Boandaropax

Operating from a small studio, Melissa Barrass is a young creative majoring graphic and textile student at the College of Fine arts in Sydney, Australia. With a love for the avant garde and traditional textile applications, her work features interlacing with coiling being her niche speciality. Working with second hand leathers and off-cuts, the designer aims to minimalise her impacts on the leather industry as much as possible. And with the use of thin strips of leather that would usually be scrapped, her work can be attributed to the sustainable upcycling movement.
In 2013/2014, Melissa spent a semester in Sweden studying design at HDK at the University of Gothenburg where she fell in love with the people, the language, the landscape, the traditions, and the edgy, yet effortless street style amongst the communities she visited across Stockholm and Gothenburg. After her exchange opportunity, flying straight from Gothenburg, Melissa visited the Manchester of India Ahmedabad in the state of Gujurat with fellow COFA textiles students, where she was exposed to both the intriguing culture of India and textile techniques such as eco-dyeing, weaving, wood-block printing, screen printing, ply-split braiding and Bandhani. BOANDAROPAX is the creative pseudonym of Melissa Barrass's creative endeavours and is catered for the strong-minded woman with a passion for women's rights and equality. BOANDAROPAX embraces the goddess within, drawing inspiration from minimalistic and edgy Scandinavian style, and Indian textile craftsmanship.