ABORIGINAL APPEAL

Amanda Healy, an Australian designer, explains how her Made in India brand, Kirrikin, promotes artworks by indigenous Australian people

- SMITA TRIPATHI

In the last week of October, the Fashion Design Council of India (FDCI) in collaboration with the Australian High Commission presented a fashion show in New Delhi featuring Kirrikin, an indigenous Australian fashion label founded by Amanda Healy, a Wonnarua woman and social enterprise leader.

Embodying the spirit and creativity of indigenous art, Kirrikin transforms hand-painted artworks into luxury clothing. Designed in Australia, the clothes are made in Noida and sold all over the world through e-commerce.

You have worked in mining for years and then decided to launch Kirrikin. Could you tell us how it all came about?

So, I actually still work in mining. I do have a mining business in engineering. The idea for the brand came about in 2008, when the Australian government asked Aboriginal people to register their businesses.