A bridalwear specialist who ditched making her own designer garments for PPE, is back at her creative best after opening a new studio.
Debbie Huntley, who won a designer-to-watch award with Asos and also featured on The Clothes Show Live, has launched This Day Studio. She has moved into her own studio at Danish Buildings in the heart of Hull’s Old Town, rekindling the inspiration to develop her talent for combining style and sustainability.
She said: “I graduated from Huddersfield University in fashion design and marketing and promotion and it was going well. I was doing some freelance work and I ran my own small, independent women’s wear label, L2 Mae.”
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In a change of direction Debbie joined workwear and safety specialist Arco as an in-house designer, left after about five years to have her daughter and then returned to the industry working for a major brand as a product development manager. But the pull of PPE, hi-vis and corporate uniforms couldn’t match Debbie’s dreams as a designer and circumstances conspired to take her back to her first love.
Initially, Debbie’s best friend asked her to design and create her wedding dress and then the owner of Ghost Orchid Bride in Hull asked for help with some projects. "I’d had a successful career in the corporate world but I felt my skills and talent weren’t doing anything," she said. "I felt I missed design work and I liked the idea of working in the bridal market. Helping my friends convinced me to have my own studio again and welcome brides into the space. I decided I need to go for it and take risks, and things started rolling into place.”
Danish Buildings, a historic feature of Hull’s High Street, was bought by Allenby Commercial and opened in 2017 after being renovated.
Georgia Allenby, design and marketing manager at the Hull business, said: “The vision for Danish Buildings and the adjacent Bayles House was always to provide high quality space in an historic part of the city centre which creatives and professionals find inspirational.
“It says everything that Debbie was directed to us by her friend who has a hair salon just along the same street. We’ve got a hair stylist in Danish Buildings along with a tattooist, physiotherapist, web designer, mental health and wellbeing specialist and more. The place is buzzing and This Day Studio is a great fit.”
Two rooms lend themselves to trying on and production, and Debbie has also benefited from a start-up grant to cover the cost of a pattern cutting table.”
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