ADVERTORIAL

Glenn Harris immersed himself in the art of digitising embroidery

designs in the early 1990s and since then has become a very successful digitiser, well-known around the world. He has an

extensive range of designs covering a wide repertoire of subjects.

Glenn’s family owned a manufacturing clothing company, and his father encouraged him to learn the basics of digitising as a practical element of marketing their products. Glenn was passionate about the art and creation of digitising, he would spend up to 50 hours a week creating detailed and exact designs. In this commercial environment he used top brand, commercial digitising software and two multi-head ( 12 and 4) and a single-head machines.

“Once I realised that each new creation was basically produced from nothing, by way of materials, just my skills, I became more and more engrossed with the art,” Glenn confides. He had a particular fondness for satin stitch designing, around 2005 he started doing designs without outlines.

On Glenn’s first day of digitising, as his first design to digitise was a swan – this seems to be the precursor to his ongoing desire to produce designs of all manner of birds, animals and wildlife. His first design collection was ‘Farm Animals’, and his current design list includes wonderful furry animals and fabulous feathered birds showing exquisite attention to textures that are inherently difficult to digitise, such as plumage and delicate fur. Glenn’s love

of nature also reveals itself in his equally difficult to capture designs of delicate flowers and foliage.

Glenn has made a point of using Australian artists’ work to create his designs, and now he has designers, photographers and artists around the world who provide him with the basic ingredient - the picture.

When Glenn comes up with an inspiring thought, there is sure to be a designer or photographer he knows that can fulfill his criteria. “One day I asked one of my designers, Sue Bellamy, to draw a teapot with windows and a front door.” He laughs, “She knows that I sometimes come up with some loopy ideas, but the designs are popular so she just goes along with me!”

Flipping through his library there are also many interesting mono/single colour designs and for these, Glenn asks the artist for a lot more detail to provide the extra interest. He also has small neat designs and quite large ‘pictures’. He states that he does not have any preference; he can look at a picture and see the end design, “If it inspires me, then I want to turn it into embroidery.”

After Glenn’s dad retired in 2001 Glenn went into business for himself, selling small sets of embroidery designs online. In 2005 he started selling CD collections and he now has over 20,000 embroidery designs that can be found on his website. Glenn also sells his embroidery collections in selected stores across Australia and internationally.

‘Home’ for Glenn and his partner Sharon is in Brisbane, Queensland, where they live with two charming pets, a lithesome white cat and an inquisitive black and white dog. Sharon does the ‘business’ side of sales, despatch and customer liaison. They have developed fantastic ‘same day’ delivery/posting, “because we pride ourselves in getting the orders out straightaway!” Sharon explains. She also sends out a regular newsletter to clients in approximately 113 countries.

Like Sharon, Glenn’s days are full. It is not unusual for him to sit and work solidly at his PC until 5pm, only to return to it sporadically throughout the evening, as thoughts come to him. Although he hesitates to call himself a workaholic, he is certainly dedicated. Incredibly, he does all his own work.

Today Glenn travels extensively throughout Australia and New Zealand, attending craft and sewing shows. “I find it a great way to meet people who are using my designs and to gain ideas on what they would like me to create,” he explains. Of course, all that traveling allows him to be inspired by the geography, flora and fauna he sees along the way. He also makes the time to visit and support the shops and stores that sell his products.

Along with the CDs embroidery he has a range of his own 100 per cent rayon embroidery thread in a range of beautiful colours. This is a perfect complement to all the Glenn Harris designs.

Glenn is a passionate Australian who is inspired by the wonderful Australian countryside and way of life. His latest project is the ‘First Fleet’ collection.

He is a great ambassador for our nation, bringing Australian designs to embroiderers around the globe.

For details of Glenn Harris’ extensive catalogue and to register to receive his regular newsletter, visit: www.outbackembroidery.com.au

Glenn Harris of Outback Embroidery and his wife Sharon