My training happened mainly in London . Even so my true beginnings were in Melbourne. Magda Urban in 241 Hawthorn Rd . Caulfield took me in as an assistant in August 1984. It was love with the hat at first sight. In 1986 I started up my training in London with Rose Cory who showed me all I wanted to know .
Esparterie brims which were covered in cotton and silk
I learned how to make hand bags and soon added such to every hat I made.
She taught me how to handle leather using patterns at first.
Esparterie beim and felt crown
Soon I made hats blocked in leather in different foundations. This inspired me to go and find glove making workshops and every hat got the matching gloves .
28 wedding anniversary
When we got married Rose of course helped. I found all our cloth in the thrift stores in London for all up 30 pounds. We had very little money and just like all the hatmaking was old hats so we made something new from what we had. It has proofed of great value throughout the years to be able to improvise.
1990
Invention of spraying
As all material I bought were old hats many had stains and this made me creative of hour to cover up and the technique of spraying and creating patterns was born
Philipp Somerville design
In 1997 I started work at Philip Somerville who was the milliner at the time to princess Diane and I was so exited. I learned a great deal in that workshop too. The design on top I made as I thought it was so amazing back than. Also I had no idea about if it was right to copy something I did in the workroom or not. There was little guidance and a lot of secrets.
“A hat is not just a hat, it is the expression of a woman’s soul”
Found fabrics on sale
I made cloth myself at that time to safe money and to feed my soul
“Hats are the Art of the HeArT”