthetics or mindsets?
I think for many of us here in Brisbane, particularly in our little corner of the industry… experimenting and [the] conscious use of materials are at the forefront. I use almost entirely deadstock materials in my work, and I know Nel and the Bulley sisters also incorporate these in a lot of their pieces.
Homejob, Kingdumb and Kat Walsh rework secondhand garments to create something new. This comes from wanting to limit waste, but also from being in a smaller city with fewer fabric and trim stores. You have to be super resourceful and open to adapting materials, and I think we all reflect that.
Homejob
Friends Wendy Ma and Emika Kazama met six years ago through mutual friends, and have been making clothing ever since. What initially started out as ‘crafternoons’ quickly blossomed into their shared fashion label, Homejob. Together, the duo creates playful, one-off designs.
As a creative duo, what role has friendship played in your work?
We both like to make with our hands, and we both enjoy experimenting with ideas and materials. Having this common ground sparked our friendship. We are now like family, siblings, we’ve become very in sync with each other.
Have you ever felt isolated as an independent designer?
Since we first started Homejob, we’ve felt like the Brisbane community has really embraced us. We started stocking at the Institute of Modern Art shortly after we started, and collaborating on events with them. Kat from Practice Studio has been our hype woman since the start too, nurturing our brand and giving us amazing opportunities to be a part of the incredible, supportive community she has built in Brisbane.
As a community of designers, do you have any shared values, aesthetics or mindsets?
I think we’re always pushing to keep things fresh and active, you see everyone collaborating and putting on events together all the time. The community is very focused on sustainability, using quality materials to make things you will adore for life and use until they fall apart.
Where do you think you would be if there wasn’t a supportive community around you?
I don’t think we would have kept going. Our friends and our community inspires us to make… sending all of our love to our supporters!
Kingdumb
Kingdumb began organically after designers Thomas King and Olivia Chapman met at a group show during Brisbane Art and Design Festival in 2021. While they both have separate practices that span fashion, visual art and music, Kingdumb is the creative essence of their shared friendship.
As a creative duo, what role has friendship played in your work?
Our friendship is the bedrock of our work. The more we get to know each other, the more we know the depth of where we’re both coming from, and it continually opens new doors for our friendship and collaboration. I think our friendship is built on a shared love of play, profound conversations, big laughs and an understanding and love for each other…
Have you ever felt isolated as an independent designer?
We do have our respective creative domains and sometimes, our collaborations take a backseat… it’s always exciting to see what happens when our separate projects converge or inspire one another. I love having Tom to work with and I find when we make art, I feel more tethered to an idea that has a beginning and end – [rather] than the typical chaos I chart on my own.
How have you seen the creative identity of Brisbane shift since you’ve been designing?
People are becoming more proud of being Brisbane-based designers. We have seen the value in our little-pond identity and have taken off running with it. Practice Studio has played a big role in this – when a group of designers with unique skills and attributes… unite at a shared home base, anything could happen.
Nel
Nel by Elenor Hedger explores the act of play in everyday dress, and how it can be used as a tool to form long-lasting relationships between garments and wearers. Nel’s designs pair extreme whimsy, soft femininity and plush accessories with the easy comfort of sports mesh.
As an independent designer, what role has friendship played in your work?
I would say friendship has played a massive role in the establishment of my brand, especially as an emerging designer. One thing that I have come to realise is that there are many moving parts in starting a brand, and I am very lucky to have a community of friends who are always happy to lend a hand, listen to my fashion rants, and give me a lot of valuable encouragement. I don’t know if I would have as much confidence to do what I do without them.
How have you seen the fashion/broader creative identity of Brisbane shift since you’ve been designing?
The creative community in Brisbane feels like it is in full bloom at the moment. I think there are a lot more opportunities in Brisbane now, especially for makers… our independent market community is blossoming and a lot more people are choosing to shop local. It feels like a completely different Brisbane from the one I started my degree in five years ago.
Kat Walsh
Kat Walsh is invested in design that considers the life and needs of the wearer. This interest has not only manifested in her designs, but also through her retail space, studio and gallery, Practice Studio. At the heart of Brisbane’s independent fashion scene, Practice Studio aims to make the process as visible as the product.
As an independent designer, what role has friendship played in your work?
Friendship, mutual admiration and genuine connections with peers and mentors have been the most transformative elements in my professional life. In such a small city, there’s a tangible sense of enthusiasm for working together to make things happen, which is inspiring to be around.
Practice Studio started as a tiny little shop, mostly full of work by my friends who were all in the early stages of developing their own labels. Collectively, we’ve been able to grow and share the challenges and successes that come our way.
Where do you think you would be if there wasn’t a supportive community around you?
Without the ridiculously supportive community I’m surrounded by, I would absolutely be working for someone else rather than myself. I’d] probably be sewing for someone if I was lucky enough to have found a job without a prior connection. I’d be making more money and be relatively unfulfilled, dreaming of having time to make my own work and [wanting to] find someone I could relate to in a world that seems topsy-turvy.
