Potter Gold by Nicola Potter – WAIFT SWAN TAFE 2009 Graduate

It was a stormy night when I met Nicola Potter, SWAN Tafe 2009 graduate, in July. While some other students were freaking out by the fact that some woman(Me!) wanted to interview them, Nicola was quite chilled out about the whole thing. We chatted and she dressed up for me. Now, this 19 yr old fashion designer with love of all different designs isn’t rushing into anything. She’s been sewing for more than 15 years so I’d say there isn’t really any reason to rush. She is way up there in terms of techniques so it is only a matter of finding what she wants to do after the graduation show in December. Hearing what she was like as a little kid I cannot imagine her doing anything other than working in fashion.

What I like when I meet budding designers is finding out how they decided to study fashion – in Nicola’s case, she’s been sewing practically all her life – and where they are heading. We all do different things but it’s interesting how we cross paths. Some people might find one thing they are passionate about and pursue for the rest of their lives but others might continue the journey of doing different things. After a year of drama and challenges in 2008, Nicola is relaxed and steadily getting ready for the graduation show while teaching sewing classes at Cockburn Sewing Centre. If all goes well, she will graduate and find an interesting work and maybe travel. It will be wonderful to see her travelling all around the world getting inspiration. I guess Facebook will come in handy then. I really liked her room with all different music memorabilia. I really liked her liqueur shelf as well- which isn’t shown here.

It’s always fun meeting happy and talented people. I saw endearing love when Nicola’s mother showed me Nicola’s very first creation, a little blanket that she made when she was about 7 or 8 (possibly younger). Cute, right? What we are looking at here are the collection of garments she created over the course of many years not just in her TAFE years. I love her couture design (top left photo) and I cannot wait to see her ready-to-wear collection at the graduation show.

SWAN Tafe Graduation show is on December 1 at the Burswood Grand Ballroom.

Related posts: