Thank you for visiting our site! We’d love to share the story of how we, Tessa and Emie, came to create Tidal Threads together with the local artists who inspired it.
Tidal Threads was born from an experience and a shared passion rather than a business idea.
While working together aboard a research vessel in the Torres Strait, we had the privilege of living and working alongside Traditional Owners from the surrounding islands. Our role was to support marine research while training local Islanders to conduct scientific research within their own Sea Country.
During our time together, we were continually inspired by the incredible artistic talent of the Traditional Owners we worked alongside. Their drawings reflected the stories, landscapes, wildlife and culture of the Torres Strait in a way that was both deeply personal and visually striking.
On previous research vessels, we had created custom crew shirts featuring illustrations of the boats we worked on. Continuing that tradition, we designed apparel for our new vessel and decided to incorporate artwork created by the Traditional Owners.
Initially, we ordered only a small number of shirts and hoodies for ourselves. Before long, crew members from other vessels began asking about them too. What started as a simple keepsake unexpectedly became something bigger.
That was the moment the idea for Tidal Threads first took shape.
Over the following year, the concept continued to evolve. As plans developed for our own journey through the Pacific, our vision expanded beyond the Torres Strait. We realised that extraordinary artistic talent exists throughout countless coastal and island communities, yet much of it remains unseen by the wider world.
From that vision, Tidal Threads Collective was created.