Please, tell us a little about yourself (where you’re from, if you
have a job apart from your craft, family, etc.)
Hello! Thank you so much for having me! I was born and continue to live in Melbourne, Australia. My parents are Scottish so I wouldn’t say I’m a typical Aussie – really not cut out for the hot weather here.
I’m lucky enough to have three very different professions. Claudia Savage, of course where I am the designer, pattern maker, and machinist and what often feels like the structural engineer of all the pieces. I’m also an Audio Visual editor for The Office of Public Prosecutions in Victoria, where I work with audio visual evidence in preparation for court matters. And, I work as an illustrator, both in a freelance and personal capacity, selling my artwork and providing illustrations for books and other projects.
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| Designer and Artist Natalie Hutton |
Hello! Thank you so much for having me! I was born and continue to live in Melbourne, Australia. My parents are Scottish so I wouldn’t say I’m a typical Aussie – really not cut out for the hot weather here.
I’m lucky enough to have three very different professions. Claudia Savage, of course where I am the designer, pattern maker, and machinist and what often feels like the structural engineer of all the pieces. I’m also an Audio Visual editor for The Office of Public Prosecutions in Victoria, where I work with audio visual evidence in preparation for court matters. And, I work as an illustrator, both in a freelance and personal capacity, selling my artwork and providing illustrations for books and other projects.
What are your most significant challenges when you create?
Self-worth is consistently a challenge. I feel a lot of pressure to justify what I do to myself as something more than self-indulgence, which can be difficult when the general nature of my work is not commonly understood outside of the creative industries. I frequently feel an internalized pressure to do something else with my time.
I love creating and when I have been unable to do so, I feel the deepest of depressions but I rationally know that I need to create to be happy. This only pushes the worry to the background and it’s always ready to pounce – usually when something just isn’t working or when my attempts to explain the nature of my work are misunderstood.
But I’m nothing if not determined, so I push through and keep creating in spite of it.
I love creating and when I have been unable to do so, I feel the deepest of depressions but I rationally know that I need to create to be happy. This only pushes the worry to the background and it’s always ready to pounce – usually when something just isn’t working or when my attempts to explain the nature of my work are misunderstood.
But I’m nothing if not determined, so I push through and keep creating in spite of it.
What or who inspires you?
I’m inspired by music, predominantly – I have Synaesthesia and when listening to music, I ‘see’ shapes and feel textures/weights triggered by the sounds. I use this as my starting point for most of my designs and from. I also like setting myself the challenge of harder and harder concepts and feats of engineering and I want those pieces to look effortless of the body despite the fact they may have 50m of silk or extreme silhouettes.
When did you first know without a doubt that what you do today is
what you wish to share with the world?
I’ll be honest, I haven’t made it to that point. I doubt my work every day.
I do know that I NEED to be creative in some way, shape, or form, and as far as my wearable artwork goes, it’s something I very much fell into after losing my art folio in a school fire, which left me with nothing to apply to higher education with. The devastation I felt from that event left me unwilling to draw for over 10 years. So I turned to what I considered the only other skill I had and felt I could use in a capacity to make a living and I now find myself here (and finally drawing again, too).
What is your favorite fabrics/mediums to work with and why? Do
certain colors speak to you more than others?
I’m a big fan of silks and natural fibers in general, but I’ll experiment with anything if I feel it will complete the vision in my head accurately. I’ve never really had an affinity with any colours. Unlike many with Synaesthesia, I don’t perceive colour very often, and in times when I do, it’s usually not accompanied with any of my usual building blocks for design.
I do quite obviously work in black, silver, and red. I find that my work is usually so complex in lines and textures that the addition of colour would take it too far and overwhelm the viewer. I want to make pieces in which not all the detail is immediately apparent but slowly reveals itself to the viewer upon closer inspection.
Describe yourself and your work in five words
Determined, exhausted, meticulous, anxious, and unconventional.
Who would play you in a film about your life?
Haha, I don’t watch enough films/TV to even know who to suggest! They would have to be good at walking in 6 inch heels at all times, though, as I’m rarely without them – my studio table was built by my partner with the extra height in mind so I struggle to reach the center in anything less!
Have you ever decided after completing a piece of your artwork to
totally trash it and start over? Why?
Rarely do I get to the stage where I’ve completed a piece and decide to start over. I usually know quite quickly if something is ‘failing’. I will give works a chance after the initial feelings of unease as it’s impossible to know when I’ve truly exhausted my limits of problem solving. But I usually use an educated guess based on time to restart vs time to rectify which often has to be coupled with financial loss/preservation of continuing.
Though over the years I’ve learnt that 99% of the time, starting over again quickly is far better than fighting what will end up something my brain will always know to be imperfect – despite what anyone else knows of it!
Do you create custom items? If so, how far in advance do you
schedule? And have you created anything for anyone famous? And what was it?
I do and the time frame is completely based on the complexity of the garment and the amount of work I have on at the time. Anything from 4 months to a year. I’ve not specifically made a piece for someone who could be considered famous, however I will have a work or two appear in the 5th season of the Netflix series Lucifer. They will be worn by actress Lesley-Ann Brandt who portrays the character Maze.
How did you prepare for the WOW (World of Wearable Art)
competition?
In a haze of panic, for the most part. I had never heard of nor intended to enter the competition until about 2-3 months out from the entry deadline. I was in a (one of my many) place of doubt over the validity of my works and was seeking a reason outside of myself to keep going. I found the kick up the butt I needed – a ridiculously tight deadline coupled with the first space in which I thought that “finally!” my work would belong. I’ve always been too artsy for fashion and too fashion for art but WOW offered that sweet spot in the middle I’d been searching for.
It involved weeks of sleepless nights attempting to finish a piece
I’d had in progress for years in time to photograph both for competition purposes and my personal collection purposes. The time between finding out I had been accepted to send my work in and the deadline for shipping was (for us Australians) about 3-4 weeks from memory and knowing there was the chance I may never see the piece again due to loss in shipping, damage in repeated wearing or even the sliiiimmest of chances of winning.
I’ll be honest, I haven’t made it to that point. I doubt my work every day.
I do know that I NEED to be creative in some way, shape, or form, and as far as my wearable artwork goes, it’s something I very much fell into after losing my art folio in a school fire, which left me with nothing to apply to higher education with. The devastation I felt from that event left me unwilling to draw for over 10 years. So I turned to what I considered the only other skill I had and felt I could use in a capacity to make a living and I now find myself here (and finally drawing again, too).
What is your favorite fabrics/mediums to work with and why? Do
I’m a big fan of silks and natural fibers in general, but I’ll experiment with anything if I feel it will complete the vision in my head accurately. I’ve never really had an affinity with any colours. Unlike many with Synaesthesia, I don’t perceive colour very often, and in times when I do, it’s usually not accompanied with any of my usual building blocks for design.
I do quite obviously work in black, silver, and red. I find that my work is usually so complex in lines and textures that the addition of colour would take it too far and overwhelm the viewer. I want to make pieces in which not all the detail is immediately apparent but slowly reveals itself to the viewer upon closer inspection.
Describe yourself and your work in five words
Determined, exhausted, meticulous, anxious, and unconventional.
Who would play you in a film about your life?
Haha, I don’t watch enough films/TV to even know who to suggest! They would have to be good at walking in 6 inch heels at all times, though, as I’m rarely without them – my studio table was built by my partner with the extra height in mind so I struggle to reach the center in anything less!
Have you ever decided after completing a piece of your artwork to
Rarely do I get to the stage where I’ve completed a piece and decide to start over. I usually know quite quickly if something is ‘failing’. I will give works a chance after the initial feelings of unease as it’s impossible to know when I’ve truly exhausted my limits of problem solving. But I usually use an educated guess based on time to restart vs time to rectify which often has to be coupled with financial loss/preservation of continuing.
Though over the years I’ve learnt that 99% of the time, starting over again quickly is far better than fighting what will end up something my brain will always know to be imperfect – despite what anyone else knows of it!
Do you create custom items? If so, how far in advance do you
I do and the time frame is completely based on the complexity of the garment and the amount of work I have on at the time. Anything from 4 months to a year. I’ve not specifically made a piece for someone who could be considered famous, however I will have a work or two appear in the 5th season of the Netflix series Lucifer. They will be worn by actress Lesley-Ann Brandt who portrays the character Maze.
How did you prepare for the WOW (World of Wearable Art)
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| 2019 WOW winner |
In a haze of panic, for the most part. I had never heard of nor intended to enter the competition until about 2-3 months out from the entry deadline. I was in a (one of my many) place of doubt over the validity of my works and was seeking a reason outside of myself to keep going. I found the kick up the butt I needed – a ridiculously tight deadline coupled with the first space in which I thought that “finally!” my work would belong. I’ve always been too artsy for fashion and too fashion for art but WOW offered that sweet spot in the middle I’d been searching for.
It involved weeks of sleepless nights attempting to finish a piece
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| 2019 WOW winner |
I had to organize a team to shoot the whole of my collection of works to date to both create a consistent look in the shoot but also make the cost of the endeavor worthwhile. I managed to do this with about 5 days to spare and the rest of that time was used to build a box, (endless thanks to my partner here) build a structure that would support it within the box and then transport that box to the shipping company, which was made with literal seconds to spare.
What encouragement and/or advice could you offer to someone wanting to break into the world of wearable art?
There’s no ‘right way’ to do anything in this space. Try not to torture yourself with that idea. The best thing you can do is just START – I can’t tell you where, as it’s different for everyone, but if you have even the vaguest idea, start experimenting and screw it up. Try again and again and again if you need to, but failing and learning with each time is more valuable that having never tried at all. On a similar note to that, don’t spend your time comparing yourself to others, especially if you are using what you see on social feeds as your benchmark of passing or failing at being a ‘real’ artist.
Doing something ‘full time’ doesn’t make you more of an artist. And realize that things take time, often lots of time – don’t be afraid to spend years on a piece it will be part of what sets you apart from those around you.
What encouragement and/or advice could you offer to someone wanting to break into the world of wearable art?
There’s no ‘right way’ to do anything in this space. Try not to torture yourself with that idea. The best thing you can do is just START – I can’t tell you where, as it’s different for everyone, but if you have even the vaguest idea, start experimenting and screw it up. Try again and again and again if you need to, but failing and learning with each time is more valuable that having never tried at all. On a similar note to that, don’t spend your time comparing yourself to others, especially if you are using what you see on social feeds as your benchmark of passing or failing at being a ‘real’ artist.
Doing something ‘full time’ doesn’t make you more of an artist. And realize that things take time, often lots of time – don’t be afraid to spend years on a piece it will be part of what sets you apart from those around you.
We thank Natalie for taking time to share with us today. Since the interview, Natalie has had a DRESS STOLEN from a photo shoot in the Hollywood, California area. If you would like to connect with Natalie, please do so at the links below.
All photos shared in this post are the property of Natalie Hutton and may not be reproduced without permission.
