The Voice Within

FROM THREADS TO BEADS

Setting high standards, Leeza works with high quality materials – Czechoslovakian Bohemian seeds, crystals and glass pears and an endless array of semi-precious gemstones. The quality and focus that she puts into everything she does is literally threaded into her work, creating pieces that have a special quality sewn in. With a background in fashion and design, Leeza was introduced to creativity at an early age. “My uncle was a very well known costumer here in Melbourne, so I think I’ve always been an arty, theatrical kind of a girl.”

But that is a hard industry to make a living in. So she moved sideways into the fashion industry, working in alterations and as a house designer, later progressing to working as a freelancer. “I guess that there is a perception that (the fashion industry) is a really glamorous, fast paced, and exciting industry, yet the reality is that after you finish your degree in fashion, unless you’ve got a spare hundred grand, or an investor like Rene Rivkin (who got behind Morrissey), you will end up being a house designer. Or you’ll eventually start your own label, which is a hard slog. And that’s a reality a lot of people don’t understand.”