My story
Hi. I'm Boo, the designer and maker behind bip bop boo. From a bush studio south of Darwin, I create original fabric designs inspired by the birds and botanicals of the Top End — then hand make them into cushions, lampshades, bags, purses, scarves and more, in small runs along with a number of one-of-a-kind pieces.
I've been making things for as long as I can remember. I learned to sew as soon as my toes could reach the pedal, made my first button-up collared shirt at eleven, and fell in love with screen-printing on a school trip to the Adelaide Hills. I've studied textiles, fabric printing, design and writing over the years — but designing fabric has always been the thing I come back to.
And I've never been without a space to create. I've printed lengths of cloth on a tiny kitchen table in a bush hut with no electricity, and stitched them into clothing on an old treadle machine with the help of an antique iron heated on a wood stove. I've printed fabric on the sorting table in a shearing shed. (That's me in the shearing shed in the old grainy photo, hand-painting a screen-print — my son Dorian looks very excited. Years later, as an adult, he was my studio assistant.)
I've set up a sewing room in a garage in a northern Sydney share house, printed in the freezing basement of a stone house in a cherry orchard in the Adelaide Hills, and worked from the back room of an old suburban church. I did markets from Balmain to Byron Bay around a day job, and had stalls at music festivals while I studied — printing fabric on the verandah of my rental in between.
Here's another grainy old photo of me — at a market stall at Glebe in Sydney, in the early 1990s.
Then I moved to Darwin, and the makeshift workshop met its match. The constant heat dries ink in the screens; even lino blocks turn tacky and patchy. But I'd long dreamed of designing fabric on my computer — and right about then, technology caught up. Digital fabric printing was born, and I couldn't wait to get started.
(The photo is of our little tropical house, nestled in the bamboo. Can you spot my little studio dog?)
Working around a full-time job, I began designing and printing small runs — buttons, bags, cushions, tea towels, all made by hand. In 2011, I did my first Top End craft fair, and over the years my stall and my business steadily grew. Eventually I quit my job to run a weekly market, working out of a tiny standalone room called Nigel (it's a long story). I outgrew Nigel quickly. So we bought an old post-Cyclone Tracy demountable, and that became Susurrus Studio — now the hub of everything, on our bush block an hour south of Darwin, where I design and sew today.
Slide to compare my first Top End market stall in 2011 to my most recent in 2024
The process
All my designs begin as sketches. I develop them across a range of mediums — hand painting, drawing, linocuts, digital drawing, collage — which lets me create designs that defy rigid stylistic boundaries, then work them into repeat patterns and feature panels.
I use Adobe Photoshop and CORELDraw to turn my sketches, prints and paintings into fully realised designs and seamless repeats.
My fabrics are now digitally printed, which faithfully reproduces my work as designed. Most are printed in Sydney. I still do small print runs and make almost everything by hand here in the Top End.
Below, you can see images that show some of the stages in the development of a design.
Every design starts as a sketch.
Sometimes I carve a lino block from a drawing.
Most sketches are scanned, drawn up as vector graphics and coloured using handpainted textures.
Elements are then placed to create a seamless pattern and details filled in.
Designs are worked up into full repeats in my drawing program.
Most of what I print I set up as 'cut and sew' patterns: I apply the designs to pattern templates on the computer, then arrange all the pieces into one large file to print. This puts the print exactly where I want it on the finished item — and it reduces waste, by a lot, which is something I strive for in every part of my work. My printer can now laser cut, so some fabric arrives cut and boxed; the fiddlier pieces I still cut myself, individually, with a hand rotary cutter on my big cutting table. From there, pieces are interfaced, pressed and lined before stitching begins. Then cushions are turned right-side out, bags get their straps, bases, feet and buttons — and the imagined idea becomes a tangible object: beautiful, useful and unique.
Each piece of a bag needs to be cut and interfaced.
After the interfacing is applied, pieces need to be trimmed before stitching.
After stitching, bags need handbag bases, feet and buttons or clasps.
The final step for many bags is putting straps together.
Brooches are handcut from my own patterns and stitched with love.
Inspirations
My design inspirations draw on many sources. I have more ideas banked up in my head than I will ever be able to complete. Since moving to the Territory, I have embraced the flora and fauna of the Top End. I am immersed in a daytime world of burning pandanus and invading magpie geese. Quirky curlews and scuttling bandicoots populate the night. I absorb it all and reflect it through my work.
In 2015 and 2016 I undertook an artistic residency at the Territory Wildlife Park. This gave me an incredible opportunity to see amazing critters up close - to become a piece of gym equipment for a sugar glider, to feed a river ray, to spend hours up close and personal with a small family of bobbing curlews, a peregrine falcon, a wedge-tailed eagle, a rufous owl, a pair of feisty red-tailed black cockatoos.
Living on a bush block gives me endless inspiration too. If I see a bird on our block, I want to design a fabric in its honour. I haven't gotten to them all yet — but I'm working on it. Lately I've been drawn to the wonderfully diverse mangroves around Darwin, and I've started spreading my wings back toward my home state of South Australia. In time, I'd love to bring inspiration from all over Australia into my designs.
Where to find me
You can find my work at
The Local
Shop 6
36 Parap Place
Parap Village Shopping Centre
PARAP NT 0841
I have a large range of work in this store, which is managed by my son Dorian and co-owned by Dorian, my partner Orlando and myself.
The Local showcases the work of close to 50 other Darwin local artists, making it a fantastic place to add to your itinerary if you're visiting the Top End - or if you're a local looking for a gift for someone (including yourself!).
Events
Occasionally, I pop up at an event. Usually in Darwin, but hey, you never know.
If you'd like to stay up-to-date on any events I'm planning on attending, sign up to my newsletter below. New designs and one-off pieces go to my list first.