ABOUT
Fashion. Art. Community. The life-style of HOOSH
FASHION
Unique wearables for fearlessly passionate wild people / Costumes for divine individuals / Ethical Slow Fashion / All natural fibres
ART
Surface pattern design for multiple applications - fashion, lifestyle, home textiles/ Plant wisdom visuals & illa-prints for mystic seekers
COMMUNITY
Specialising in Community Arts & Cultural Development projects & Social Enterprise aimed at advancing the collective through art, design, music, storytelling, community celebration & ceremony with a focus on Community Co-design
HOOSH by Christy Van Der Heyden
Designer / Artist / Community Arts & Cultural Development Practitioner / Cameleer
'I am committed to living a conscious, respectful and spiritual life. I have honoured the landscapes that have summoned me and the ancestral spirits that have sent me to places to do ‘the work’….My recipe look a little like this : Acknowledge and Honour the role of lived experience to heighten community connection + work with a strong sense of ethics & compassion for all living beings + cultivate passion and purpose to deliver in a state of gratitude + celebrate Australia’s amazing cultural diversity!
In other words, ‘Live Life By Design, Not By Default’
ABOUT Christy Van Der Heyden
Melbourne born, Christy has worked in the Community Arts & Cultural Development in Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, Northern Territory, Western Australia and internationally, based in Israel. Her positions have been in a range of Not For Profit NGO’s, both Local and State Government, and as owner/operator of a small business and manager of a social enterprise.
Whether designing artworks, clothing, home textiles or community programs, from products to services, sustainable outcomes are at the core.
Christy is passionate about sharing her professional skills and personal lived experiences within First Nations & Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) communities where the Arts creates opportunities for social inclusion, self-determination and equality.
She believes that a strengths-based grass-roots approach to community engagement is key in supporting communities to create their futures in culturally appropriate and sustainable pathways.
HOOSH is a tribute to Christy’s approach.
The journey of HOOSH…
HOOSH is a life-style: a culmination of a body of life work translated into fashion, art and creative community projects.
With a life long passion in textiles, music, colour, deserts & modes of transport I returned from Israel to Australia to create my first clothing label 'MOPOKE- made in Melbourne' , opening a studio in Fitzroy, Melbourne in 2007.
Initially inspired by my wanderings in the Sinai Peninsula, Negev and Judean deserts and craving to be back in ‘a’ desert I relocated from Melbourne to Mbantua (Alice Springs). I began working with camels in Ethabuka & Munga-Thirri (Simpson Desert) and as a Community Arts & Cultural Practitioner in the Central & Western deserts whilst creating garments and jewellery inspired by all-things-desert.
MOPOKE's concept of the ‘divine warrior who wanders confidently through the unknown of the desert’ became a reality for me when I completed 2 solo camel treks in 2010 and 2012.
In 2015 I relocated to tropical GIMUY (Cairns) country in Far North Queensland after the death of my amazing Mama. I continued working in Indigenous and Multicultural community arts & cultural projects, including a collaboration with a Torres Strait Island artist to create ‘Fusing Sands’ – a wearable arts project that would symbolise the end of the 10 year era of the MOPOKE clothing label and the beginning of a new journey with HOOSH.
Why HOOSH?
HOOSH is a term used by cameleers suggesting the notion of 'sitting' to the dromedary; a regal prehistoric ancestral being and one of Christy's greatest teachers!
In 2020 I relocated from Gimuy to Whadjuk Nyoongar Boodja in Western Australia during the beginning of the pandemic, via a short 4 month stint in Brisbane until borders opened and permits were secured to cross through 3 States.
Like many creatives 2020 was spent creating 'works in iso' - a series of textile designs and watercolour drawings created from my residence in Walyalup (Fremantle) and continued in current residence on Mirawoong Gajerrung country in the beautiful town of Kununurra in the East Kimberley, Western Australia.
Not your average creative business, HOOSH is intent on celebrating all-things-unique through garment design, artworks & surface pattern prints, as well as community projects that are guided by an ethical conscious approach.
My extensive global travel influences from Africa, Sth America, Europe, UK, Sth East Asia, Indonesia, Middle East and the Caribbean can be see in my eclectic design work and my approach to community work. I draw inspiration from and honour Indigenous wisdom of the past, present & future. I can be found practising my motto, inspired by one of my mentors, 'Live life by design, not by default’ in all aspects of my life.