CONSCIOUS creation By Andrea Louise Thomas Photos Yanni
I
t all started with tequila. During lockdowns, Frankston South designer, Nat Stratos participated in an online tequila tasting with local friends. To spice things up, they dressed in Mexican attire. Nat made some cactus earrings using corn starch PLA biopolymer filament and a 3D printer. After a friend posted them on socials, everyone wanted a pair. Then Nat made some Día de Los Muertos-themed skull earrings for Halloween and they were a hit too.
E ssence
30 | PENINSULA
September 2023
This fun anecdotal beginning to her jewellery design business was a wonderful counterpoint to the 20 frustrating years Nat spent working in fashion; an industry she found wasteful and unethical. It was not the romantic industry she’d imagined as a girl. From childhood, Nat knew she wanted to be a fashion designer. Her grandmother worked as a presser in a fabric factory in Fitzroy. Nat used to help her by hanging garments. As payment, she was given scraps from the cutting room floor. Nat used them to make clothes for her Barbie.
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