MEET THE MAKERS

On my second trip, in the early days of the brand, I was lucky to meet Annie, a Balinese woman who ran her homegrown tailoring business from the ground floor of her house in the capital, Denpasar.

Annie had separated from her husband, and taught herself pattern cutting and dress making, so she could generate an income to support her and her three daughters.

Since that first meeting, I have spent many months working alongside Annie and her team - and when I say alongside, I mean literally sitting at a table together for hours on end. This has fostered a high level of transparency, and a strong working relationship built on mutual trust and integrity.

Every sequin on a Rosa Bloom piece is stitched by hand, by a team of skilled women artisans in a rural village in northern Bali.

When Annie met a woman named Mariati during a bus ride many years ago, the two women became firm friends. Annie taught Mariati the art of decorative hand embroidery, and Mariati passed these skills on to her neighbours. A few years later I appeared on the scene, and these unique hand-stitching skills combined with my scale-like sequins created the distinctive Rosa Bloom aesthetic that has become the brand's signature.

There aren't many job opportunities in this region of Bali, and the women have shared with me how the income and flexibility of this work has benefited their lives: many have been able to afford a better education for their children; and they can fit the work around caring for their families, as well as seasonal jobs like clove harvesting, an important industry in the local area.