Melba Aros

Melba Aros grew up in the south of Chile, with rainy weather, evergreen forests and a carefree lifestyle that helped her develop a deep connection to nature.

Melba’s interest in textiles started through fashion. As a child she loved designing her own clothes. After high school, she moved to Santiago de Chile to study advertising, before moving to Melbourne years later. There she worked to create her own clothing label.

Melba learned about fashion and textiles through the most alternative ways. First, by watching her older sister, then by reading books, working in a second-hand clothing factory, interning with a tailor... even traveling the world for more than three years. During that time, she immersed myself in different cultures and communities, documenting different textile expressions. It was whilst traveling that her passion for natural dyes started, but it wasn't until she settled down in Perth, Western Australia, that her creative process began to bloom. Since then Melba hasn't stopped learning and experimenting with the wonderful art of natural colours.

“Working with natural dyes is a very beautiful, rewarding and delicate practice. It allows me to immerse myself in nature, observe the changes of seasons, the behaviour of the flora and fauna of the place where I live, the rapid growth of some plants and of others so slow they remind me that my time on earth is just a small fragment.”

Made in Western Australia.