Featured Designer: Shy Fox

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FK chats to inspired duo, Seana + Charlie of eclectic Brisbane based label Shy Fox. Debuting at the upcoming Brisbane Markets!

Tell us a bit about Shy Fox and what we can expect to discover? 
Shy Fox is a clothing and art label by Seana and Charlie, which launched in early 2013. From paisleys to polka dots, cats in hats, gorillas, sailboats and florals, our pocket tees really have something for everyone! We also sell screen printed tees, art and skate decks – featuring a range of quirky designs by Seana.  Our store is somewhere between thrift shop and streetwear, you can expect to pick up eccentricities as well as some stylish threads!

What are your backgrounds and how did you start working together?
Seana is a graphic designer and illustrator (of design collective Twice Shy) and Charlie is a musician (in Brisbane band Foxsmith) – hence the name, Shy Fox!  We met back in 2011 and now live together in our house in the trees in Red Hill, Brisbane. We have always encouraged each other creatively, and we decided to start working together making clothes, and getting Seana’s artwork out into the world. We dug up on old sewing machine, gathered a collection of eclectic materials and started experimenting, making clothes for ourselves and friends. Seana also honed her skills at creating skate decks and hand made art. As we perfected our products we decided to launch our quirky label in to the world!

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What inspires your work? and what keeps you motivated creatively? 
We are inspired creatively by many weird and wonderful things. We both have a love for animals and nautical themes and this is reflected in our products. We are attracted to bold, colourful materials used in minimal ways – we like mixing simplicity and vivacity. Seana’s artwork is inspired by street art and other illustrators (a few favourites are Ghostpatrol, webuyyourkids and Greedy Hen), as well as hours spent trawling blogs on the internet.
We hope to one day make Shy Fox a full-time endeavour and this goal motivates us to keep thinking of new ideas and expanding our label. We are currently stocked in Popup Kult in Fortitude Valley and hope to attract the attention of more stores! Also, we just have a lot of fun sending our products out into the world, to countries such as Latvia and beyond!

What is your creative workspace like, and what inspires you about your surroundings? 
Our workspace in our small home is always chaos. Piles of loud materials and boxes upon boxes of t-shirts flood the floor! Our home is filled with loud patterned rugs, framed prints on the walls, plants emerging from teapots and eccentricities found on op-shopping ventures – this aesthetic motivates us and inspires our work. Our house is hidden in the trees and is a sort of oasis of creative energy. We live a short walk from our favourite cafe, which never fails to fill us with caffeine after those late nights sewing! The community around us is a buzz with creativity and is a great support network for our endeavours.

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What challenges have you faced starting your label, and what are some things you love about it? 
The most challenging aspect of starting our label has been getting our head around the business side of things: registering ourselves, figuring out wholesale pricing and stockists, finding good printers … all that.  We also ran into a bit of strife recently finding out that another local business decided to change their name to Shy Fox and created a very similar logo to ours – this was a wake call really to the importance of knowing where we stand. We have learnt a lot in a short amount of time with Shy Fox, and love where we are going with it. We love sending out our orders, getting great feedback, and most of all we love seeing our shirts on people’s backs and seeing people happy!

What can we expect to see from Shy Fox at the upcoming Brisbane?
We are so excited for our first time at the Finders Keepers markets! We will have our whole range of pocket tees, some winter wear, skate decks and art. We’ve also been getting crafty with some other surprises for the event. We hope to inject a bit of our personalities into our store, and fill it with the love and eccentricity that really defines Shy Fox.

www.shyfoxshop.com

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