Martina Latimer Information

Hello, here is a little story for you about my personal background and why I do what I do. I grew up in the beautiful Austrian countryside and moved to Vienna after school. There I worked, studied, met my husband and had our son. Our journey as a young family took us from Vienna to London and eventually Australia to settle. I have a Masters in Business Administration and worked in Vienna in different industries such as FMCG, NGOs, Chinese Medicine and Aviation. Although my work was mostly very interesting, I realized something was missing: working and creating with my hands. I needed to touch and hold my work. My husband was a strong supporter of me finding what I love and he accompanied me on my journey from knitting to crochet to felt work to quilting. I saw a ‘cathedral window’ cushion and fell in love. I tried one and after a whole day’s work I had my first cushion. I was addicted to quilting. I quickly moved on to quilts and other designs and had a few private customers who asked me to design and make customized home textiles. The dream of running my own home textiles business was born. I kept training myself on various techniques by watching online tutorials, filled sketchbooks with designs and sewing a lot. Although I am mostly self-taught, I attended masterclasses by Kaffe Fassett in Vienna, by Jenny Haynes from Papper Sax Sten in London and online courses by Jenny Doan, Leah Day, Sarah Fielke, Nancy Smith etc… I basically never stop learning, so you might find me in classes here and there to learn new skills. When my son was born, I quit my corporate job with the intention of starting my own business after my maternity leave. We decided to move to London and I felt ready to start what I called ‘at sarah’s’. Offering bespoke home textiles, I started my journey at various arts and crafts markets, pop-up shops, a craft trade show and I became an active member of the Muswell Hill Creatives. I started teaching at craft shops, the London Met University and Sutton College. I was over the moon to hear from magazines such as ‘ELLE Decoration’, ‘The World of Interiors’ and ‘GQ’ that they were keen to feature my work in their magazines. That was truly something I did not see coming. I had a rather good time in the UK! A new chapter in my life started with our move to Australia. I have based my business in Brisbane. I am a committee member of BrisStyle and a member of the Sydney Modern Quilt Guild and of the Quilters’ Guild of NSW. Get in touch, just say hi@martinalatimer.com