Bridie Rimmer

Designer

Bridie Rimmer

Bridie taught herself to work with leather because nobody else was making what she could see was needed. Seven years on, she brings that same rigour to Exiled.

Sewing is in Bridie’s blood. Her mum and grandma made clothes throughout her childhood, and she was always in the workshop with them, always asking to help. The leather working came later, and was entirely self-taught.

Bridie was making bespoke clothing and alternative bridal wear when a trend appeared: brides wanted leather jackets with their wedding dresses. The jackets available were mostly painted or customised off-the-shelf. No brand was making them from scratch. She set about teaching herself to pattern-cut a leather jacket and was soon offering bespoke pieces.

When a hide arrives, Bridie takes time before she cuts anything. She assesses it, feeling its flaws and understanding where the best cuts should come from. It is a form of respect, she says, for the animal it came from. That consideration shapes everything downstream.

“Leather can be unforgiving, but not rushing the process makes a huge difference. How you handle the hide can make or break a garment.”



For Exiled, she has worked on the leather cases for the Compact Mirror – a product with precise demands. The weave had to work and hold, while the circular form required exactness at every stage. Working through those demands, she found new techniques and new evidence of how versatile the material can be when you take the time to understand it on its own terms.

For Bridie, making means far more than the finished object. It is a story – from the idea, to the choice of material, to the skill involved in bringing it into physical form. She wants Exiled owners to feel the positive energy and care that goes into making a piece for them to enjoy and use.

Bridie goes to exhibitions and art galleries, though she is just as likely to be found at a gig or festival. Music is a consistent thread – the energy, the visual culture around it, the way people show up to it. And yes, she can always be found wearing a leather jacket.

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“Making means so much more than the object. It carries emotion – both that of the person behind the craft and the one who chooses to buy it.”

Meet your makers

This is our circle of makers: artisans, designers, technicians and technologists, each bringing a distinct craft and a shared conviction that the material others overlook still has more to say.

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Bridie Rimmer

Bridie taught herself to work with leather because nobody else was making what she could see was needed. Seven years on, she brings that same rigour to Exiled.

Bridie Rimmer
Bridie Rimmer
Designer

Bridie Rimmer

Designer
Jo Smith

No material that reaches Jo is truly at the end of its life. She has spent her career proving it – one rescued, reimagined piece at a time.

Jo Smith
Jo Smith
Textile Technician

Jo Smith

Textile Technician
Kelimune Handloom Centre

The Kelimune Handloom Centre, supported by Exiled and Fibershed Sri Lanka, is a community of skilled handloom weavers, sharing knowledge and keeping alive an ancient tradition for new markets.

Kelimune Handloom Centre
Kelimune Handloom Centre
Group of makers

Kelimune Handloom Centre

Group of makers
Polonnaruwa Artisan Community

The Polonnaruwa Artisan Community, supported by Exiled and Fibershed Sri Lanka, nurtures a group of hand weavers to carry forward a centuries-old craft into products and places it has never reached before.

Polonnaruwa Artisan Community
Polonnaruwa Artisan Community
Group of makers

Polonnaruwa Artisan Community

Group of makers
Roxey Lebedynska

Roxey always knew she was going to be an artist. Music shaped her eye, chaos fuels her process and fashion became the medium through which she says what she wants to say.

Roxey Lebedynska
Roxey Lebedynska
Textile Technician

Roxey Lebedynska

Textile Technician
Sam Grannon

Sam is not just interested in making things. He is interested in what becomes of them. Everything else – the materials, the process, the precision – follows from that.

Sam Grannon
Sam Grannon
3D Designer

Sam Grannon

3D Designer
Sisi

Sisi chose creativity at nine years old and has never reconsidered. Making for her is not a job or a practice. It is the clearest expression of who she is.

Sisi
Sisi
Textile Technician

Sisi

Textile Technician
Syd Newman

Syd was always looking for the next skill she hadn’t mastered yet. She found it in clothing construction and hasn’t stopped looking since, also finding that craft is what makes her feel herself.

Syd Newman
Syd Newman
Textile Technician

Syd Newman

Textile Technician
Tendai ‘Tee’ Murairwa

Some people grow up making. Tee started in her forties at her kitchen table, discovering that what she’d been looking for had been waiting in the fabric all along.

Tendai ‘Tee’ Murairwa
Tendai ‘Tee’ Murairwa
Designer

Tendai ‘Tee’ Murairwa

Designer