The artist behind the collaboration for our latest Tee is Ida Dream - who you might recognise as the lovely Emma from Kuwaii!
We’ve been lucky enough to have Emma on the Kuwaii team for nearly six years. Many of our customers know and love Emma for her incredibly kind, calm, and caring mannerism in our retail stores. To be served by Emma at Kuwaii is truly a dream come true! Emma started with us at our Brunswick store, our original home, which has a special serene warmth to it that Emma conveys to our customers perfectly. Emma has since moved through various roles across our business, now excelling as our Senior Sales & Online Dispatch Assistant. Her creativity shines in her whimsical drawings and writings, delighting us all. You may have seen her charming characters in our Christmas windows of 2022. Additionally, Emma shares her creative talents through her Mature Whimsy collage workshops.
Emma has amazing suggestions and will always make you come out of the change room feeling heard, validated, and incredible. We are so blessed to have Emma's combination of warmth, humour, dedication, and passion on our team, and we know so many of you feel the same too. She really is one in a million, and we're so proud of our collaborative t-shirt celebrating this long and loyal relationship. Emma's warm presence and dedication make her an invaluable part of the Kuwaii family.
To celebrate the launch of our Collaborative Tee with Ida Dream, we asked Emma a few questions about her practice, the creative process and her role at Kuwaii!
1. Can you describe your artistic practice?
My main modes of expression are drawing, collage and writing. With drawing, I prefer to make things quite quickly and with not too much thought. I will doodle for a while, and then just follow where that energy takes me. If I feel like I'm trying too hard, I know I'm on the wrong track.
2. What inspires you to create?
Everything! Heartbreak, friends, memories, film, long walks.. and other people's art! The best feeling in the world (other than being in love) is when you read a book or see a film or some form of art that gives you the desire to go make something yourself. Someone else's creative energy touches you, and then you go on to make something, and then maybe that makes someone else feel like making something...
3. Can you explain your role at Kuwaii?
I am a senior sales associate and web dispatch assistant - so you'll see me on the shop floor assisting customers with try-ons, or I'll be out the back in our web-store packing an online order/answering an email! My favourite part of my role at Kuwaii is helping all our customers find the best clothes for them - the garment that they will wear and enjoy the most. I'm not interested in making just any sale - I want it to be totally right for our customer. We really want people to choose well and buy less! I hope our customers always feel supported and uplifted after shopping with us - we all care very much here about what we do.
4. How did you find the collaborative process?
Such an honour and completely breezy! I had a lot of freedom, and I think the head office team chose the drawings which felt the truest to my style!
5. What do you style your Ida Dream Tee with?
As it's getting cold here, I would layer the tee with a Rib Turtleneck. Our beautiful Smith store manager Ciume was wearing it with the Berry Rib Turtleneck the other day and I loved that look! I also like to wear mine with my Flux Pants in Garnet Velour. And lastly, for dreams of warmer times, I went to Sydney recently and found it was the perfect tee to wear by the beach! :)
6. Besides the Tee, what are your top picks from the AW24 Elysium collection?
I am totally in love with the Glow Duster Jacket in Black Linen - I've been wearing mine non-stop. It reminds me of something Patti Smith would wear - understated, beautiful, romantic. I also love the Heidi Tee in Moss! Such a great moody shade of green.
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The Ida Dream Tee features whimsical illustrations all drawn by Emma in her signature style, featuring beautiful fine lines and watercolours. Each motif was chosen to represent a special moment you may share with a loved one. Printed locally in Melbourne, we hope that this new Tee helps to bring joy to your life and wardrobe.
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