August 01, 2024

CAPTAIN ROBBO | Meet Katy Robinson

CAPTAIN ROBBO | Meet Katy Robinson

Adventure Pants by Captain Robbo? What, yes! When we first came across Katy Robinson’s fantastic leggings in Melbourne in the early 2010s, it brought an instant smile to our faces and an immediate desire for adventure. We’ve been big fans ever since!

We’re so thrilled to present the captain and her pants (and other delightful textiles that Katy makes) as part of Mrs Woo 20th Anniversary Showcase. 

 

MRS WOO: How long has Captain Robbo been sailing? Can you give us a bit of a background story on how it all began?

KATY: It all officially begun in 2009 when I did NIES (New Enterprise Incentive Scheme). Before this I studied printmaking, and then I went on to working in millinery and screen-printing factories around town. I got my first job by calling every business under 'screen-printing' in the Yellow Pages!

I started this business because it was hard to find leggings and prints that were nice as well as fun. In 2008, I made a few table-length prints of my own designs and took them overseas with me - I got the very first batch of my 'adventure pants' made whilst travelling in Thailand. I then took the pants on a European trip and sold them at a few local markets but I also gifted them to kind strangers I met along my travels. On return to Melbourne a year later, I made more pants from a make-shift set up and started selling them at markets. Before long, I was travelling to bigger design shows. I remember selling out of stock at those very first markets - it was such a thrill!

Eventually I started sourcing fabrics based on what customers were asking for, and steered the ship towards natural fabrics. Today the entire range is made in natural fabrics, as well as Merino wool that's produced especially for us by the one remaining Melbourne fabric knitter. Our Merino wool cloth starts by commissioning the yarn to be made into white cones for the knitter, so we're at a pretty cellular level of involvement now.

The name 'Captain Robbo' name comes from my last name, and the desire to be Captain of my own ship. Seemed easy enough - you just name yourself Captain and off you go! I've steered my own course and feel confident after all these years that being creatively independent, curious and inventive is something I won’t ever get bored of. I want to be embodied into what we make, and hope through osmosis that this realisation can be felt for others.

 

MRS WOO: You’re making basics, ultimately - leggings, shirts and tees. But they feel so meaningful and beautiful. Your designs manage to deepen the joy of wearing these every-day essentials. We attribute it to your inventiveness with colour, material and original print. What inspires your creativity and drives your making?

KATY: That’s so lovely to hear!! I’m not sure where the drive to create comes from. I do think it's a part of who I am. If I can’t be creating and making, I can feel very weird and uncomfortable, and awkward... kind of claustrophobic.

When my mother passed away very suddenly recently, I really found so much help releasing pain by channeling those feelings into work. This year, I've really let myself stray into all new avenues of creating and its brought me so much strength and comfort. It’s so healing. It's also so affirming to hear that this energy has translated into the prints.

Colour is an endless pursuit that never gets boring - it's such a big part of life and the human experience. The prints I make originate from my sketchbooks - I carry them with me everywhere. I refer to my sketches whenever I need to pull out a new print or idea for something, the starting point is always there waiting for the right time.

 

MRS WOO: There really is so much to love about your range. One of the key features is that your Merino wool, cotton, cocona (fibre derived from coconut husks!) jersey fabrics are especially made for Captain Robbo with, possibly, one of the last weaving mills in Victoria. You also sketch and hand-screenprint every garment in your studio. What can you tell us about having such a diverse skill set in maintaining your slow fashion and sustainability practices?

KATY: Thank you!! The knitting mill we use IS the last one in Melbourne. It’s very tricky to navigate a business in an industry that's shrinking by the year. It’s frustrating - it would be so easy to just start producing off-shore! I want to start an alliance of Australian makers like yourselves and others we know, who are still battling on in the locally-made industry. We need to start working together and getting more involvement from people at the top.

 

MRS WOO: Oh my goodness, yes - count us in!! Like many of us, you’re a one-woman show and it's a great achievement to be in business 15 years on - and still going! So much care and dedication goes into what you do. What do you love about steering the Captain Robbo ship that most people would not know or realise?

KATY: I love to think back to a time when I was attending a small business workshop when I was 24, and I was asked to visualise what a perfect day in my future business would look like in 5 years time.

I decided then that I wanted to be in my studio, enjoying the act of creating, making and acting on ideas. I'm very proud to say that this where I'm at, and I love that my studio now also has a couple of very excellent and inspired helping hands to keep up with all the printing and making we do.

I've also enjoyed branching into silversmithing, enamelling and also creating prints for paper in the last 12 months. Being an artist-in-residence overseas on a couple of occasions has also been such a valuable and enriching experience - it has given me more freedom to try new things.

I love the shop we've created in the front of our Northcote studio where I can welcome people into our space. I have so much to be grateful for.

CAPTAIN ROBBO wonderful range is now available in High Tea with Mrs Woo's NEWCASTLE and SYDNEY stores.

Posted in creativesmallbusiness meetthemaker mrswooanniversaryshowcase