Welcome to the Hope
Street Markets Website!
Welcome to the Hope Street Markets Website! We are a design and art markets event held seasonally, that celebrate and bring independent designers to the forefront - we are not your average markets!
4th June 2008 - Web update
We have successfully rounded up our 4th Hope Street Markets.
The Autumn Markets weekend in May was a complete success and we raised
$2,741 for HopeStreet's Winter Appeal - which goes to support Sydney's Homeless.
For those that missed out, see our gallery for images of the markets.
For now we wish you all a great Winter, unfortunately we will not be
running a Winter market this year but you can expect to hear more news from
us in a couple of months with any new dates.
In the mean time keep connected with us via our mailing list.
Kiss Me Quick by Simone Wale
What do you make? Tell us about your product!
I create beautiful handmade pieces of lingerie!
My items are vintage inspired with lots of burlesque and pin-up kitten influences. High waisted knickers, pasties, garters and all sorts of girlie confections, lots of satin, lots of lace and lots of thrills… oops frills!
What's your creative background, your day job and how did you start making things?
Initially I trained as a production designer for Theatre and Dance but I’ve been primarily working in retail for the last 10 years. Initially I wanted to open my own lingerie boutique but I was unable to source the kinds of items I wanted to sell. So… not to be put off so easily, I adopted the DIY aesthetic and decided to make my own designs and its been all sorts of wonderful crazyness from there!
What are the things you find most inspiring?
I find alot of the burlesque girls and pin-up kittens that I work for very inspiring, its great working with people who are following their own dream too. I’m also heavily inspired by vintage lingerie and the rebirth of the pin-up girl aesthetic.
Where is your workspace and what is it like?
I work from home; I have a lovely big sunny room here. It’s stuffed to the gills with all sorts of girly chaos and I just love it!
Why did you choose Hope Street Markets?
I chose hope street for its uniqueness, its DIY, make your own mark appeal… if that makes any sense. I love the idea of artists creating their own business and not being daunted by mainstream (big money) business practice and dominance. I think people are looking for unique and special products these days too, a deviation from mass consumer culture and I think hope street offers people that.
Where would you like your art/brand to be in the future??
I always want to have a niche brand, something special and unique so I don’t want to stock in every lingerie store in town. I’d rather be stocking with a select group of boutiques all around the world and accessing my very special clientele via the internet. One day I hope to open my own little flagship store, that would be lovely! Although at the moment I’m turning down overseas stockists enquiries because I need to strengthen my business here, get my product base and making and marketing perfect… A lass really ought to learn how to walk before she can fly!
Where can we buy your stuff?
Online:
www.kissmequick.net.au
www.myspace.com/kissmequickintimates
Stockists:
Dirty Pretty Things – Sydney www.dirtyprettythings.com.au
House of Fetish - Sydney www.houseoffetish.com.au
For more stockists outside of NSW, please visit Simone’s website.