Paradise Silks is Leonie Cooper Squires...
colour queen
Leonie’s fascination with colour and love of textiles began early in her life. She first began making clothes when she was eight, and has continued to pursue this love ever since.
Over time she realized her passion was for individually-crafted pieces not mass production. She opened her stall at Paddy’s Market in Sydney to give herself the freedom to develop and test her handmade creations. She quickly developed an eager clientele of women, who fell in love with the vibrancy and sensuality of her classic designs.
Time in India and exposure to the shimmering beauty and oft-bejewelled richness of colours on the sub-continent further stimulated her passion for textiles.
Upon returning to Australia these experiences translated into a busy time of creativity and prosperity in the Sydney marketplace.
When she moved to Bellingen on the NSW Mid North Coast in 1989 Leonie started supplying designer boutiques with hand painted silk shirts, pants, and quilted jackets, many of them made exclusively to order.
The loving process of hand painting
these lustrous silks has evolved over 25 years
through experimenting with the fabrics
and the endless array of colours,
that are the ultimate inspiration behind all of my work
In 1991 Leonie established Paradise Silks. She was a regular and popular exhibitor at the Australian Craft Show in Sydney between 1994 and 2000.
Leonie has created outfits for a number of celebrities including Kirsty Cockburn, partner of TV journalist George Negus, which she wore to the prestigious Logie Awards in Sydney and Gillian Helfgott, wife of well-known pianist David Helfgott, whose story was told in the movie Shine.
Today she continues to specialize in making individual outfits from her hand painted silks for clients of all shapes and sizes.
She has also developed other products in her superb textile range including wall-hangings, mandalas and cushions.
the vision of paradise silks
To bring beauty to the planet through colours, inspire women to be individual colourful and feminine.
Paradise Silks enhances this process creating sensuous silks for body home and spirit.