RURAL HEALTH MATTERS

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Reflecting on her experience, Candice shares: “You work through a lot of trauma issues with creativity. Even when I’m overwhelmed with emotions now, I just go to the piano and play around now, or create. I have to create – or else I’d go insane,” she says. “I have to be doing something with my hands.”

That often means making lovingly crafted patchwork cloaks. “The cloaks are great in winter. They’re so warm, I’ve even used them as blankets before.”

The idea for her handmade cloaks came to her from her love of historical fiction, and she fell in love with mediaeval gowns she saw for sale. But when she noticed the price she realised how people struggled to a ord them, and felt they lacked a bit of character.

Each of her cloaks is custom-made to suit the personality of an individual, then Candice gives it to them as a gift.

“It’s very personal. And I guess that’s the reason why I’ve never expanded to make it a business, because I like to do things specifically for the person.”

What makes her wearable artworks truly remarkable is her commitment to using exclusively recycled materials. From discarded fabrics to old sheets, Candice breathes new life into what others consider waste. When she enters an op-shop or recovery centre she says she knows she can turn what other people considered trash into something beautiful. “Walking around –things just get translated in my mind. Other people just see scraps, but I might see a butterfly wing. I don’t see what it is, I see what it’s going to be.

“I couldn’t a ord anything, and I always loved beautiful things and op-shops were just a great resource – I never felt like I went without. I always knew I could go in there, and it was just a matter of how I put it all together.”

Candice credits her creative garments with the resourceful nature she has grown to have due to her humble past. “They say you know you’re a creative person if you see faces in things, I’ve always been like that. I just didn’t have the right outlet for a long time.”