Yes, it was called The Warrior. It was a sculptured leather piece on the body which used linen thread to create the silhouette. It was inspired by the techniques of hand stitching saddles. I wanted to show how traditional leather skills could be used to make modern fashion.

I always wanted to work in the creative field but my instinct drew me to leather, so when I gained a QEST scholarship to further my leather skills, I took the opportunity to become a whip maker. However, I don’t think I’ll ever stop learning.

In 2011. Prior to that, I was always working in any space I had: the bedroom floor, the corner of the kitchen, the living room. Having a real space to call a studio gave me such a sense of achievement and it’s what I’d dreamt of for years.

I design and make all the pieces myself. Inside every whip handle I make, I roll part of a newspaper (The Times) with the date of when the whip was created, so in the distant future, if someone wanted to know the age of the whip, they could find out; it’s part of the tradition.