‘I’VE ALWAYS
MADE CLOTHES.
WHEN I WORKED
AT KATE SYLVESTER,
THE WHOLE TIME I
WAS MAKING MY
OWN CLOTHES’
From humble, challenging beginnings
sewing and selling clothes out of her own
home with twin toddlers in the next room
and a baby on her hip, to small boutiques,
the 37-year-old has recently opened the
store of her dreams on Auckland’s popular
retail and restaurant strip Ponsonby Road.
Every garment re ects the considered
workmanship and attention to detail she is
known for – delicate draping, beautiful
fabrics, unique nishing touches. As if the
new agship store wasn’t enough to
celebrate, Ingrid and the team have also just
raised a glass to the label’s 10th anniversary.
How did your label begin?
It started with just a small winter collection.
I was making lots of things and my partner
Simon said to me, ‘You’ve just got to start
and get a collection done; it doesn’t matter
what size.’ I think it was about 10 pieces,
then from there we teamed up pretty
much straight away with [Fashion PR]
Showroom 22. That was our rst step.
Have you always been a
creative type?
I’ve always made clothes. When I worked
at Kate Sylvester, the whole time I was
making my own clothes, and when I left to
have the twins I just kept sewing. They
were a year old when I started. It was
hectic, but I’m an active relaxer, and
Simon’s like, ‘Don’t waste your energy
doing other things – cleaning the house
and all the rest – put it into sewing, get
something happening!’
What was it like working
at Kate Sylvester?
That was great grounding. I studied at AUT
as well, but there’s nothing like industry
experience. I started as a junior, sample
room/workroom assistant, junior designer,
then pattern making. It was great. I was in
the sample room so didn’t have a lot of the
production experience, but still worked that
out. They were -- are -- a great company. I was
there about three years before leaving to have
the twins. A year later, I started my label.How did people first
find out about you?
It was friends and family who helped push
us out there. Just a couple of weeks after
launching, we had the cover spread of a
fashion supplement – that was amazing. We
didn’t have online at that point; I was working
from home. What’s funny is I didn’t have an
email address until I started the label. I’d
been living in the dark ages! People would
come to the house wanting to buy the
clothes and I had to sew them to order. So I
got an email address; it was my rst one. When you launched did
you have a vision/ethos
for the business?
I think because I was making it all myself to
start with, it was always going to be aboutbeing locally made and the way I knew.
A lot was what I’d learned from being at
Kate Sylvester but on a much smaller scale.
Beautiful fabrics were important to me, and
how things are made and construction and
t were always really important.What are your main
sources of inspiration?
There are so many things around me that
inspire me; travelling, art... just all of it.
And the people you surround yourself with
too; I’ve got an amazing workroom team.In 10 years of business,
what have been the
biggest challenges?
There are many. We started at a really hard
time and everyone talked to us about the
golden days and all the amazing times. We
started small; it was when we tried to
expand and grow, in about our fth year,
that the market took a crash and everyone