Karen & The Zippora Story
My name is Karen Fulton and I run a small fashion label called Zipporra. (www.zipporra.com) I currently hand make all garments to order from Australia. I spend half the year exploring and sewing from my van a beautiful Toyota 1998 Commuter (it is crazy how much room is inside!), and for the remaining six months I stay put in a town getting to know the area and community. During this time I also completely immerse myself into Zipporra. Each one of the Zipporra collections are inspired by environmental and social issues. I am currently based in Kew NSW for the next few months, I am saving my pennies to get solar panels for the van. I am also saving for my next trip too The Centre of Australia! I can't wait to see the stars out there and to explore a completely different area!
I really love using the art form of fashion design to tell a story and to bring awareness to issues that I believe in, in positive light. I am currently making swimwear and active wear that is inspired by the Poison Arrow frog of the Amazon and swimwear and evening that shares the story to Love Our Coral Sea.
I have painted 3 different prints that represent my interpretation of the Poison Arrow frog print. I have then turned these prints into digital fabrication. I am hoping by sharing the inspiration and story behind the prints people can then learn more about what is happening in the Amazon, and how the Poison Arrow frog home is being destroyed as a result of deforestation and industrialization. Check out www.amazonwatch.org to learn more.
I have worked along my friend Sarah of Penheartspaper to create the ‘Love Our Coral Sea’ collection. Sarah is a word artist and we have turned her words of ‘Love Our Coral Sea’ into digital print as well. I have also hand beaded and handed dyed fabrications to represent the corals textures and colours and rhythm. I have called this collection “Love Our Coral Sea’ as I want people to naturally love and protect her and make decisions every day to do this.
The end of last year was pretty exciting, we were selected to be part of the (re)Generation Project. A project run by the NSW Environmental Trust and Macquarie University. The purpose of this project was to inspire youth back into Mother Nature. This was done through using youth and young adults sharing their stories of Mother Nature via film.
Our film by Tess Hobbis shared my story of living on the road learning from Mother Nature whilst also being inspired by her as I create collections around her.
I hope to share through ‘The Zipporra Story’ that you can turn your passions and loves into a story to help bring love and awareness into the world in a positive way.
