A Belfast fashion designer who had a successful career with big brands but decided to create her own has won a prestigious prize.
Síofra Caherty, who is originally from Armagh, worked with Adidas in Germany for years and other companies before taking a leap of faith to start her own business back home.
She is one of five winners who received a €10,000 cash prize to support the development of their craft and business skills in the 2022 RDS Craft Awards.
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The 35-year-old created Jump The Hedges five years ago, which sells tote bags, fanny bags, stash bags and yoga bags.
Some lines have even sold out within five minutes.
Síofra told Be : "I worked as a designer with Adidas in Germany and with some Irish brands too. After that I decided I wanted to have my own business so I moved back here and did a masters and developed Jump The Hedges after that.
"It really was a way for me to create something myself that was truly sustainable because I was going to be involved in all aspects of the business.
"It was a way for me to use all the experience I had gained from working as a designer for about seven or eight years. I was able to use the experience I had gained from living in Germany and America in my own business."
She added: "I currently create bags from reclaimed or waste materials and then I also do community and education workshops and teaching around sustainable design.
"Because the bags are made from reclaimed materials, each bag is individual, I currently use truck tarpaulin, it's really heavy duty. I source it from all over Ireland and then industrially wash them in water, then I cut them up and make them into bags, and then I do what I call 'bag drops' online.
"My shop is closed most of the time and I only open up maybe four times a year, doing a 'bag drop', I might have 100 bags that I've spent the previous three months making.
"The last drop was for Ukraine and it sold out in five minutes, the previous one was at Christmas and it sold out in half an hour. They sell very quickly."
Síofra said it leaves her feeling "delighted" that her bags made in Belfast are popular and that people are interested in buying sustainable products.
"They are not necessarily cheap either, my cheapest item is about £70... but at the same time people are aware of the fact that they are being made here locally, they are being made sustainably and transparently.
"It is nice that people believe in what I am doing and support it," she added.
Looking back since launching her own business, Síofra has explained how far she has come.
"It was really, really difficult [at the start] because I had been in lots of very well paid design jobs and had a very clear career trajectory, it was very clear what levels I'd move to, so setting off and doing my own thing felt almost quite foolish in a way.
"I could see my friends around me and their careers moving ahead, it was really difficult.
"When I got my first sewing machine, it was incredibly heavy and incredibly fast and I actually couldn't use it at the start. I didn't have the skills and I couldn't control it.... I definitely didn't see it going this way.
"I had this ambition to have my own business and created my own timelines, like 'if I haven't sold any bags in six months, I quit', but these bag drops are selling out... when I first started I wasn't selling any bags.
"I was working part time in shops, teaching part time, doing all these other things. It is really amazing now. It is really positive," she said.
The designer told how she has received great support in NI, with her main market originally being in Dublin.
"Now it's started to even out.
"I definitely get a lot of support in and around Belfast, I don't even mean financial support, I get a lot of people messaging me saying, 'Oh I really love what you do' and, 'It's really cool that you are in Belfast'.
"I did some workshops in Ardoyne, and that's really important to me... I'm meeting young people who can't even imagine themselves being fashion designers.
"You can do whatever you want to do."
The 35-year-old says she's now glad that she took the plunge, but that it hasn't been an easy journey.
"The hardest thing is maybe your own expectations. I was in these jobs that you'd be quite proud to tell people, [they'd] be like 'Ohhh, Adidas', and then when you say you work for yourself, people kind of go, 'Aww'.
"It isn't ego fulfilling, it is more about [the fact] that I am doing this because I get a lot of joy from it."
For other people wanting to start their own business, the fashion designer added: "Absolutely go for it. There is no perfect time.
"There is no time like the present. Surround yourself with other people that are doing similar things."
The former Armagh woman says the RDS Craft Award is the "most prestigious craft award" in the country, with Síofra set to use her prize on training and travelling to a leather work and bag making course in Italy.
"There is nothing really in comparison to it. In order to be shortlisted you have to win a previous competition.
"I am going to have the opportunity to learn from the best in the world really at what I do, it'll allow me to create a product that is more highly crafted and luxury really."
Síofra said she was "really shocked" that she had won the prize, explaining that she didn't think she would.
"I just sort of thought my work was too unusual really, I felt like what I do is quite niche and sometimes it's hard to see the value in waste material, and I try my best to make people see [it].
"I was really pleased, really surprised and really grateful."
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