This episode features a conversation with Nina Kate. Nina is a model, actress and the driving creative force behind Jane Doe Latex, one of the worlds leading names in latex clothing.
Topics of conversation include Nina’s approach to designing and making latex clothing, her work ethic and entrepreneurial spirit, fetish wear going mainstream, growing up as a weirdo, and why a hot day in the UK is so terrible!
Probably contains a couple of swears, but only little ones.
Here's some links to Nina's various projects for your enjoyment.
Jane Doe Latex - shop.janedoelatex.com
Hollywood Villains - hollywoodvillains.com
Hillside House - hillsidehouseca.com
and you can find me on instagram @_robin_fuller_
This episode features a conversation with Nina Kate. Nina is a model, actress and the driving creative force behind Jane Doe Latex, one of the worlds leading names in latex clothing.
Topics of conversation include Nina’s approach to designing and making latex clothing, her work ethic and entrepreneurial spirit, fetish wear going mainstream, growing up as a weirdo, and why a hot day in the UK is so terrible!
Probably contains a couple of swears, but only little ones.
Here's some links to Nina's various projects for your enjoyment.
Jane Doe Latex - shop.janedoelatex.com
Hollywood Villains - hollywoodvillains.com
Hillside House - hillsidehouseca.com
and you can find me on instagram @_robin_fuller_
00:00:15:01 - 00:00:31:00
Robin Fuller:
Hello. My name's Robin Fuller and this is Hatching Crows, a podcast about creativity and creative people. In each episode I talk to people from all different areas of the arts and creative industry to learn a little more about their particular take on what it means to make a living as a creative person, the working process, and really what makes them tick.
Joining me in this episode is the model, actress and driving force behind Jane Doe Latex. Nina Kate. Topics of conversation include Nina's approach to designing and making latex clothing, her work ethic and entrepreneurial spirit. Growing up as a weirdo and why a hot day in the UK is so, so terrible.
00:00:49:02 - 00:01:01:10
Robin Fuller:
But before we start, I have a quick favour to ask. Just give the podcast a rating real quick, whether you're listening on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, whatever. It's super easy. Just head to the podcast home page and give it as many stars as you physically can.
Just like all the stars. And they'll help other people find the podcast, which will make me happy.
One more thing. There's a bit of no context talk about sound baths in this episode, but we were talking off mic and found out that we'd both recently been to sound baths.
So that's the context, I guess. All right, enjoy.
00:01:15:20 - 00:02:06:03
Robin Fuller:
OK I want to just start by introducing people. That's okay. And yeah, they can call me now if I've missed anything or spread any vicious rumors about you.
00:02:08:04 - 00:02:09:21
Nina Kate:
Might be more interesting than the real thing.
00:02:10:18 - 00:02:12:14
Robin Fuller:
Well, we can do that here if you like, you know?
00:02:12:23 - 00:02:13:24
Nina Kate:
Yeah, just make shit up.
00:02:16:03 - 00:02:27:16
Robin Fuller:
So my guest today is a model, actress and entrepreneur. She's also the owner and creative mind behind one of the world's leading names in latex clothing, Jane Doe Latex, as well as a few other creative hustles. a woman with many strings to her bow.
Nina, Kate.
00:02:31:00 - 00:02:32:02
Nina Kate:
It was a nice intro, I think.
00:02:32:20 - 00:02:44:13
Robin Fuller:
Yeah, well, you're welcome. Well, I think that's one of the things I think is really interesting. And one of the things I kind of wanted to talk to you about was this idea, this kind of, you know, many strings to your bow.
00:02:44:13 - 00:03:01:20
Robin Fuller:
It seems like you're kind of involved in lots of different creative endeavors from the kind of the modeling, the the acting stuff with Jane Doe. And there's a few other things going on. I'm just kind of curious about that in terms like how you find like a balance between those things.
00:03:03:08 - 00:03:23:18
Nina Kate:
I know that makes it sound like there's some sort of healthy boundary between things I do! I don't know. I guess I've always worked for myself. I think I start Jane Doe in 2005. So that's a very long time to be doing both.
00:03:23:23 - 00:03:40:18
Nina Kate:
So. If I need to take off to go do something on the set or if I, you know, I'm. One of the things I've learned to do throughout this is be quite good at time management. So, you know, the important thing, if you're going to be doing lots of things, make sure this one thing doesn't get forgotten about while you're planning for this and then, you know.
00:03:43:02 - 00:03:53:24
Robin Fuller:
Okay. So is it a case of sort of spinning multiple plates all at once? Kind of is that kind of the approach or is it more are you able to sort of, you know, where different hats for a period of time?
00:03:54:10 - 00:04:12:06
Nina Kate:
And I'm never not thinking about all the things I have to do. I think you have to be a certain type of person. So I lie awake at three in the morning planning things, thinking about things, and it got a bit out of control last year when we started. We opened an Airbnb up here..
00:04:16:16 - 00:04:17:01
Robin Fuller:
Yeah.
00:04:17:05 - 00:04:34:10
Nina Kate:
Yeah. That took…. I think we worked out. I didn't have a single day off from August to February. Wow. Okay. In between doing all the orders and then fitting the other things and chose every other minute was spent painting or.
00:04:34:10 - 00:04:45:18
Nina Kate:
Wallpapering or demoing or. Errand running or, you know, all the things that are required to get a house and start from scratch. Yeah. Wow.
00:04:46:05 - 00:04:59:00
Robin Fuller:
So actually, I should have added interior decorator, interior designer or even to the to the strings and the bow. I mean, what I don't know if this is a very deep question, but like why?
00:05:00:09 - 00:05:00:22
Nina Kate:
Why what.
00:05:00:22 - 00:05:02:09
Robin Fuller:
WHat drives you to do it.
00:05:02:22 - 00:05:03:17
Nina Kate:
In general?
00:05:04:17 - 00:05:10:01
Robin Fuller:
I guess I mean, yes, it's kind of a lot to not have a day off between August and February.
00:05:10:01 - 00:05:29:15
Nina Kate:
Oh, there was no choice at that point. Like there was no. Well, I'll just leave it today. That wasn't an option, because obviously you buy the house and you pay the mortgage immediately. So I was paying a mortgage on two houses of one that wasn't even…. Well I think the point was that it makes money.
Yeah, it was it was my choice. We got kind of screwed over by a contractor. And so we were delayed by many, many dollars and many months.
00:05:45:11 - 00:06:02:16
Nina Kate:
So that was that extra kind of stresses. It did nearly kill us, but in the end, it's entirely worth it because it's all finished. And it's exactly how I thought about it. At three in the morning to where that fits and where that curtain hangs. Yeah.
00:06:06:12 - 00:06:12:18
Robin Fuller:
Well, you're kind of that meticulous then with. With the way you imagine things. Is that something that kind of goes throughout everything that you do?
00:06:14:08 - 00:06:26:07
Nina Kate:
Yeah. You make it sound. Really? I'm kind of questioning myself now, like, am I? Yeah. Yeah, I thought everybody did this. Yeah.
00:06:28:09 - 00:06:37:19
Robin Fuller:
Well, this house this is. This is my house that I bought nearly 3 years ago. And as you can see, you know, I was still I'm still there.
00:06:37:19 - 00:06:54:03
Nina Kate:
And out of these things, you take time. My own house I live in, I've got a really long list of things I want to do with it. But, you know. When there's no actual deadline. I find deadlines definitely make everything work.
00:06:55:01 - 00:07:10:21
Nina Kate:
Like people who send me an email like I need it by whenever that like in my head. So I. Not that those people get preferential treatment, but, you know, it makes organizing days and work a lot easier because then you've got this addition point to everything else.
00:07:11:06 - 00:07:14:16
Nina Kate:
So staying with the house, it was like, Well, there's no waiting around. Yeah.
00:07:15:13 - 00:07:28:11
Robin Fuller:
Yeah, yeah. And so with all of these kind of going back to this idea of kind of all of these these different sort of creative outlets, you know, I also think of see including interior decorating, interior designing, and I keep saying decorating it.
00:07:28:11 - 00:07:37:00
Robin Fuller:
You think there's something that you would kind of consider, like your main creative identity or kind of like a main role within that?
00:07:38:07 - 00:07:57:01
Nina Kate:
I don't know. I suppose the clothing it would be what people sort of. Associate me with the most just. You know, I've been doing it the longest. It's my baseline. I think it's like where? Mostly because it's the main income source.
00:07:57:01 - 00:08:16:24
Nina Kate:
So, you know, that's a lot more people people are relying on, you know. So they I think I've been I've been trying to work harder on the the acting stuff too. But unfortunately, I decided to do that by the beginning of 2020, which was because when I moved to L.A., I started doing quite a lot and I got an agent, manager, all that stuff. Mm hmm. And then I got the opportunity to open an actual physical store. Which, if anybody has ever done that, knows that they have no other house. At that point, you throw all the other hats go in the bin because you will be tied for that store for the rest of your
00:08:36:04 - 00:08:49:22
Nina Kate:
life, which is why I don't have it anymore. And so, yeah, everything kind of got put in the back burner and now we're looking to 2022. I was like, Well, let's, let's really get into this because, you know, not getting any younger time is moving and then that happened.
00:08:49:22 - 00:09:00:04
Robin Fuller:
So yeah, yeah, yeah. And is that something you're sort of looking to explore again now? That sort of, you know, the the ghost of Corona is sort of fading into the distance.
00:09:00:20 - 00:09:16:05
Nina Kate:
Oh, definitely. Definitely. I mean, I've been doing a lot of auditioning and waiting and, you know, it's kind of a. The thing that's really hard for somebody like me to deal with. If something's not working or not happening, I want to.
00:09:16:05 - 00:09:30:00
Nina Kate:
If the latex or anything else. You could do something about it because it's probably more mature, better with that. You sort of put it out into the universe and hope you get picked eventually. So it's yeah, very frustrating.
00:09:30:10 - 00:09:38:08
Nina Kate:
Aside from my writing and directing and filming your own stuff. You know, really where you're at.
00:09:38:19 - 00:09:53:17
Robin Fuller:
Yeah. Yeah, I, I kind of, um, i, i it doesn't surprise me that you would want to start writing and directing and filming your own stuff. Seems, I don't know, almost kind of logical, bearing in mind what you've just said about sort of just making stuff happen.
00:09:54:00 - 00:10:08:10
Robin Fuller:
I think that's the thing. That's the kind of the picture I'm getting is that your person just makes stuff out there. And so to then be in that situation where, like you say, you're just waiting in limbo, there must be like a a difficult thing to kind of and I different gear change to kind of get your head around.
00:10:09:16 - 00:10:14:11
Nina Kate:
As an incredibly impatient person yet it's agony.
00:10:16:05 - 00:10:23:01
Robin Fuller:
So speaking of the move back move from London to L.A., how long have you been out there now?
00:10:24:14 - 00:10:25:12
Nina Kate:
Nine years.
00:10:25:17 - 00:10:26:15
Robin Fuller:
Nine years? Wow.
00:10:26:18 - 00:10:28:11
Nina Kate:
I know. That was scary.
00:10:29:18 - 00:10:47:19
Robin Fuller:
Yeah, right. Time flies. Yeah. I'm kind of curious about what's how you found the creative culture, the kind of on either side of of the big pond. Are there kind of significant differences that you find in sort of like making creative work?
00:10:48:03 - 00:11:12:02
Nina Kate:
Oh, definitely, yeah. I mean. There are so many differences, some good, some bad, both ways. People over here, I feel like they are more encouraging of effort. You know, like it's a weird culture out here where, you know, kids are proud of their school and they want to do well and like even the way kids sort of
00:11:12:15 - 00:11:28:03
Nina Kate:
, you know, walking, looking as I do walking through London, you know, you walk past a scary group of kids. They might throw something at you or call you a freak or whatever. But out here, you know, even the scariest, scariest looking dude, I love your hair.
00:11:29:00 - 00:11:47:10
Nina Kate:
Hmm. Like, people just seem to be a bit nicer. They're definitely more. A bit more hidden. The things that will come out later, you know? I mean, there's a lot of like, oh, well, I do this and this and this, and then you get down to it and it's like, appetite know, I dunno if that's an L.A.
00:11:47:10 - 00:11:51:05
Nina Kate:
thing or a general, this country sort of thing.
00:11:51:10 - 00:11:55:12
Robin Fuller:
So people are kind of talking the talk but not necessarily backing up.
00:11:56:02 - 00:11:57:13
Nina Kate:
Yeah, absolutely. A lot of that.
00:11:59:10 - 00:12:05:10
Robin Fuller:
That must make it difficult to kind of get things done if you're going into these conversations at face value.
00:12:05:10 - 00:12:25:13
Nina Kate:
And then I learned that the hard way. I definitely like even just trying to, you know, sending people and trying to make connections and, you know, find your place out here. It's quite difficult because you start here and then you end up down here and go, um, well, yeah, you know, that's a business.
00:12:25:13 - 00:12:40:13
Nina Kate:
So a lot of really good things. Like I feel like the opportunities out here really are if we'd been in London, we'd still be doing the same thing, maybe living in the same crappy flat, you know, because it's just there's no room.
00:12:40:13 - 00:12:45:02
Nina Kate:
I mean, I felt there was no more room to grow the main.
00:12:46:09 - 00:12:48:14
Robin Fuller:
And that was presumably the reason behind the move.
00:12:49:15 - 00:13:04:20
Nina Kate:
Yeah, it was. My mom is American, so we just sort of thought, what if I could get my passport sorted? The American passport to citizenship, then let's just do it. So we did. Everything you own. And off you go.
00:13:05:03 - 00:13:07:23
Nina Kate:
Yeah, but it was definitely like starting again.
00:13:08:10 - 00:13:15:06
Robin Fuller:
Mhm. I think there's something sort of like beautifully kind of romantic about that. And I like you, they just sell it all and stuff. I love it.
00:13:16:16 - 00:13:30:19
Nina Kate:
In some ways. In some ways not when you're there sleeping on the floor without a dollar to your name and I'm freaking out. Lee’s away on tour like. Like it's fun, but, you know, nothing worth doing is easy, is it?
00:13:31:16 - 00:13:48:23
Robin Fuller:
It's very true. Very true. Yeah. So, yeah, kind of circling back to the kind of. Yeah. Again, I can keep coming back to this. I think it's really interesting, just the different different strands of of kind of creativity and then kind of inside of kind of make a career out of creativity.
00:13:49:01 - 00:14:07:13
Robin Fuller:
Just kind of what like this podcast is really about really kind of talking to different people who are making a living and hopefully making themselves happy by pursuing a life as a creative person and kind of all the different ways that people do that and the different the different approaches that people have.
00:14:07:13 - 00:14:19:16
Robin Fuller:
And so I think I just want to kind of find out more about that, really. Yeah. Jumping between different modes and different, different mediums. So the kind of the. The acting and the modeling and. Which which came first for me.
00:14:20:10 - 00:14:45:20
Nina Kate:
And I guess. I mean, I've been modeling since I was a kid, like I say, like magazines and things and my childhood and then. How it was. I guess I just sort of. Oh, well, I started making clothing because I was modeling for this company in London.
00:14:46:09 - 00:14:58:23
Nina Kate:
Hmm. And they said, Well, hey, we need somebody to work for us. So you want to learn? Because back then, it was, you know, there was no YouTube. You can just watch video. You had to actually apprentice on to somebody to turn up to do it.
00:15:03:17 - 00:15:21:00
Nina Kate:
So I did it that way. And yeah, you know, the obviously the the modeling stuff is pretty intertwined with that because. You know, unfortunately, a lot of the pictures are of my face because it's just really easy. Sure.
00:15:21:05 - 00:15:26:08
Nina Kate:
Yeah, yeah. Okay, here's a new dress. Put it on. Here's a picture. Yeah.
00:15:27:12 - 00:15:36:01
Robin Fuller:
Yes. So you said you're modeling from a very young age. Are we talking like what kind of stuff? We're talking like pitching. Like kids in catalogs, like modeling like a.
00:15:36:14 - 00:15:45:24
Nina Kate:
Oh, everything. Like TV commercials and catalogs and, uh, just, you know, very commercial, normal things.
00:15:46:17 - 00:15:52:14
Robin Fuller:
Okay, cool. So you kind of grew up in that in that way, I guess you see comfortable environment.
00:15:53:12 - 00:16:05:23
Nina Kate:
I guess. I mean, my mom was never like, really like. Crazy about it, like she would do it. And if we weren't having a good time, then we'd be out of there. But, you know, it made some good money.
00:16:05:23 - 00:16:17:13
Nina Kate:
And then I got given it when I was 18 and. You know, it was just. It's just so. Fun stuff to do. I've got to do some something cool.
00:16:17:15 - 00:16:33:18
Robin Fuller:
And so I guess that the kind of developing of the esthetic of the course that you make. Where did that kind of stop because of the you know, the the stuff with that you're designing with Jane Doe has a you know, has a very distinct look, has very distinct esthetic.
00:16:34:02 - 00:16:37:05
Robin Fuller:
So where does that kind of wear the roots of that?
00:16:38:05 - 00:16:53:20
Nina Kate:
Well, I don't know. Like I never went to university and never studied design or making or anything how I was supposed to do it. So I'm just sort of muddling along and just making things I like and hopefully people like them to too.
00:16:54:21 - 00:17:11:15
Nina Kate:
You know, sometimes I'll have like, oh. Like for instance, I have a show in Vancouver next month at the Vancouver Scottish Fold and I'm using a lot of things I already have, so I'm kind of some things I'm changing.
00:17:11:15 - 00:17:28:18
Nina Kate:
So like I'll think about the model I'm going to have and sometimes the shape or size of the model and what they look like. And I like this using this technique, like the lace with the ribbons or, you know, I'll take an element and then I'll put it into something, you know?
00:17:30:03 - 00:17:46:08
Nina Kate:
Yeah, I think I just like. Not to sound, too. I don't know what. I guess I just always. Feel like I'm being quite true to myself in a way. Like, I'm not trying to make clothes that. Well, this is fashionable.
00:17:46:08 - 00:18:06:07
Nina Kate:
So I do this. I desperately try and stay away from other designers. Like I didn't even look at anybody else's thing. And just because I just want to focus on my things and. Yeah. I don't know. It just is all quite organic.
00:18:06:07 - 00:18:12:12
Nina Kate:
I think just opportunities show up. You say to them, Yeah, yeah.
00:18:13:04 - 00:18:29:13
Robin Fuller:
Yeah, great. And then as kind of this, you know, the Jane Doe began to grow and then kind of become bigger. Was there I mean, did you start with kind of many making stuff for yourself and then kind of realize you could turn into a business?
00:18:30:11 - 00:18:46:15
Nina Kate:
Oh, well, no, I worked for that one company and that was a complete nightmare. And then I worked for a couple more and they were okay, but it was just obviously wasn't. Very fulfilling. Hmm. So then I just decided to start on my own.
00:18:46:15 - 00:19:02:24
Nina Kate:
And luckily there was a store in Camden at the time that bought pretty much anything I could give them. So I had a good base of that. And then, yeah, you just at the time there really weren't that many companies, so people were quite excited about something new coming along.
00:19:03:05 - 00:19:17:17
Nina Kate:
Mm hmm. And yet, just like I knew that that was what I was going to do. Because. You know, I've done a bit of office work and I've done a bit of that and it was like, No, thank you.
00:19:18:22 - 00:19:29:13
Robin Fuller:
I was going to ask you actually if you've ever done that, if you've ever been in that world, in the, you know, the office world. I did. I did a few months of like manning the phone phones in tech support.
00:19:30:14 - 00:19:32:22
Robin Fuller:
And yeah. Quickly decided that wasn't for me.
00:19:33:24 - 00:19:48:22
Nina Kate:
Yeah. I mean, I mean, I would like I'm no, I'm not fussy like I would I've done every job. I've worked in coffee shops and call centers. And when I was 13, I illegally got a job selling like kitchens over the phone.
00:19:50:17 - 00:19:59:13
Nina Kate:
So, you know, I've always worked and I'm always happy to do whatever it takes that. I don't have to. Josh? Yeah, yeah.
00:20:01:05 - 00:20:10:08
Robin Fuller:
Yeah. And so when you were apprenticing, you mentioned kind of the couple of companies you worked for. Were you just fabricating then or was that when you started making your own designs?
00:20:10:22 - 00:20:26:05
Nina Kate:
Yeah. At that point, I was just it's a really simple story. It's a really simple technique, but to get it neat and right takes a lot of practice and a lot of, you know, making sure it's all perfect.
00:20:26:05 - 00:20:45:11
Nina Kate:
So. Over the long period to get it to just the point where you're making something that's acceptable or at least acceptable to them. It's very like talking about doing again. Very strict, which is good because I ended up being (I hope) meticulous about it.
00:20:45:19 - 00:21:00:17
Nina Kate:
Mhm. Yeah. And then I would just sort of tweak things, be like work, I like this but I changed that on it. And then yeah, one of the companies I worked for, we just kept stealing my ideas. All right, I'm going to do my own.
00:21:00:17 - 00:21:01:08
Nina Kate:
This is easier.
00:21:01:24 - 00:21:13:07
Robin Fuller:
Yeah. And so to fast forward to now kind of with a with Jane Doe as, as it operates and as it works now, are you the only designer to produce all of the designs yourself? Yeah.
00:21:13:20 - 00:21:30:06
Nina Kate:
Yeah. I mean, I've tried, especially when I had the store, like, I'm like trying to expand and get somebody to help manufacture things. But it was just too difficult, like. I don't have the time to spend to teach somebody else.
00:21:31:01 - 00:21:47:04
Nina Kate:
And even people like myself, but even the people who came to me saying they knew what they were doing, it didn't. So I just find it's easier to do it yourself. By the time it would take me to explain it and even my patterns are just.
00:21:47:04 - 00:21:50:11
Nina Kate:
They're all in my head, so. Okay, well, keep it small.
00:21:51:10 - 00:21:55:13
Robin Fuller:
So, you know, she's just designing everything yourself. Keep making everything yourself.
00:21:55:22 - 00:21:56:06
Nina Kate:
Oh, yeah.
00:21:56:24 - 00:21:59:08
Robin Fuller:
Wow. Okay. I had no idea.
00:21:59:13 - 00:22:00:03
Nina Kate:
Oh, yes.
00:22:00:16 - 00:22:01:24
Robin Fuller:
That sounds like a lot of work.
00:22:02:13 - 00:22:09:19
Nina Kate:
I just sit in my little office all day. I mean, I guess so. But what else are you going to do with your time?
00:22:12:17 - 00:22:23:09
Robin Fuller:
I don't know. Yeah, I guess that's a good point. Wow. Okay. Yeah, that's really kind of changed my, I guess my my sort of perception of how things would operate.
00:22:24:14 - 00:22:40:04
Nina Kate:
Yeah. It's just real simple. You know, people order. Sometimes people will order stuff off the website. I just get the measurements, make it like that. And then sometimes, like what I'm doing now, people send me the doodles, and then I make, like, a clown outfit right now.
00:22:40:13 - 00:22:58:04
Robin Fuller:
Wow. So that's cool. Yeah, well, actually, I think that kind of leads me on to something else I was kind of curious about, which is because this is, you know, I've kind of been out in and out of a lot of different kind of creative industries and creative practices through the years.
00:22:58:11 - 00:23:15:06
Robin Fuller:
But this like design, like fashion design is like way out of my, my, you know, realm of knowledge. So yeah, I just I'm just like the the design process. Do you do you style with the kind of sketches and things you do start throwing latex and mannequin?
00:23:15:16 - 00:23:16:12
Robin Fuller:
What's your process?
00:23:17:08 - 00:23:38:07
Nina Kate:
Well, I mean, like I say, I never did any training. So like, you know, I'm sure there's many official proper ways in which to do things that I don't do. They I mean, it varies sometimes, but the other day I had an idea for a dress, but I didn't need to make a patent for it because I've
00:23:38:07 - 00:23:55:23
Nina Kate:
got a lot of like these patterns of like this dress, this sleave, this goes here.... Usually I start with like just paper and then I make a pattern and then you can't really do it like normal fabric where you have a mannequin and you like
00:23:55:23 - 00:24:06:14
Nina Kate:
Pin it and do all that stuff to it. So you just have to sort of make what you want to hope for the best and tweak it as you go because you can't even really take it past. You've made it even the.
00:24:07:16 - 00:24:09:06
Nina Kate:
Well done. Yeah.
00:24:09:22 - 00:24:20:00
Robin Fuller:
Yeah, yeah. And so when you're is it kind of, I guess almost like you kind of know what it is you're trying to do in your head and it's about manifesting into the world rather than.
00:24:20:02 - 00:24:36:16
Nina Kate:
Yeah, absolutely. Like, there's very few things that I can. I feel like you're doing so asinine. You supposed to be concentrating, but my mind to be, like, asleep goes here and there. That's got to join up because people will send me that warning sometimes.
00:24:37:15 - 00:24:48:14
Nina Kate:
And it's like, okay, well, that's fine, but where does this name go? Mm hmm. Like, you got to think really practically about the actual logistics of it, not just like, you know, it's like.
00:24:48:14 - 00:24:55:11
Robin Fuller:
But of course. Yeah, you have to think about all the Yeah. A lot of things that I wouldn't think about just since you touring and be like man and make this.
00:24:55:24 - 00:25:03:17
Nina Kate:
Yeah, people do it. And I'm like, well, you know, that's not physically possible, right? You took some people down and like, well, we can do this instead.
00:25:04:19 - 00:25:23:11
Robin Fuller:
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Cool. Guess we haven't mentioned the sort of the, the, the esthetic, you know, the, the kind of the Jane Doe esthetic. Yeah. It's quite white, I think, in terms of like the range of of kind of like the range of influences this drawing and kind of the range of kind of like like looks, I
00:25:23:11 - 00:25:37:24
Robin Fuller:
guess, that I've seen coming out. You know, there's some stuff that kind of clearly shows like Roots in the kind of the fetish world. And then some things are more like, you know, a conventional kind of like cocktail dress but made of latex.
00:25:39:05 - 00:25:51:00
Nina Kate:
Yeah, I would hope so. I mean, I like a lot of things, a lot of things. So, you know, sometimes I want to wear ridiculous pink ball gowns. I mean, sometimes, you know, you want the full gimp suit, so.
00:25:52:03 - 00:26:04:14
Nina Kate:
You know, I just sometimes I'll go down tangents as well. Like I think I'm in a bit of a pink phase at the moment. Maybe it's because the house that we did, the bedroom is pink and gold and whites only looked like that because I wouldn't do that in my own house.
00:26:04:14 - 00:26:17:20
Nina Kate:
My house is so dark and. Then we'll go on a black and gold tangent and then come back around again and then I'll play with it maybe a bit later. So it just. Yeah, I do. Let me just make whatever I feel like so.
00:26:19:02 - 00:26:36:20
Nina Kate:
Sometimes I'll have a big spree where I'll get loads of stuff out. Sometimes nothing for ages. I mean, in a way, I just set out to. I only do things for myself. But you do have to offer things like a simple mini dress, that sort of thing, just because that's what people like.
00:26:37:04 - 00:26:40:23
Nina Kate:
Mm. Yeah. It's crazy not to offer things like that.
00:26:41:09 - 00:26:50:00
Robin Fuller:
Yeah. Think about everything as a kind of a collection. Is there, like, a lifespan of it design? Does that make sense? Like if you live.
00:26:51:00 - 00:27:06:11
Nina Kate:
Yes or no, there are some things. Like I have a dress called the Rebecca dress, which is just like a mini dress with, like, a low back, that is. Definitely one of the best ones. It looks good on every side, every shape, every color.
00:27:06:16 - 00:27:23:19
Nina Kate:
Like it just looks amazing, so on. And so I don't think that will ever go away because. It's so popular. But then, you know, it's sometimes I make something. In my case, I'll go to the website and just archive a couple of things if they haven't sold in a while.
00:27:23:22 - 00:27:34:11
Nina Kate:
Just to keep it. There is such a thing as offering too much to people, and some people are actually quite intimidated when you say, well, you can have anything you want, anything at all. Oh, okay.
00:27:34:16 - 00:27:47:07
Robin Fuller:
So yeah, there's almost a kind of an element of curating the collection in that respect. And you mentioned a show earlier. Oh, it's the in Vancouver, I think you said.
00:27:47:17 - 00:28:01:17
Nina Kate:
Yes. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I guess to be able to do a lot in London with our torch garden, you know? Yeah. But then out here, there's not that many. But I've been kind of. Doing this one in Dallas.
00:28:01:17 - 00:28:16:03
Nina Kate:
That's amazing. I did one in L.A. Toture Garden, did two show in L.A. and so did a couple of those which were pretty good. It gives you like a. A deadline to get new stuff made this week to get like, okay, well, this is happening.
00:28:16:11 - 00:28:18:17
Nina Kate:
That idea, you hadn't you had time to do it. Yeah.
00:28:19:04 - 00:28:24:07
Robin Fuller:
And so you make stuff specifically for those shows then?
00:28:24:08 - 00:28:25:04
Nina Kate:
Oh, definitely, yeah.
00:28:25:10 - 00:28:29:03
Robin Fuller:
Okay. And, like, do you seem that to you?
00:28:29:04 - 00:28:44:15
Nina Kate:
Yeah. Not really. I was looking at my lineup for this one, and the last show I did was 80 models. So I trying to lower a little bit this time just because of baggage weight. But yeah, like, it's not particularly cohesive.
00:28:44:16 - 00:28:59:18
Nina Kate:
That's like bright yellow suit and then there's like a gimp outfit. And then there's. Yeah. Just like all sorts of different things. That makes sense because I say it makes sense. Okay.
00:29:00:14 - 00:29:05:03
Robin Fuller:
Yeah. I think the the kind of the the unifying factor is, is you.
00:29:05:16 - 00:29:08:16
Nina Kate:
That that came out my brain. Oh, yeah. Well, I think.
00:29:09:09 - 00:29:23:05
Robin Fuller:
I think, you know, that's that's kind of valid. You know, I think that that's the collection. You know, it's the Nina connection. And I think. I don't know from what I've seen, I think people place weights in that, you know, they like yours.
00:29:23:05 - 00:29:32:11
Robin Fuller:
They think they kind of mind to what you do and kind of you as a person and sort of have that belief and they'll kind of what you produce is going to be interesting.
00:29:32:19 - 00:29:49:05
Nina Kate:
Well, yeah, I had a bit of a like a worried not so long. There was just to like do people get sick of just like looking at my face all the time, like, cause, you know, I like with this whole social media thing, you've got a job as well, sort of.
00:29:50:09 - 00:30:05:18
Nina Kate:
Like a little garden tend it and feed it with a business is absolutely essential. But then a lot of people like that actually, because it's people like to see a person behind. Around, I.
00:30:06:10 - 00:30:12:07
Robin Fuller:
Yeah. Yeah. Well, I mean, knowing what I've just found, that is, you've literally out of the branch, you know?
00:30:12:09 - 00:30:13:21
Nina Kate:
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
00:30:13:22 - 00:30:15:10
Robin Fuller:
It's every go down thing.
00:30:16:04 - 00:30:16:13
Nina Kate:
Yeah.
00:30:17:15 - 00:30:37:22
Robin Fuller:
Which is wild and kind of thinking about. Yeah. It's different kind of facets of this. The Jane Doe experience, let's call it, let's see, the kind of the other kind of, I guess, end of things rather than kind of, you know, products of things is the full on kind of custom, uh.
00:30:39:01 - 00:30:39:17
Robin Fuller:
What's the word.
00:30:41:00 - 00:30:41:22
Nina Kate:
design?
00:30:42:17 - 00:30:58:05
Robin Fuller:
Yes. That's not the word i was looking for, but it works. A custom design. You’ve got, like some like proper big names on that list. You know, we've got Gaga, we got Katy Perry, we got Beyoncé, like.
00:30:58:16 - 00:31:02:07
Nina Kate:
Oh, yeah. Just stuff for her last night. Wow.
00:31:02:16 - 00:31:12:24
Robin Fuller:
Yeah, like, that's something else entirely. So these guys aren’t buying off the rack. I'm assuming they're not just looking at their website going, like “I'll have the Rebecca dress”
00:31:14:23 - 00:31:33:10
Nina Kate:
It's tricky. I've been doing less because I have actually said no to a lot of stuff because it's there are some you know, it's all very well to say, well, you know, so-and-so wore my thing. But the amount of bandwidth it requires is a.
00:31:34:12 - 00:31:54:24
Nina Kate:
Kind of draining. Hmm. Like you never say no. To be honest, I obviously thought it was like I was in the middle of getting tattoos, and they were like, Hey, we need this tomorrow. Okay, let's go at a drive, an hour and a half home, and then work till midnight to make these leotards, which, you know, they
00:31:54:24 - 00:32:08:20
Nina Kate:
pay for, which is fine. Like they're certain, like that she's fantastic to work for because they just treat you like a human being. A lot of the time it's like, Hey, we need stockings and gloves and shorts by tomorrow.
00:32:09:18 - 00:32:21:16
Nina Kate:
And it's like, you never get credited. They don't even always want to pay for it. Like it's, you know, I just don't really care about names that much, so I value my sanity a little bit more.
00:32:21:20 - 00:32:23:23
Robin Fuller:
Okay. Yeah. No, that makes sense.
00:32:24:04 - 00:32:35:21
Nina Kate:
Yeah, it's a whole like, here's as well that you have to sort of have a PR company that you pay a couple grand a month to that pimp the stuff out to the stylists and the people. Okay. Yeah.
00:32:36:12 - 00:32:54:18
Robin Fuller:
Yeah. No, I get that. I think there's a something seductive in like a big name, like M where I get I sit with brands and stuff as well, like sort of, you know, the film industry which I used to work in and kind of the stuff I'm doing now, people are like, Oh, it's Coca-Cola.
00:32:55:03 - 00:33:07:20
Robin Fuller:
Oh, it's, you know, it's a microsoft or whatever. And, and they sort of attach more weight to that than the actual project itself. Yeah, I think that's a slippery slope. You can kind of get seduced by that.
00:33:08:17 - 00:33:25:12
Nina Kate:
Yeah. I mean, you know, it's great and it's. It's fun to see your stuff in you. No, I. Public places, and it's not always worth it. But they'll get their stuff. So sometimes they come to you. Sometimes they don't.
00:33:26:10 - 00:33:26:19
Nina Kate:
Yeah.
00:33:27:21 - 00:33:35:00
Robin Fuller:
Cause if you kind of like, you know, place, I think. And if you could take Jane Doe latex anyway. Would be next.
00:33:36:02 - 00:34:02:17
Nina Kate:
Well, no, because I'd say I'm in quite a good place right now. The ultimate. Goal would be to actually like score some of these rolls on goal and then perhaps. Have a sort of waiting list for orders. Where website is closed, but people can still get things that maybe are open at what's.
00:34:03:05 - 00:34:08:20
Nina Kate:
I don't know. I feel like there's going to be a new way to do things, but I don't quite know what it is yet. So.
00:34:09:05 - 00:34:17:15
Robin Fuller:
Yeah. Do you think you you could ever, you know, take on more people to kind of help with manufacturing and things like that? Could you surrender that control?
00:34:19:13 - 00:34:31:20
Nina Kate:
No, I'd rather just keep it small and like because that's the thing with the shop. Like, it was great to have the shop and I did well, but it was like, all you're doing is feeding this machine. Mm.
00:34:32:08 - 00:34:41:23
Nina Kate:
That, you know, if you just cut out the machine, I'm like, oh cool. I can still do what I love. And I can still have a life and. I see some things as well.
00:34:43:03 - 00:34:51:06
Robin Fuller:
Yeah, no I yeah, I guess I respect that actually. That's really I think that some that's a lot of wisdom in that and kind of like knowing the scale that works for you and like knowing kind of where you want to be.
00:35:01:09 - 00:35:15:00
Nina Kate:
Yeah. Because it feels like, you know, in a way it was like, Oh, I'm failing because I'm closing my shop. But it's actually quite the opposite. Mhm. Yeah. She just being smart about it and um. Yeah.
00:35:17:08 - 00:35:32:05
Robin Fuller:
Yeah. It's interesting. There is, it's kind of like I think it's quite capitalist really isn't it. Would be like you've got to keep getting bigger, you've got to keep, you've got to keep expanding, you've got to keep doing more and more, earning more money and getting more customers and doing bigger and better things.
00:35:32:07 - 00:35:35:19
Robin Fuller:
Well, bigger things, I guess that doesn't necessarily equate to better.
00:35:37:06 - 00:35:43:03
Nina Kate:
No. I mean that's the thing I've stopped doing wholesale because it's like. Mhm. It was just miserable.
00:35:43:15 - 00:35:58:05
Robin Fuller:
Yeah. But I think. Yeah. It sounds like you've been very busy. So you mentioned being true to yourself. Yeah. And I think that's kind of what you're doing there in terms of like the, the. Yeah. That kind of level of what works.
00:35:59:02 - 00:36:17:19
Nina Kate:
Yeah. I mean just to say I know sometimes and sometimes it feels like you can't, but it always works out in the end. So. Yeah. So far, yeah. Like none of that stuff sort of just. Let's learn. What do I really?
00:36:17:24 - 00:36:24:00
Robin Fuller:
Yeah, yeah. That's when I was back in the freelancing day that was saying no to things is always a big problem.
00:36:24:20 - 00:36:32:24
Nina Kate:
Yeah. So you feel like you're cheating yourself and you can't let people down and you know, who knows when the next track is coming? That.
00:36:33:00 - 00:36:33:18
Robin Fuller:
Yeah, yeah.
00:36:33:21 - 00:36:40:01
Nina Kate:
I think you come and sometimes you need to. Not overwork yourself to death?
00:36:41:02 - 00:36:42:21
Robin Fuller:
Absolutely. So I think I take on both.
00:36:43:18 - 00:36:44:15
Nina Kate:
Exactly.
00:36:45:23 - 00:36:54:21
Robin Fuller:
Yeah. I actually went to my first sound bath. I'd never been to one. That's kind of where I am, is like, Yeah, that sounds groovy. That sounds like my kind of thing. But I went to the first one just a couple of weeks ago.
00:36:55:02 - 00:37:05:23
Nina Kate:
It's pretty cute, but this one is one with the bowls, okay? And it was done in this place that's out in the desert that was built in the fifties to attract aliens, because it's under all these, like, lay lines.
00:37:07:18 - 00:37:13:16
Robin Fuller:
Oh, what's the name of the place? I've I've read about it?
00:37:06:02 - 00:37:07:17
Nina Kate:
Yes. The Integratron.
00:37:07:18 - 00:37:13:16
Robin Fuller:
That's the one the Integratron on it sounds wild. I love it.
00:37:13:16 - 00:37:18:22
Nina Kate:
It is. And it's the second time within and it's pretty crazy.
00:37:21:15 - 00:37:25:15
Robin Fuller:
Yeah. Did you like, like right in the middle where you can get, like, all the beams?
00:37:25:17 - 00:37:36:02
Nina Kate:
Yeah. Like, you know, all these little beds are like you put your head towards the center. Mm hmm. And just, like, leave your body for half an hour. Yeah. Yeah.
00:37:44:02 - 00:37:50:12
Robin Fuller:
Yeah, yeah. I love it. I love. I'll try anything like that. I just. Anything that sounds a bit weird. Um, I mean.
00:37:51:09 - 00:38:05:00
Nina Kate:
Yeah, the first ones, I just thought, I guess I'll just lie here and listen to the music and relax a little bit, but then it starts, like, look like it might just explode. So we had to explain. Yeah, definitely works.
00:38:05:11 - 00:38:06:04
Nina Kate:
Yeah. Yeah.
00:38:06:10 - 00:38:17:06
Robin Fuller:
Well, the one I went to recently, actually, I kind of like, um, I don't know, I felt like it wasn't quite loud enough because it was, is in the city center and it was like it's kind of near a pub.
00:38:17:12 - 00:38:29:12
Robin Fuller:
So we now often need to have like this free, tranquil music. Like, I'm totally vibing on this music. And then I did like some like from outside on the streets overlooking some bustle over.
00:38:30:10 - 00:38:44:05
Nina Kate:
Yeah, I think I'd be too scared to go anywhere else to do it, because I feel like this is like the highest level that you can get. Like, I don't wanna just sit there with a little spoon being like, you know, the same, like, background noise.
00:38:44:05 - 00:38:48:16
Nina Kate:
So it's, it's like, just, I don't know, I feel like there's something special about that place as well. Like the drive.
00:38:49:00 - 00:38:52:03
Robin Fuller:
Yeah. If I had an integration near me, I'd be down there like I should.
00:38:52:14 - 00:38:55:05
Nina Kate:
Yeah, like, yeah.
00:38:57:17 - 00:39:06:09
Robin Fuller:
Sorry, I've got a track. Whereas let me consult my notes. Oh no, it's a here. I just. Yeah, I made notes especially talk about sound baths.
00:39:07:03 - 00:39:12:22
Nina Kate:
Okay. Job done? Yeah. No, you got to take this.
00:39:13:03 - 00:39:14:24
Robin Fuller:
This episode is sponsored by sound baths
00:39:15:09 - 00:39:16:18
Nina Kate:
And the Integratron.
00:39:17:14 - 00:39:26:22
Robin Fuller:
See, that's another thing about moving out to L.A. that you are. Yeah. That we’re missing out on this side. I think people are not so up for an Integratron.
00:39:28:03 - 00:39:46:23
Nina Kate:
No, I mean, I live in the mountains now as well, so it's like. It's such a different. Life and we were all we lived in Crouch End and Holloway Road is just such a nightmare, you know, just to do any little job you have to fight through.
00:39:47:23 - 00:39:56:01
Nina Kate:
So many people in. It's gray and it's miserable and everybody's miserable. Well, and now I look at the trees.
00:39:57:06 - 00:40:03:15
Robin Fuller:
Yeah. Well, they said they assessed that, like, hot as hell in England. Like, we're all basically.
00:40:03:15 - 00:40:04:16
Nina Kate:
Just is not funny.
00:40:04:16 - 00:40:07:20
Robin Fuller:
That one is true yet. Something about English heat, isn't it? It's like.
00:40:07:21 - 00:40:09:11
Nina Kate:
Filthy. Yeah, it.
00:40:09:11 - 00:40:13:23
Robin Fuller:
Is. I feel like I'm like. You get, like. Like, I don't know, like a waxy.
00:40:14:13 - 00:40:24:15
Nina Kate:
Yeah. Like you just taste the dirt in the air. Oh, yeah. And they wouldn't, you know, there's no such thing as air conditioning or ice cubes over there, you know?
00:40:25:01 - 00:40:26:09
Robin Fuller:
Yeah. You're not getting homesick, then?
00:40:27:13 - 00:40:30:02
Nina Kate:
Oh, very much so. Just like that, I guess.
00:40:30:09 - 00:40:31:15
Robin Fuller:
For the grayness and the misery.
00:40:31:16 - 00:40:44:05
Nina Kate:
Exactly. Homesick. I was watching. Show the other side. We just watch anything English because we just love it. And there's a show called Slow Horses. It's got it's really good.
00:40:44:21 - 00:40:46:00
Robin Fuller:
I know the soundtrack to it.
00:40:46:24 - 00:40:47:08
Nina Kate:
Yeah.
00:40:48:12 - 00:40:53:08
Robin Fuller:
I really like the guy who did the soundtrack. Okay, so I know the soundtrack, but I have no idea what the show is.
00:40:53:15 - 00:41:12:19
Nina Kate:
It's like a you know, it's a kind of drama show and set in motion. It just shows the grotty ass nastiest shots of, like, back alleys and crap is terrorism. Well, let's see. I think I'm due a trip.
00:41:13:05 - 00:41:13:24
Nina Kate:
Yeah, I hope.
00:41:14:19 - 00:41:17:08
Robin Fuller:
Yeah, yeah. And see those quasi back alleys.
00:41:18:24 - 00:41:23:21
Nina Kate:
Last time I went back to England was last year, and I didn't even go to London because it was so cold.
00:41:24:01 - 00:41:25:06
Robin Fuller:
Right. Yeah, of course.
00:41:25:06 - 00:41:34:00
Nina Kate:
I'm like, I'm not doing this. So I haven't even been to London since 2019, which is really sad. Mm.
00:41:35:10 - 00:41:36:04
Robin Fuller:
Well, it's still there.
00:41:37:15 - 00:41:45:22
Nina Kate:
Is it, though? Because every time we worry about another street being destroyed or another thing disappearing and I.
00:41:45:22 - 00:41:48:13
Robin Fuller:
Camden's not really Camden anymore, I can tell you that.
00:41:49:04 - 00:41:56:00
Nina Kate:
I mean, I grew up there, and it hasn't been that. Yeah, it's like 23 years and, like, not the same.
00:41:56:05 - 00:42:04:06
Robin Fuller:
Yeah. Although I was happy to see that the punks are still on the bridge, still listening to Rancid from, like, 1997. So I was like, okay, well, that's like.
00:42:04:23 - 00:42:07:12
Nina Kate:
We'll do they in a bit. Yeah, they're doing their bit.
00:42:18:01 - 00:42:31:22
Robin Fuller:
If we can circle back to kind of yeah. Jane Doe and and your your work I mean it's kind of I think it's there is like yeah thread through like the modeling work and the, the design work of Jane Doe.
00:42:31:22 - 00:42:34:18
Robin Fuller:
There's like a lot of crossover I guess, between those two.
00:42:34:23 - 00:42:40:11
Nina Kate:
So I think it can exist without the other. Yeah.
00:42:40:12 - 00:42:50:16
Robin Fuller:
I've see any kind of this, this kind of the esthetic and kind of yeah. Like I say it seems like, like almost like you are part of the brand. So is that fair to say, do you think?
00:42:51:08 - 00:43:08:08
Nina Kate:
I would say so. I mean, I think. Like I guess I wouldn't even necessarily call myself a model as such because. I'm not. Like I'm just doing it because, hey, I made this and I've got this really creative friend, let's do this.
00:43:08:09 - 00:43:24:22
Nina Kate:
And like, I love creating the pictures themselves. Like, there's no real process behind it. It's just, you know. Open and. To make something else. I like it. Yeah.
00:43:26:00 - 00:43:46:03
Robin Fuller:
Yeah, yeah. One thing I kind of notice is kind of again, I mentioned it kind of like the the broad range of different looks within the the Jane Doe styles. But this is kind of. Absolutely. Everything is kind of rooted in counterculture, you know, like a kind of different sort of subcultures and kind of counterculture, kind of
00:43:46:03 - 00:44:02:02
Robin Fuller:
like goth culture, like alternative music scenes and things like the fetish scene, which a lot of people would see as being quite transgressive. But I think what you've kind of done is taken these things and given them quite a broad appeal.
00:44:03:11 - 00:44:12:20
Robin Fuller:
So I think you kind of made those things quite accessible. Is that. Something intentional? Are you kind of are you cognizant of these things or is it just.
00:44:13:09 - 00:44:37:18
Nina Kate:
I mean, you're making this like I've given it a great deal of thought rather, rather than go “this is pretty” Yeah. I don't know. I mean, I. I guess I am all of those things in a way. You know, I've always been a weirdo, so that's going to show in my working life, you know?
00:44:38:04 - 00:44:56:11
Nina Kate:
I think, again, I'm going to sound like grandma. But when I was growing up, you know, you couldn't buy black male varnish or see latex in fashion magazines, or it was even hard to find. We had to, you know, it was like a whole.
00:44:57:18 - 00:45:10:18
Nina Kate:
You have to research, really, to make yourself what you had to. You know, nowhere to go. That it's all a lot more open now which, you know, I don't know if that's good or bad. It just. It only some sort of gatekeeper, but.
00:45:12:16 - 00:45:16:12
Nina Kate:
Now. I think there's a lot more people who are into it, which means there's a lot of people doing it.
00:45:16:21 - 00:45:29:22
Robin Fuller:
Yeah, absolutely. And I think people like yourself have a role to play in that, in making this stuff available and kind of putting it out there in the world. And then kind of in a way that is, like I say, accessible.
00:45:29:23 - 00:45:43:11
Robin Fuller:
It's, you know, it's it is it's kind of like I say, it's rooted in something that a lot of people would say is transgressive. But esthetically, it's people like it and it's beautiful. You know, there's this like, well, beauty that people can and and obviously do appreciate it.
00:45:45:22 - 00:46:03:07
Robin Fuller:
It's going yeah, I think it's and it's always interesting the kind of something that is sort of rooted in something which is kind of sort of countercultural and in sort of kind of like, you know, it kind of comes full circle.
00:46:03:14 - 00:46:17:22
Nina Kate:
It's like the whole like the Slayer t shirt thing, isn't it? You know, people who just never even knew it was a band where you said, like, Oh, but, you know, what can you do? Hopefully we're getting some take back of it.
00:46:17:22 - 00:46:19:02
Nina Kate:
So. Yeah.
00:46:19:10 - 00:46:37:02
Robin Fuller:
Yeah, you'd hope so. Do you feel like any. Like a. What? What is it? I don't know. Sometimes when I see things like that and I'm like, oh, like I sort of like, um, I think it was Topshop over here before they went in the toilet for a while they were selling Ramones T-shirts.
00:46:37:16 - 00:46:39:09
Nina Kate:
And Nirvana.
00:46:40:06 - 00:46:47:22
Robin Fuller:
Yes, yeah, Nirvana and stuff. And it's, it's it's odd, isn't it? Because it's one of the things that I like as you when you were young, you kind of meant a lot to you.
00:46:48:09 - 00:47:06:02
Nina Kate:
I think it's just like, I don't know, maybe it's just because, you know, you had to fight so hard. I'm like, really work. And then people just dip in and out of your, you know. You could get upset about it or you could just shrug.
00:47:06:12 - 00:47:12:11
Nina Kate:
Yeah, yeah. The things to get upset about and prioritize.
00:47:12:15 - 00:47:26:18
Robin Fuller:
Yes, absolutely. I think it's interesting and it's just that little like prickly little things like that start of a feeling, whether or not you like you say, whether or not you just get upset about it or you shrug it off and get upset about something important like global warming or whatever.
00:47:27:11 - 00:47:46:00
Nina Kate:
I tell you, it did throw me out pretty hard was maybe last year or the year before Yves Saint Laurent did a range of latex clothing. Mm hmm. And it was garbage, like. Absolute trash, like it didn't even fit the models that they were shooting on.
00:47:46:00 - 00:48:03:24
Nina Kate:
It was like just basic dress, in latex and my God, they were selling these dresses for like $5,000. And it was just like a plain dress. And, you know, the people were going to buy it because of this and they like oh well I, I'm going to buy it.
00:48:04:05 - 00:48:18:08
Nina Kate:
Mhm. And it's like. Yeah. This report is going to trash it and it's going to cause it requires quite a specific care sheet of. Yeah. Effort. That was.
00:48:21:17 - 00:48:27:01
Robin Fuller:
Yet as rough, I guess it's like, people feeling like tourists, you know?
00:48:27:19 - 00:48:31:24
Nina Kate:
Yeah, I. Yeah, it's just. You feel like a bit of a dick, but then.
00:48:43:14 - 00:48:51:03
Robin Fuller:
You mentioned the house. That's obviously a new thing and it's best done now. That's all up and up and running like.
00:48:51:21 - 00:49:10:22
Nina Kate:
Oh. I mean, there's always going to be little tweaks I want to do to it, but it's fully operational, functioning and bookable through Airbnb should you be desiring. With that. I guess we like to go on little trips and find cool little places to stay and.
00:49:12:05 - 00:49:27:15
Nina Kate:
You know Madonna in I don't know if you know that face is one of my a place up in San Luis Obispo that was built in the fifties. And it's just like kitschy, wonderful, just the whole place is incredible.
00:49:28:14 - 00:49:43:16
Nina Kate:
But, you know, it's a whole hotel. It's quite fast and it's very expensive. So we don't go that often. I don't know. I just kind of wanted to always thought it'd be cool to have something up here or just more like what people love.
00:49:43:22 - 00:50:02:20
Nina Kate:
Heart shaped tubs and novelty. So. I was in a thrift store down in one of the worst parts of San Bernardino. Which one is that is absolute hell. And there was just the most beautiful Italian carved bedrooms that I'd ever seen.
00:50:03:01 - 00:50:12:06
Nina Kate:
And it, too, because of my house that I've got to buy this. I don't know why, but I have to buy it. So I bought it and I was like, Oh, well, I just do this house. I'll do it myself.
00:50:14:04 - 00:50:14:22
Nina Kate:
And that was that.
00:50:15:11 - 00:50:22:09
Robin Fuller:
Okay. Yeah. Still myself. I'm kind of. Yeah, I'm getting a five. This might be a recurring idea.
00:50:23:15 - 00:50:27:15
Nina Kate:
In your life. Yeah. We can have anything you want if you do it yourself.
00:50:29:04 - 00:50:39:19
Robin Fuller:
Yeah, this. That's true. Yeah. Do you have a kind of like, is collaboration? Is that sort of. Yeah. Did you ever do anything, like, particularly collaborative?
00:50:40:18 - 00:50:58:16
Nina Kate:
I would love to. I love working with people. But like, I think when I was in London, I had some friends and like one was a hairdresser. So we used to meet almost every, every other day and like we talk about things and we'd come up with ideas for shoots, and it was really fun.
00:50:58:24 - 00:51:19:18
Nina Kate:
And I think we have that huge sound. So. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, the house was all. I think pretty much out of my brain because I got real specific with it, but. Yeah, I will. And so that really found it interesting.
00:51:20:15 - 00:51:20:21
Nina Kate:
Yeah.
00:51:21:10 - 00:51:30:02
Robin Fuller:
But do you do you find it easy to collaborate? I guess. I don't know. I'm just I'm just curious. Kind of. It seems like you kind of have a quite particular way of.
00:51:30:19 - 00:51:31:21
Nina Kate:
Domineering, so.
00:51:33:09 - 00:51:34:04
Robin Fuller:
I didn't say that.
00:51:37:15 - 00:51:52:23
Nina Kate:
I don't know. I mean, I go with the clothing like there's not. You know, I'm not designing things for other people. It's like customers will come to me and they'll want things and I'll suggest things, or they'll come to me with a drawing and I'll suggest what works and what doesn't.
00:51:52:24 - 00:51:56:16
Nina Kate:
So, yeah, I mean, it's a team effort sometimes.
00:51:56:23 - 00:52:03:18
Robin Fuller:
Yeah. No, no, I see there's a back and forth there isn't there. There's a kind of sharing of ideas and a meeting of ideas and sort of.
00:52:04:05 - 00:52:27:09
Nina Kate:
Yeah, I mean I love and like if we do shoots or filming or something like that, like, I love being able to just trust somebody else's work. Mm hmm. Yeah. So a lot of the times when I do shoots, I don't really I know some people do, like, elaborate, um, like mood boards and think and I actually
00:52:27:09 - 00:52:36:04
Nina Kate:
just sort of prefer to put this. You've got that in your head. Let's just sort of show up and see how we go. Yeah.
00:52:36:14 - 00:52:46:03
Robin Fuller:
Yeah. I think there is something really magical that happens that isn't there, like, and it's because then that's something that when it's something, he's able to go somewhere unexpected.
00:52:46:24 - 00:52:57:00
Nina Kate:
Yeah. To overthink it just to happen. And that's a time and a place for overthinking and planning, obviously, when it's something specific. But if it's not, then yeah.
00:52:57:09 - 00:53:04:13
Robin Fuller:
I think it takes a degree of like mutual trust as well, which I it's kind of takes a while sometimes to kind of to build up something.
00:53:04:21 - 00:53:06:19
Nina Kate:
But. Mm hmm.
00:53:07:08 - 00:53:24:05
Robin Fuller:
Yeah, that was something I kind of. I kind of had to learn, actually. You know, I came from an animation background. We literally do everything, you know, doing everything myself, you know, everything, like make writing everything. And so when I moved down to film, which becomes a much more collaborative exercise, know, I went through that journey of
00:53:24:15 - 00:53:30:06
Robin Fuller:
of letting go of certain things and realizing, oh, actually, this person is going to do a way better than.
00:53:30:19 - 00:53:39:04
Nina Kate:
I would have done. So it's such a nice feeling. But then when it goes wrong, it's pretty bad. Yeah. Yeah, that's true.
00:53:50:16 - 00:54:03:06
Robin Fuller:
So what's next? What's next for you? I haven't kind of done this, this massive house projects. You've got kind of various various pots bubbling. It's a weird analogy, but, you know, I mean.
00:54:05:21 - 00:54:22:03
Nina Kate:
Even though I kind of want to do another house now. Right. Yeah. But that's obviously that was something that was a unique situation that I was in where I was in a position to do that and. So I mean, who knows if if it ever comes up again?
00:54:22:12 - 00:54:29:01
Nina Kate:
You see, I would definitely do it because I've learned a lot, obviously, from it. So maybe the next one would go that smoother. Mm hmm.
00:54:30:06 - 00:54:33:22
Robin Fuller:
Would you like design someone else's house?
00:54:34:23 - 00:54:50:09
Nina Kate:
I have a few people asking about things like that, but I don't know how that would work because. I mean, I'd be open to it, but I think it would be. I have to be very specific. I don't think I could just be at the interior designer for whatever.
00:54:50:22 - 00:54:52:13
Nina Kate:
So, yeah, sure. Why not?
00:54:54:03 - 00:54:58:04
Robin Fuller:
What do they like? You know, you'll do as long as they're happy to get what they're given.
00:54:58:19 - 00:55:15:00
Nina Kate:
Well, I guess it would depend at the moment. Really? Hmm. You know, that stuff that I do, all the things that I had in that house took, you know, some of the stuff with my dad. Some of it was my grandma, some of it I'd had, like, the furniture I'd had under my house for a year waiting
00:55:15:07 - 00:55:30:22
Nina Kate:
. So it's not so much you can just, like, I need a table. Go find me one. I mean, of course, that possible. But, you know, if there's a certain amount of squirreling stuff away, which I stopped doing, actually, because the new house has a garage that gets to me.
00:55:30:23 - 00:55:35:19
Nina Kate:
So it's now full of sofas and lamps. I start making those as well.
00:55:37:23 - 00:55:38:22
Robin Fuller:
Yeah. Unstoppable.
00:55:39:20 - 00:55:53:23
Nina Kate:
Sit down. I guess I don't feel like that now. It's like. I feel like this time I've decided as my fuck it somewhere. I'm definitely taking a little bit easier and trying to go off and enjoy things and do them.
00:55:53:23 - 00:55:59:18
Nina Kate:
But when see people once in a while and yeah, enjoy the outside space a little bit.
00:56:00:14 - 00:56:05:03
Robin Fuller:
Yeah. Yeah. Good for you. It's. It's important, I think, you know, it's good for you.
00:56:05:23 - 00:56:06:19
Nina Kate:
Step back, Lumen.
00:56:07:07 - 00:56:14:21
Robin Fuller:
Yeah. Nice. Great. So if people want to find out more about you and your work or specificity that other than just Google, I.
00:56:14:21 - 00:56:33:20
Nina Kate:
Just have like one website with all the links on. So the house is hillside house a dot com. The latex constrained latex will come, and yet just various social media Instagram things are still pretty obvious names for this stuff.
00:56:34:10 - 00:56:34:23
Nina Kate:
Oh yeah.
00:56:35:07 - 00:56:43:13
Robin Fuller:
Well, thank you so much. It’s been really interesting talking to you and just kind of learning more about the kind of creative journey and your working processes and things. It's been really interesting.
00:56:44:24 - 00:56:46:08
Nina Kate:
Thank you for having me.
00:56:57:22 - 00:57:15:21
Robin Fuller:
So, that was Nina Kate. That was a really interesting conversation. I think the main things that I kind of took away from talking to Nina, that was firstly just her work ethic, this drive that she has to keep going and to just make things happen and make whatever she's doing work and sort of manifest things into the
00:57:15:21 - 00:57:27:09
Robin Fuller:
world. That's a really admirable thing that I kind of got from from talking to her. The other thing is this this thing she mentioned a couple of times, which is the kind of she seems to work quite intuitively.
00:57:27:10 - 00:57:44:06
Robin Fuller:
And she kind of mentioned this confidence in this idea of if I make what I like and trust, other people will like it. And I think that's a really interesting place to be coming from. I mentioned a few episodes ago that some I kind of previously always had the opposite approach where I kind of thought that my
00:57:44:06 - 00:57:58:23
Robin Fuller:
taste was marginal and the things that I liked would not find an audience that kind of got over myself a little bit and came to realize that actually, you know, I'm not special and the things that I like probably are of interest to other people.
00:57:59:22 - 00:58:07:24
Robin Fuller:
So I think Nina was a few years ahead of me. That seems like she did it quite early on in that career. And and it took me the best part of 40 years. But, you know, better late than never.
00:58:08:12 - 00:58:21:16
Robin Fuller:
Oh, I need to correct something, too. I got confused about the show Slow Horses that Nina mentioned and the soundtrack. I was thinking of the film Calm with horses, not slow horses, so calm with horses. The soundtrack is done by blank mass.
00:58:22:03 - 00:58:35:13
Robin Fuller:
The musician I really love and you should definitely check out. So Slow Horses is a TV show. Different thing altogether as a soundtrack by a guy called Daniel Pemberton, which I checked out actually from Curiosity. And that's really interesting.
00:58:35:13 - 00:58:51:06
Robin Fuller:
So I guess a couple of recommendations that I just need to say a big thank you to fill out, Jeff, for helping me out with a sound. I was using a new platform for the recording of this episode, and some of the sound wasn't quite as some of the sound wasn't quite the kind of quality that we're
00:58:51:06 - 00:59:03:13
Robin Fuller:
able to usually get on remote recordings. But he did a really great job of kind of stepping in and cleaning up. So I had the sound quality and by the way, thanks as always to my good friend Simon Rolfe for the music in this episode.
00:59:04:03 - 00:59:11:07
Robin Fuller:
Thanks to Nina Kate, of course, for taking the time out of a day to talk to me. And and thanks to you for listening. All right. Take care.