So where did it all begin? The first inklings of Norra Strands beginnings could have been seen in the 1980's, when Jb Watson, still in her primary school years, decided to test out screen printing in her mums studio. Somewhere between 1985 and 1988 the afternoon sun shone in through the old French doors near the printing table. The inks were stacked up high on shelves and to reach them was a challenge.
Paper stencils had been out cut with a blade, one stencil for each colour -children playing with sharp blades was obviously not a problem back in the 80's!
Well, you can see the result for yourselves, dolphins and roses were the flavour of the day, even back then...
Jb Watson, then went on to study Visual Art at The University of Newcastle in NSW. In second year she received a scholarship which assisted her to travel to Sweden for a year as an exchange student at the school for Design And Crafts, Gothenburg University (HDK). She end up transfering to HDK, and graduated with a Master of Fine Art and Applied Crafts, majoring in Textiles.
After 15 years of living in Sweden, Jb Watson returned to Sydney's Northern Beaches with her partner and daughter and Norra Strand was founded...