Ohhh, come look at this Alice-inspired item o’ prettiness – isn’t it just boot-iful?!

It is one of the many, many pretty creations you will find at Hoolala, home to the prettiest pretty things in prettyville, that’s an actual Sassy Minx fact. I’m a li’l bit in love with…well, just about every item Miss Sam has to offer – le sigh.

Meet Miss Sam, Hoolala’s creator-girl, she’s awesome. Again, a Sassy Minx fact.

So Sam,  what made you set up Hoolala and what’s the inspiro for your awesome prods?
I thought there was a gap in the market for unusual jewellery. I knew what I wanted  to wear and could not find it in the shops so I decided to make something instead. I am inspired by everything – in the first instance it was my Great Grandfather who arrived mysteriously in England one day in the 1880’s on board a ship. He said he was a carpenter but he looks more like Russian Aristocracy! My Great Grandmother was an actress and singer  and I find their stories fascinating. A lot of my ideas come from books, films and strange co-incidences that happen to me – although I don’t think there is any such thing as a co-incidence.

When did you realise you were a creative girl who could make pretty, pretty things for kick-ass girls?
If I look back I guess I have been making things since I was little. I have a photograph of me as a toddler in the kitchen garden of a farm I grew up in and I am naked apart from my little red wellington boots – I am busy ‘making’ something on my little table with 2 sticks and some house bricks. Later on I studied art and design at college and eventually went on to qualify with a BA Hons in Sculpture specialising in bronze casting. It was a tough choice between a degree in silver smithing at the university in my home town or bronze casting at a university in the wilds of Yorkshire. I figured out I could learn silver smithing at a later date and went to study sculpture for 3 years which was an amazing experience.

What’s your fave prod that you’ve created?
I am most proud of the Jack the Ripper collection – a genuine Hoolala first. I made the first collection in 2006 a tiny studio in the Oxfordshire countryside after I saw From Hell. Fast forward 2 years later and a tall gentleman came into my shop in Northampton – he  picked up a Saucy Jacky bracelet from one of the cabinets and we had a chat for about an hour on the subject the White Chapel Murders. He said he had written a book on the subject and he would drop a copy off for me. It turned out that the tall stranger was non other than Alan Moore who wrote the original graphic novel From Hell. He signed the book for me and we went on to have some really interesting conversations on different characters I am researching – some of those I ideas I am working on now.

I also made a piece for the 5th Biennial Ripperology Conference in the USA and I have just been commissioned by a London gallery to make another Jack the Ripper collection for them which I am working on now.

Can you share a li’l bit ’bout your creative process please, Sam?
A lot of it happens in sketch books and I have an amazing attic studio space which is full of curiosities which I use in my work too.

Can you share your own top 3 shopping destinations – pleeeaaseee??
I am less of a shopper and more of a collector and curator of things so I suppose my thing is thrift . If I could go anywhere to purchase things for my collections it would be it would be Paris, Oxford and Northamptonshire has some amazing antique shops, auction rooms and thrift stores.

What 5 tracks would be essential to a Hoolala soundtrack?
Wow music is my life – OK here are so many bands on heavy rotation in the studio. Nine Inch Nails, Smashing Pumpkins, Pixies, A, Nirvana, Queens of The Stoneage as well as BBC Radio 4!

The Hand That Feeds - Nine Inch Nails
Disney Studio Chorus – April Showers
Kissing Families – Silversun Pickups
The Feeling Begins – Peter Gabriel from the Last Temptation of Christ Soundtrack
Go With The Flow – Queens of the Stoneage

Who are your style icons and inspir-o-girls?
I love Vivienne Westwood she is a true british eccentric. My friend used to work in London and they would pass each other on their bicycles in the morning on the way to work. I love that image!

What are your five must-have life items?
My surfboard, my Cannondale Jekyl, ipod, Macbook, digital camera.

We love to visit new places – can you introduce us to your city? what would be your perfect way to spend a day there? what would you do? Where would you go?
I love Oxford and worked there for many years so we could go and play there. We would start off in The Pitt Rivers Museum, then a wander down Little Clarendon Street, off to the Ashmolean Museum and then down to Christchurch stopping at The Old Sheep Shop and on to the Botanical Gardens for a picnic…then If you were still full of energy we could go and watch a band at the old Oxford Zodiac in the evening.

Who and what makes you jump-in-the-air happy?
Surfing with my best friend Michael.

What’s your motto for life?
“…Do not fear, only believe…”
The Hoolala Sassy List…

Shop: Give me any Flea Market or thrift store
Book: From Hell by Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell
Website/blog: www.magicseaweed.com for the surf report!
Hang-out: My local pub The Red Lion on a Friday evening
City: Paris
TV prog: I am addicted to Damages at the moment – I don’t do TV so I am watching series 1 on DVD.
Food: My best mate Michael makes the most amazing Thai curries
Must-have beauty item: Aveda Scalp Benefits shampoo and conditioner

Visit Hoolala at: www.hoolala.co.uk and her fabulous Etsy shop then come back to The Sassy Minx tomorrow where will be hosting a Hoolala giveaway – woop, woop!