Alecia Jensen, Brianna Pike and Anna Harves are living their university dream, creating successful textile designs together for their Sixhands label from a studio in Surry Hills.

This article appears in Issue 04 of Habitus, on sale now. Photography by Richard Birch.

Ask Alecia Jensen, Brianna Pike and Anna Harves what first attracted them to each other when they met studying fashion and textile design at the University of Technology Sydney in 2001 and they’re unanimous: distinctive styles, strong personalities, and a quiet determination to succeed commercially with their artistic freedom intact. 

They’re qualities that have since attracted a string of high profile admirers to the Surry Hills studio they set up in late 2006 to create exclusive, custom made and bespoke prints for fashions labels looking for something bold and fresh.

Clients range from highly commercial enterprises like Bonds and Sportsgirl to industry stalwarts Wayne Cooper, Alannah Hill, Lisa Ho and Peter Alexander and a diverse mix of boutique labels including the foxy couture of Daniel Avakian, the glamourous swimwear of Flamingo Sands, and the stylish street chic of One Teaspoon. Not bad for a bunch of uni mates still pushing 30.

The broad appeal of Sixhands’ playful prints, which are produced using ecologically sustainable printing processes and soya based inks, was part of the trio’s vision right from the start.

After graduating in 2004 the girls spent two years working for others in the fashion and graphic design industries figuring out exactly what sort of business they did – and didn’t – want to run. Avoiding ‘fashion bitch’ clichés by taking their work rather than themselves seriously was one essential. Finding a commercially viable niche they could have fun filling was another…

sixhands.com.au

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