De Lew Designs Australia is a family owned business run by my daughter and myself. I am an Artist, a milliner and sculptor; I enjoy every aspect of art, the design process, the immersion, the outcome.
I have a fascination with the colour, texture and intricacies of landscapes, flora and fauna. Nature inspires me and I endeavour to bring a tactile element to my paintings, wearable art, sculptures, jewellery, homewares, and millinery. I want people to feel like they need to touch it, to draw them into every tiny detail of what I have created. You can only find such a flowing rigidity and natural progression in nature, and everyone sees something different that speaks to them, this is the basis of my art.
My daughter creates using collage, paper, fabric, alcohol ink, screenprinting, felt, digital media, illustration and produces beautiful wearable art, functional art, and illustrative designs painted onto skateboards, helmets, bags.
We offer a range of products on our website from supplies – art, sculptures – art classes
Owning and living on our farm gives us so much inspiration and am very fortunate to have our studios and shop located on the farm as well as in the CBD of Wagga Wagga,.
Our current times does make it tough as a small business owner, however each sale is an enormous help and we thank all of our lovely art family, supporters and customers. xx.
Our Roots
De Lew Designs since 2003
De Lew Designs arose from Donna’s participation in and successful completion of three years of nationally recognised Tertiary training within Millinery ( Headwear ) at TAFE NSW, Riverina Institute, Wagga Wagga Campus. During Donna’s training she was encouraged to enter her Millinery into numerous competitions and achieved much success, which in turn, due to word of mouth, began the demand for Donnas Millinery pieces for various race meetings and special events. With the encouragement of her TAFE teacher and family, Donna registered De Lew Designs Australia as a business on the 23rd February 2003.
As demand for De Lew Designs grew the need to source Millinery Supplies was not always an easy task. There were three major Millinery suppliers within Australia, one based in Sydney the other based in Melbourne and one in QLD. Due to Wagga Wagga’s geographical isolation, access to such supplies proved to be quite expensive requiring overnight trips to personally visit suppliers as no suppliers at this stage had a website. Dealings over the phone to order supplies proved unsatisfactory due to difficulty-choosing colours etc, fellow milliners were having to make trips to the city to access supplies as well which is about a 5hr drive.
It was obvious that rural Australia required a Millinery Supplier also. Two years of intensive worldwide researching, resourcing and liaising resulted in De Lew Designs Australia offering not only affordable handmade Millinery but also affordable and accessible Millinery Supplies providing an alternative, for, at that stage, regional NSW milliners. Every effort was made to source Australian products however the majority of our supplies must be imported. De Lew Designs now imports and maintains solid business relationships with many manufacturers worldwide.
To minimise the frustrations associated with ordering supplies,De Lew Designs (Donna) developed an e-commerce website in which sells their Millinery and Millinery Supplies online. The website was launched in 2004 and was the first FULL e-commerce Millinery site in Australia. All products are accompanied with a description and photograph so that customers know exactly what they are getting when they place an order. De Lew Designs Australia goes a step further to please their customers and also offers custom dying of many of their products and go out of their way to source supplies not currently offered on the website.
Attention to detail, (as evidenced by the hand blocking and meticulous hand stitching by Donna of all De Lew Designs Millinery pieces.), exceptional customer service, dedication to the craft of Millinery, enthusiasm, passion and a genuine love for creativity is what has contributed to the rapid growth of De Lew Designs Australia. De Lew Designs Australia now ships Millinery and Millinery supplies all over the world and to every state and Territory within Australia.
De Lew Designs has a new co-owner.
My gorgeous daughter Courtney is now co owner as of Dec 2015.
De Lew Designs happily refers customers to other suppliers / contacts if they are not able to assist the customer for some reason.
De Lew Designs ( Donna Lewis ) have won numerous awards being:
2003 Vision ~ Winner ~ High Fashion Award
2003 Vision ~ Winner ~ Race Wear Award
2004 Vision ~ Winner ~ Bridal Headwear Award
2004 Vision ~ Winner ~ Fashion Daywear Award
2004 Vision ~ Runner up ~ Fascinator Award
2005 Roseleigh Manor Millinery Luncheon ~ Millinery Award
2006 Roseleigh Manor Millinery Luncheon MC by Waltraud Reiner ~ Millinery Award
2006 Prestigious Wagga Wagga Gold Cup ~ WINNER ~ Millinery Award
2006 Wagga Wagga Chamber of Commerce & Industry ~ Winner of Outstanding Business Award
2006 Wagga Wagga Chamber of Commerce & Industry ~ Finalist of Best New Business Award
2006 Wagga Wagga Chamber of Commerce & Industry ~ Finalist of Excellence in product and service Business Award
2007 Carnarvon Ladies day Races Western Australia ~ Winner ~ Millinery Award
De Lew Designs and Midnight Crew are now located
in a spacious retail and workshop space on the grounds of 'BRICOUMA'.
Donna's motto is:
Learn all you can and live life to the fullest!
Be proud of the many hats you wear, they tell of your life's journey.