Faces Behind Made On The Left - Part 6 - Beth Wachla

We wanted to introduce to you our newest committee member of Made On The Left - Beth Wachla. Beth is an up and coming Perth designer who has been getting a lot of interest with her cool fabric skull brooches, and we are so excited to have her on board. On an official level Beth will take creative control of some future projects which we will release info about at a later date. It may include a spot of shopping and some informative reading. :)

Enough about that... for now I will introduce you to Beth!

Tell us a bit about you & your business.Hi, my name is Beth, I’m 27 and I create beaded jewellery and felt accessories under the label “the tiny little girl” whilst living in my tiny Perth flat with a houseplant named Herbert Greenleaf.I’m currently selling through Etsy, and have a couple of markets lined up (including the November Made on the Left of course!). Some of my skully brooches are soon to appear on www.shopmoose.com.au and I’m pretty excited about that. It’s one step at a time at the moment.What made you want to get involved with Made on the Left?

I wanted to get involved when I saw how hard the Made on the Left team were working to support West Australian design. I think it’s so important to be proud of where you come from, why should we have to move interstate or overseas when, if we work hard at it, we can find the recognition we want for our work right here in WA? I’m so happy to have been accepted into the team, and I plan to work my butt off to help achieve our goals.

What are your plans for the future?

Long long term I’d love to be able to quit my admin job and create and sell my crafts full time under the “the tiny little girl” label. In terms of Made on the Left I feel like I have a lot to learn as I’m jumping in later on in the game and the other members of the team are so much further along than me.I really want to help to make Made on the Left into something truly great. An organization that is able to support all West Aussie designers in a lot of different ways.What was the first thing you ever created?

I believe one of the first things I ever made was probably a tiny jacket for one of my monster finger puppet toys. My brother and I loved playing with them when we were kids and used to make tiny books for them to read and clothes for them to wear. Such fun!What inspires you?Embarrassingly I’m inspired by buying supplies! Scouring online stores for items I can use seems to bring the ideas forth. I try to buy the majority of my supplies on Etsy so that I can support little shop owners like myself.What do you think of Australian design?

I think Australian design is definitely on par with international design. We have some amazing artists in this country and I think that they’re starting to gain the recognition they deserve on the international market. Go Aussies!

What is the most important thing to you when you create your work?I love colour so it’s really important to me to include loads of colour in any piece I create. My flat looks like a rainbow exploded in it and I’d love for my work to reflect that feeling.Where do you see yourself in a years time?

In a years time I hope to be well on my way to supporting myself through my crafty endeavors. At the moment I work full time in an admin role, and then craft full time in the evenings and on weekends, and it’s quite exhausting! I’d love to be selling my work in stores all over the world, and to still feel as passionate about it all as I do right this second.

So, thankyou Beth for introducing yourself & coming on board with Made On The Left. I know it will be tough at first taking on your new role, but we are very excited to have another voice that will help us take our organization to the next level. We can't wait to tell everyone about our plans for 2009 and beyond!