When I was five years old, my grandmother Herik, a seamstress, instilled in me a love of fabrics. I often stayed with her while she worked at home, and I fell in love with the way she gracefully sewed together different fabrics, breathing life into new dresses and shirts and pants. To make sure I didn’t interrupt her while she was working, she used to open her sewing box and take out tiny scraps of cloth she had saved for just such an occasion.

When I got older, I never missed an opportunity to run into a fabric store so I could feel the texture of each unique piece of cloth, bringing back memories of my grandmother Herik. One thousand ideas for never-before-seen garments flooded my brain as I was transported back to my grandmother’s home, sitting on the floor as a child, watching Herik sew something new from this fabric I had just discovered.

When I started making my own creations, I always remembered those tiny scraps Herik had given to me as a child. I’ve never been able to throw out a piece of cloth, and instead I repurpose old dresses into something new, maybe a pillowcase or a shawl. This allows me to preserve my memories that the owners of these garments imprinted onto them; an artistic snapshot of the past. For me, all of my artwork is inspired by these feelings of memory and preservation, transforming what I see and experience into something beautiful and new.