- In short: After a long career in the business world, Stephanie Reynolds has reignited an old passion — designing and making couture. Now, she works mostly with paper.
- What's next?: Reynolds's work is on show at the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery in Launceston until October.
The basement of Stephanie Reynolds's home is filled with couture.
There are Victorian inspired costumes, dresses that could pass as wedding gowns, Cinderella-style shoes and brightly coloured cocktail dresses.
From a distance, you would think they are all made from luxurious fabric, but as you get closer, you notice, they are all made from paper.
"I love the fact that it's unpredictable," Reynolds said of using paper as her medium.
"It doesn't behave the same as textile, but you can see if you look around my studio that I try to make it look like a textile and I try to make it behave like a textile."
Reynolds, who originally grew up in New Zealand before moving to Australia, said her passion for fashion started young.
"I had always been involved in theatre when I was younger, so I'd always had this great love for design, fashion and making things," the 69-year-old said.
"I was quite involved with both amateur theatre and also later with professional theatre... I never even imagined from little old New Zealand that there would be a future in it, so I stopped."
It wasn't until Reynolds moved to Tasmania and joined a range of art groups that her passion for designing was reignited.