In the Design Studio with Bonnie Mack

No, I didn’t – although looking back it is pretty obvious. As a teenager I started collecting vintage fabric to make clothes, the fabrics I found while op-shopping were so much more interesting than what was available in Merbein, my hometown. When I then moved to Melbourne to study a Bachelor of Fashion Design at RMIT I worked with a wide variety of textiles. I remember going to the closing down sale of an iconic fabric merchant, it was a treasure trove filled with unopened rolls of upholstery velvets from Italy. I’d never seen or touched fabrics of that quality and it stuck with me.

Through freelancing. After my graduation I tried everything and said yes to any work that came along – at one point sewing couch covers. I quickly realised that I enjoyed the gigs where I was hand painting and digitally rendering textile motifs for local fashion labels the most.

Once I’d realised the direction I wanted to go in, I moved into a Design Assistant role in Soft Accessories at Witchery where I was able to work on print design for hosiery and scarves. I learnt under a great design team who taught me so much about commercial colour, designing for manufacturing, market research, deadlines, and organisation! It was hard yakka but a lot of fun and I’m a better designer for it. 

What fabric can do! It’s a world of endless possibilities – not just aesthetically speaking. The visual interest that can be achieved through layers of colour always gets me excited and there is a lot of emotion, particularly in natural fibres, that I feel drawn to. Textiles live with you – they move, breathe, give warmth, and add value to a space. 

The agility and possibilities within the industry are exciting because textiles are constantly evolving due to the incredible mix of craftmanship and technology. There will always be something new to incorporate – I’m currently excited to be witnessing the invention and refinement of recycled yarns, which behave just like regular yarns.

I’m inspired by artists from all fields but anyone who is passionate, curious, and open minded gives me energy.

Patti Smith is an expressive, hardworking, and humble musician who continues to share her graceful way of looking at the world. Dries Van Noten’s method of fashion design always begins with the fabric, and I love the way he makes it sing in his collections. Valerie Restarick’s ceramics studio is near my home, and we recently used her pieces in the De La Selva collection photoshoot. I love witnessing the constant rotation of her work, it’s a visual feast of experimentation in textures, coloured glazes, and sculptural organic forms. 

I adore the entire colour wheel, but I always come back to blue – electric blue, deep ocean blue, clear sky blue, midnight blue, turquoise blue, blue eyes! It complements warm rust and ochre tones beautifully and is the base colour I look for throughout interiors, it’s both calming and happy, neutral and rich, classic and contemporary.