deborah sweeney ¹²

Deborah places importance on quality materials and workmanship - buying less and buying well. Deborah's work is made from New Zealand clay, hand blended with volcanic sand which creates a lovely random speckle when melted at high temperature. She works out of her home studio in Days Bay, Wellington, New Zealand, where she lives with her artist husband, Niels Meyer-Westfeld, and their two boys Lars and Romeo.

Deborah returned to New Zealand to establish her fashion label in 2002 after working for Jill Stuart in New York and designing for High St stores, such as Top Shop and H&M in London. She completed her Fashion Diploma at Massey University, Wellington in 1991, and also studied accessories at the London Royal College of Fashion in 2000. Her collections were stocked in select boutiques around the globe - including the UK, USA, Japan, Denmark and Australia. Previous collections have received credits from several international fashion publications including: UK Vogue, ID, Nylon, Jane, Lucky and Elle Magazine.

After 15 years of her label and looking for a change of pace, Deborah took a short sabbatical to spend some time with her youngest before he started school. It was during this time that she completed a clay workshop and fell in love with ceramics. Deborah left fashion behind in 2017 and has been making ceramics every spare moment since.