About Carmel
Carmel Ryan is a seamstress who has always loved making costumes and unique wearable art, with mainly upcycled, and reimagined materials.
Originally from the Red Centre & now residing in Darwin , Carmel draws on the whole of the Territory for inspiration. Passionate about the environment, her work practice is to reuse, repurpose and work with mainly vintage pre loved /found / foraged and natural materials that “come with a story”.
In past years Carmel has exhibited her work throughout the Northern Territory, Hobart, Victoria & WA.
Last year Carmel was again a finalist at the Australian Wearable Art Festival on the Sunshine Coast, creating a natural fibre, 100% biodegradable garment, which was also featured in ABC News segments to highlight sustainability.
Carmel was a participating designer of the ‘Get It On’, Frock On’ and ‘Sew Gorgeous’ projects, all collaborations with Indigenous community artists and galleries featuring Indigenous Art fabrics.
She was also a feature designer in an upcycling challenge event to design with only men’s preloved shirts. Using fabric from 25 white shirts , a bridal gown (pictured) was created. The Gown graced various catwalks Australia wide and featured in an article in ‘That’s Life”’ magazine.