I am Gillian Marriage. My background is in fashion, specifically designing and making swimwear. I grew up on the beachfront in a small Queensland resort town, and have always had a deep affinity with the ocean. There were no swimwear boutiques where I lived and my dressmaker mother taught me how to sew and make my own bikinis.

That was the beginning of my first swimwear business. In the early 80’s I won my first RAQ Fashion Design Award for swimwear. Since then I won five more under the ‘RIOT’ label. Working with my husband we designed and printed our own fabrics, as finding unique fabrics was difficult. I specialised in cutting and splicing as well as appliqué onto the lycra to create exclusive concepts for my collections. We supplied up to eighty boutiques in Australia. I have recently completed a Bachelor of Fine Art at Queensland College of Art, (Griffith University) majoring in Jewellery and Small Objects and Drawing. The old frustrations in sourcing the fabrics I imagined has led me to creating my own fabrics, using a method of embroidery onto water soluble stabiliser, I can create any shapes using any combination of colours that I like. This is one of the methods I employ to make my jewellery.