Madam Bukeshla... garments... home textiles... wallpapers and
graphics... art prints... classes in ancient stitch technique...
bespoke making... bringing authenticity to design
"I learnt to handstitch at the age of 6... then honed my love of textile
design at Melbourne's RMIT in the early eighties and found myself
exhibiting... a naive, personal narrative, celebrating stitch and adornment
from another time. Arriving in Perth to fulfil a 6-month artist-in-residency
at the age of 24, I'm still here 26 years on, still in love with the ocean
and the skies and light of Western Australia. I have maintained an art
practice throughout the years, in between motherhood, a home and garden
teaching classes from home with sporadic bursts of garments thrown in
to the mix. But it wasnt until I met my partner Nath that the courage was
plucked to step out with a business– bringing together the elements of my
design work with my love of drawing, cloth, stitch and paint."
A little about our shop...
Our label Madam Bukeshla and shop space… on the fringe of
Fremantle in eclectic Wray Avenue is many meaningful things to us.
Comprising shop… 3 upstairs rooms... kitchen, lounge & garden
courtyard... this turn of last century structure was primarily established
as the hub of our creative and healing life. Our space has evolved naively
and organically since 2009… with baby steps as means allow... and
is at once… a salon-like boutique for our signature garments... textile
products & artworks... as well as for the work of favoured local &
interstate makers... our production studio... and finally an enchanting
escape for our 'Healing in Stitch’ Workshop series. Added to this we are
readying an upstairs room for relaxed B&B sophisticationados...
incorporating shared kitchen... lounge... and rustic bathroom looking
on to our secluded and eclectic courtyard garden. Building on our
approach to engaging with real time and natural cycles in our customary
mode... employing spontaneity and immediacy where possible... our ethos
in the business whether garment... textile... artwork or service... is about
My artwork arrives childlike... weaving unaffected dreamy scenes that
touch and awaken the simple longing for myth-like beauty... a language
of imagery for contemplation of being... – Trish Bygott
a return to a conscious and principled interaction with our work
and an exchange of spirit... rather than goods. Our growing
textile range branches out to include handmade linen curtaining…
bedcovers… cushions… lampshades and teatowel designs…
all variously incorporating handpainted panels… handstitch…
or machine-assisted handdrawn line… with bold patterned
themes Original illustrated cards… artist-quality prints & bold
hand-painted wallpaper drops underpin our custom designs for
projects such as painted wall treatments… patterned painted
panels for splashbacks… or fully integrated textile and painted
interior treatments and consultation. Our hand-crafted garments
reflect a natural timeless simplicity with emphasis on the
translation to one-off through detailing and handstitch... bold
handpainted panels... or with occasional vintage or kimono pieces
that come our way. Not attempting to conform to established
seasonal cycles affords us the pleasure of building an
enlightened and flexible range with endless variations… which
we feel provides a much needed remedy to the unsustainable cycle
of pressures within the conventional fashion industry… as well
as encouraging a relationship with our clientele based on our
reputation for the enduring heart of our designs.
The Story of Madam Bukeshla
This is the fictional story written by Fremantle
artist and writer Jennifer Kornberger for the launch
night of the Madam Bukeshla store...
Trish has named her design studio after the famous
historical figure Madam Bukeshla, and I think it would
be fitting at this opening fo the Studio to tel a little of the
story of this enigmatic woman who lived at the turn of
the century. She was an artistic and sensitive daughter
of the Russian Tsarist and adventurer Anton Bukeshla
and the Zulu princess Ata Bukeshla. She grew up in both
Africa and Europe, and studied art at the French
academy, becoming fascinated with the elements of
good design. One of the stories that has come through
tells of her visiting the William Morris Studios in
England and peering with great longing through the
window in the pouring rain at the wallpapers and
furnishings. The head designer, who was at that momentslightly
tipsy from drinking French red, spied
her and invigted her in to share a glass. Hearing that
she was an artist, he flung out a challenge: 'Find me
a palette of fabrics that matches exactly the flavours
of this wine.' Madam Bukeshla took up the challenge.
She entered the workroom and turned it upside down:
colours, patterns, braids, bibs, bobs, buttons... Out of the
creative chaos she emerged triumphant with a stunning
combination that took England by storm. She was given
a trunk of fabrics, which she took with her as she
continued in her travels, visiting all the dress houses
on the continent, collecting as she went more and more
trunks of fabric. Then a great longing arose in her to
connect with her mother’s heritage. She booked a
passage to Africa and lived in the rhythm of song, into
colours so boldly put together, beads, sun and women
singing as they worked with cloths wrapped around
their bellies. She returned to Europe with more boxes of
fabric. With all these experiences behind her, Madam
Bukeshla went into a textile mill in Brittany and climbed
the stairs to the very top of the mill and in the last rrom
she found an old woman with a spindle. And then for the
second time in recorded medical history, a woman (this
time Madam Bukeshla) pricked her finger on a spindle
and fell into a deep sleep, which lasted 100 years. When
she woke up she found that her name was Trish Bygott.
And all the boxes of fabric had survived and here they
are in this room, under the table. I must tell you that
when Madam Bukeshla went to sleep the whole world
went to sleep and had a textile nightmare – millions of
soulless garments churned out of factories, ugly things
with inane prints, some had never been touched by a
human hand. But Madam Bukeshla dreamt of divine
cloths, of stitching with strips of silk ad she dreamt of
garments so individual that each one had a name. So,
now she has her own design studio and others come to
the window and peer in to see Trish Bygott 'living that
which she loves'.