HUMANS OF ŌTAUTAHI: KIRSTEE
“I’ve always needed to do things with my hands. When it comes to creative work, if I’m not doing it, I’ll be thinking about it.
“I had my business pre-earthquake, but it looked a lot different back then, and it evolved as I’ve evolved. It started when I filled my house with too many pieces. I literally had no more room, so I had to sell some.
“I’ve always lived in a rental house. I haven’t been able to change [the] walls or curtains, so the colour in my house comes from furniture. As you can see, I like it bright. Everything is obviously second hand; it’s sustainable, it’s keeping things out of landfill. I get joy from putting them back into people’s homes.
“Fabric decoupage was the bones of the business, so apart from furniture, I went on to do things like wooden baking spoons and honey spoons and clocks. I pretty much put fabric on everything I could, apart from my children! It’s such a neat technique. The piece that got me started was actually made by my dad and his partner and gifted to me. This table, growing up, used to be the counter in my family’s retail clothing shop.
“In the early days of Hibiscus, I was sort of catering to the market, doing a lot of kids’ stuff with pink polka dotty teacups and saucers and ballerina type fabrics. I thought, ‘I need to back myself’, and that’s when I just went unapologetically me – and it kinda worked. These days a lot of my products come from my teaching, all the different craft classes.
“Lots of pieces are sentimental. A lady that I taught, she brought in one of her grandmother’s tea-trays and her grandmother’s curtains. Her grandma had passed away. She used that fabric, completely re-did that tea tray, and it was stunning. So, I love that about it as well, bringing memories of people in things that you can actually use now.
“You’ve got to try and stay ahead of the curve; even the writing is popping back up again. I’ve done a few websites; people like it because it’s quite a distinctive writing style. I just want to keep doing what I love.”