My first and biggest influence was my grandfather. He’s the one in the pictures. He was a tailor. As the firstborn grandchild I was his number one. When the adults were playing cards I set with him and helped him decide which cards to put down, when my parents would drop me off to get babysat he would take me for long walks or bike rides.  (see picture below) I would go into his workshop and ask questions and he would patiently answer all of them then he'd show me how things work. When his clients came for fittings I would observe how he worked. There was always coffee/tea and cakes that my grandmother baked for the clients after the consultation.  I loved that his customers were welcome in his home, his private and personal space.

In the 80’s many people wanted to be trendy like the people in the western videos, movies and magazines and so my grandfather ventured out and started making leather goods. I still love the smell of neoprene, a type of glue used to make leather goods. At the same time my parents started manufacturing trendy clothes made from fabrics that were smuggled in from East Germany and Turkey. Nothing was easy back then.

When I was a baby my mum would make my clothes and later on, I think when I was about 3-4, I would look through German department store catalogues and ask my mum and dad to make me some of the designs I saw. They always did.  This continued until I was about 15 when my dad said that it was time for me to make my own clothing.

When I was about 7, I received a fully functioning sewing machine. I collected scraps from my family to make clothes for my Barbie dolls.  My grandmother taught me how to embroider, hand stich and sew on sequins onto garments at about the same time. Those were my interests.

I learned about quality and customer service from my grandfather, I learned to love and follow trends from my parents and from my grandmother I learned how to do the small detailed and creative work.  As you can see being a fashion designer was inevitable and natural for me.