What a joy it was speaking to Corina of Aboriginal owed Amber Days. Amber Days are the ethical children’s label joining us this weekend at the Royal Exhibition Building as our Melbourne AW19 Indigenous Program Recipient. Collaborating with various Aboriginal women for her artwork, and focusing on her daughter as her muse, Corina has created a label that radiates warmth and care. We can’t wait for you to discover Amber Days this weekend at Finders Keepers. Read on to hear about this very important label.

Can you tell us a little about yourself and your adventurous kids wear label Amber Days?

I am Corina, an Aboriginal mother, nature protector, artist, designer, campaigner and founder of Amber Days.

Amber Days is a Aboriginal Owned Melbourne based ethical children’s wear label that is inspired by the Australian bush, desert and sea. Amber Days is made for mindful, adventurous, free spirited little ones, who are the next generation of change makers. 

I have always been passionate about the environment and people so when falling pregnant with my daughter, finding clothing that didn’t use harmful chemicals in their processes was really important to me.

For this reason, we strive to not only create Amber Days with as minimal impact to the environment but also be a positive change to the fashion industry by supporting local and ethical manufacturers and fabric suppliers. We aim to use GOTS certified organic fabrics and GOTS or OEKO-TEX approved plant based non toxic dyes. 

What’s your creative process and who or what inspires you?

My daughter is definitely my muse and main inspiration. I am also continuously inspired by my culture and country. 

My daughter and I travel a lot, we love going on road trips and exploring our beautiful coasts, bush and forests. It’s usually when we are on the road that my vision for my collection comes together. It always happens in a beautiful organic way. 

I collaborate with different Aboriginal women for the art work used on my fabric and it always comes together so magically. When designing our Yurringa Collection I was travelling to Byron with my daughter who had just turned one. This was the longest road trip we had done together to date. We travelled the whole way along the coast. It was also a special trip as she was at an age where everything was so exciting to her and seeing her eyes light up as we explored different beaches and towns was just the best experience. 

Anyway it was the magic that she saw and the beautiful coasts that’s inspired our Yurringa collection. It was at this same time that I was following this amazing artist Lara Went, who is the magic behind Yukul Art and I just knew I really wanted her to design the artwork for my Yurringa collection. When I reached out to her and she said yes I literally cried.

It was extra special as Lara is a Worimi Woman which is my daughter’s country. So it felt special working on my first collection with that special connection to her traditional lands. 

Each collection has happened in a very similar way and I can’t wait to share the other stories with everyone. The collection that I am launching at the Finders Keepers Market, Nurtja, Is inspired by the lush forest of Wurundjeri country. This fabric is designed by Taylah Aimee, an Aboriginal Textile designer from Naarm (Melbourne)

Yurringa in Yorta Yorta Language means Sun

Nurtja in Yorta Yorta Language means Forest 

Part of Amber Days wonderful ethos is to support women, why is this so important to you?

Supporting women is so important to create a fairer and more just society. Our current systems still oppress the most vulnerable and marginalized people and women make up a huge percentage of this.

To address climate change, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Rights, POC injustices, LGBTQI+ rights, migrant, refugee and asylum seeker rights, homelessness, poverty, war, we need to be supporting women and addressing the systems that are in place at the moment that don’t work.

With each collection Amber Days collaborates with a different Aboriginal artist to produce original, dreamy fabrics. What do you love most about collaborating and do you have a favourite to date? 

I love everything about collaborating with the amazing women that design Amber Days fabrics. From the story behind the artwork, to seeing the artists bring my vision to reality, to just making meaningful connections and life long friends. 

So far it’s been such a beautiful journey. As I touched on earlier, with each collection the collaboration process has just happened so organically. When connecting with Taylah Aimee the artist behind Nurtja, I saw her beautiful work on Instagram and it was just a gut feeling that felt like that was the artist for this collection. When we met up it turns out she went to primary school with my brother, so it was this beautiful connection that we had never met but she was still I big part of my brother’s life so it felt so familiar.

Each collection is so different, as each artist is so different and I just love them all in different ways.

What can we expect to discover at your first Finders Keepers Stall in Melbourne? 

I am so excited to be launching Nurtja Collection at Finders Keepers! I love slow fashion but as it says in the name, its slow so I have been working on this collection for what feels like forever so I am so excited to finally share it with everyone!!!

amberdays.com.au
facebook.com/amberdaysthelabel
instagram.com/amberdays_thelabel