I grew up in Ardcavan, just outside Wexford town. I was always drawing people and I was fascinated by craft — crocheting, sewing, mending and painting little bits. My dad is a builder and, from the age of 12 until I left home, I worked with him. I’ve always been into working with my hands.
At 17, I went to study art at Waterford College of Further Education, where a fantastic teacher, Anne O’Regan, taught contemporary art and inspired me. I went to study sculpture in a college in Wales and a tutor there said that I should consider [the art school] Central Saint Martins in London.
Getting into Saint Martins was like being on The X Factor. There are 2,500 applicants for 25 spaces. I was walking around London the day before my interview and had forgotten my sketchbook, so I did some drawings on my arm — sketches of people, scribbles, clothes and plans for cuttings, funny little faces. I don’t know what the interviewer thought when I showed him my arm, but I got in.
When I graduated, my collection was selected for the press show. I received job offers to work in Paris, but I had already worked for Louis Vuitton and I didn’t like living there. I also won the LVMH Grand Prix Scholarship, worth £12,500, and the Deutsche Bank Award of £10,000. I decided to start my own thing.
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Brown Thomas put on a display of my work and a lot of women wanted to buy the clothes. I began to make to order. I didn’t realise there were women in Ireland who understood cutting and finishing. They see value in what I do and love avant garde work and show pieces. They also want more subtle versions of catwalk clothes.
They are very inspiring. I get to go to their homes and see their tastes in art. Some of them run massive businesses, others are great mothers. They’re all really cool.
For my February collection, everything was produced in Wexford. I work out of one of my father’s sheds. I have the fabric on a stand and I cut out shapes on the floor. I’ll be sampling, drawing, painting and photographing until I figure out what the collection is.
It’s very messy until the finishing, which takes a lot of work. I had a lot of padded materials in my last collection, so layers had to be hand-stitched and quilted.
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Now I’m lecturing at Saint Martins, so I have a studio in London that I share with my boyfriend, who is an artist. I go back to Wexford for fittings and alterations, and to work in the shed.
I’m working-class, so when I hear how much clothes like these cost, I think to myself that they had better be finished really well — there has to be value in them.
My family are proud. They wonder how I managed to be so successful, but they let me get on with it. My grandmother is next door and she still does crocheting and painting. It’s inspiring that she still works away at the age of 84.