The Collectors
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Friday 13 October 2006
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Louise and her partner Mark from Tasmania are inveterate collectors of a huge range of objects from glassware and lamps to jukeboxes and funky furniture. Mark collects records and CDs.
Louise is a clothing designer and has been collecting fabrics for about 30 years. She and Mark love trawling the op shops, hunting down beautiful old fabrics, second-hand clothes and other sorts of collectables. From the fabrics and old clothes, Louise makes new clothes that she wears herself or sells.
Louise learnt to sew on the 1954 sewing machine that her mum received as a wedding present and which Louise still has. This beautiful old machine led Louise to start collecting sewing machines as well. She loves the ‘soul’ of the old treadle machines, and she has five which dominate her sewing room. She prefers the older treadle machines to make clothes rather than up-market new ones.
When Louise first started collecting she was interested in the aesthetics of objects, clothes included, but her mantra is now about sustainability. Whether it is to do with the home, the garden or collecting, recycling and re-using objects is a healthy way to live.
