FULL STEAMPUNK AHEAD

STAR WEEKLY

“ THEY’RE YOUR STORIES weekly PEOPLE W here did my name Purple come from? Very once upon a time, I was going through a phase in the late 1980s where everything I owned was purple. Plus, me, my flatmate, her best friend, a girl on a course I was doing and a girl at my parttime job all had the same given name so it was just easy to be Purple. It’s unique and it stuck. I grew up in L&P town − Paeroa. The bottom of the Coromandel Peninsula is my glamorous description! It was a quintessential childhood, I suppose. We had a rural outlook, so we’d spend a lot of time outside on our bikes, or at the beach.

When I first left school I studied retail merchandising and advertising at Waikato Polytech. I guess it was something a bit arty. But then I ran away to join the gypsies, the travelling artisan community who do fairs and festivals around the country.

I travelled with them doing a bit of apple picking and other seasonal work before I

moved back to Paeroa to help Mum when my sister, who’s 21 years younger than me, was born.

It seemed everyone in Paeroa was having babies – and I didn’t want to be a solo mum! – so to escape I went to polytech in Nelson and did visual arts. I still have a little caravan that I built and used to tow around with all manner of underpowered vehicles on adventures. It’s now a spare room/shed in the backyard.

I like to have a garden, and because I’ve upcycled and recycled for years − I’m a bit of a hoarder − I’ve always lived in a house. I’ve also had trucks for most of my life, which has meant I’ve been able to take whatever I like home.

Artists don’t make much so I’ve had other jobs – barista, bar wench – to supplement the income from my craft. Before I moved to my place now in Oamaru I worked in the post office/forecourt at Cheviot. I had to do road user and vehicle regos on the computer and I would get all wound up over it − I don’t do computers. I’m not a complete Luddite, but they just irk me. I moved to Oamaru in 2011 and

got a job driving the school bus. I still do that, but only relief work. I had been here before, for a friend’s funeral, and just fell in love with the place.

I saw posters for the second Steampunk Festival, so a friend and I came down for that. After that, I couldn’t sell my house fast enough! Oamaru’s a little old-fashioned, quirky town that suits me down to the ground. How would I describe Steampunk style? If you break the word down, steam relates to the Victorian aesthetic, styling and materials of the day, then when you punk it, it’s any attitude you like. It’s inspired by the writings of Jules Verne, his Captain Nemo and all of his highly ornate, detailed inventions.

Before Steampunk, I was more rustic. Steampunk is a bit more glam − or maybe apocalyptic, if you like − but I’d describe myself as a crafty artisan. I make all sorts – leadlights, leather wrap belts, hats, cards. I love leather and metal. My partner Pete is a metal man; he’s an engineer by trade. He snuck up on me at a shop. I was talking to a friend who was in the shop with him. She had a little K Bedford bus PHOTOS: SEAN WALLER

and we deserted the shop to have a look at it. We were blathering away like a pair of girls and I nearly stepped on him when I stepped back to take a photo!

We live in the old Holmes Hill farm manager’s cottage. It’s Oamaru stone, built in the 1860s. We call it our castle. Pete’s got a Model T and I’ve got a little K Bedford house truck with a little ‘snorage’ on the back.

I use it as a daily runner, but when I do markets and festivals and things I can open up the side, set up my stall, and also sleep in it overnight if I need. It’s called the Realm Runner and it’s the most photographed truck on the street!

I’ve also got a little homebuilt, two-stroke moped, which I bought off a friend. It was a bit of a loose unit so not really working when I got it, but we’ve modified it now. It won the ‘Rat bike’ award at the Long Drop Rally in Duntroon.

Do I always wear these clothes or do I own some trackpants? I do, but I only wear them when I go to the gym. I’m getting older now. You have to start looking after yourself!” # As told to Julie Jacobson

How I live...

Quick-fire: When are you happiest? When I’m playing with colour or wood or leather, when I’m making things. Who are three guests from the present or past you’d invite to dinner? Film director Sir Peter Jackson, he has a creative soul; Brian Froud, a brilliant artist who illustrated Faeries and The Goblins of the Labyrinth and Lagertha from Vikings . What’s your pet peeve? People photographing other people’s original art. That’s about protecting my artisans who have worked really hard to present something for sale.