I got a little lost inside of Rachel Burke's blog, "i make you wear it". Her beautiful photos are so sparkly and fun! And her dogs - oh my gawd, too cute. In August 2010, Rachel made a dress every Saturday night for 20 weeks as a way of raising money for charity. The project proved a success when she raised over $5,000 for NAPCAN. Rachel is currently working as a commercial Womenswear Designer and as a contributor to Frankie Magazine.
Rachel has also made a community art project called 'Apomogy' which is where you apologise with a pompom (10 points for that pun). You can apomogies your problems away here.
I get so inspired by Rachel's designs so I was really happy to be able to interview her! So, here it is folks.
Hi! How are you? What have you been doing lately? I am super well thank you. I have just come back from a work trip to Hong Kong and have been busy working on my Apomogy project. My first exhibition is coming up on April 16th…so it’s go go go!
Favorite thing about your job is? Ability to be creative for a living.
Your least? Having to be away from my dogs during the working day
Favorite songs/musicians at the moment. I am totally obsessed with Electric Light Orchestra at the moment. I only discovered them late last year, and can’t believe it’s taken me this long.
If you could be another artist/designer for a day, who would you be? Oooo that’s a toughy. I think I would love to jump in a time machine and maybe even just be Andy Warhol’s pal for a day. That looks like it might be a fun experience.
What makes you want to work with your mediums? I am excited by the prospect of using materials in unconventional ways. But I am usually drawn to something by its texture, colour, or how I think I can use it in my work.
Do you ever get artist block? What do you do to stop it? I try not to let myself believe in artists block. I prefer to think of it as ‘artist pause’. When I can’t come up with fresh ideas it usually means I am over-tired or trying too hard, for the wrong reasons. I find that if I just pause on the brainstorming and return to it with fresh eyes later, then I can come up with new ideas that excite me.
Your top three films? Edward Scissorhands, Moonrise Kingdom, The Virgin Suicides.
What is your favorite thing that you have created? Why? The Pom Pom Jacket I made for Patience to wear in her The Grates show is definitely a favourite. It was not only fun to make, but it was also a sensational thing to watch her rock out on stage in it!
“In August 2010, Rachel thought she’d put her passion to good use, making a dress every Saturday night for 20 consecutive weeks as a way of raising money for charity. The project proved a success when she managed to raise over $5,000 for NAPCAN.” Congratulations! That’s really cool! Was it difficult? Yes, it was quite a difficult and challenging year. But I learnt so much from the experience and raised some money for a really worthy cause…so it was totally worth it!
Favorite things to photograph are… I love photographing Daphne and Daisy (my dogs)
What inspired you to start apomogy? I was thinking about what it means to apologise a lot last year, after having made some tough apologies of my own. Attaching an apology to a pom pom came later…and once I did it the idea for APOMOGY just kind of popped into my head. I shared the idea on my blog and it seemed to resonate so much with my followers that I couldn’t help but turn it into a community project.
5 facts about you are…
My hair is naturally brown.
I like to read books A LOT.
I once hoped to be a singer on broadway.
I am good at making pom poms.
I spend too much time on the internet.
Thank you Rachel!!
-C