I am the founder and creator of Waterbear. Every product is hand crafted by me and I design all aspects of Waterbear. And I wanted to share a bit about the beginnings of Waterbear with you.
Waterbear was created in 2020 during the on and off lockdowns in Melbourne while I was figuring out a way to spend my time.
[pictured on the right: me in 2020 attempting
I have always viewed myself as a kind of character to decorate and customise and I wanted to create something that incorporated that – hence the story that follows. The narrative that surrounds Waterbear as a brand is Waterbear more than the hats themselves. Waterbear doesn’t exist without
it, literally but also physically in the sense that making a clothing brand wasn’t something I ever attempted to do or looked into before making my hats. I look at this not as a clothing brand at all,
but as a project that I work on and can use to explore my emotions and my ideas.
Waterbear and Mak, as characters, are very dear to me. The hats bring people into the narrative to be
a part of Waterbear's story. To feel comforted by friendship and love - like the comfort Waterbear gets from Mak making the hats for him.
The Waterbear 'brand' spent it’s first 2 years in the environment of COVID, beginning as a story focusing on the feeling of lost identity. Moving towards an environment out of covid was really striking for me and quite difficult in a way I didn’t expect. Coinciding with my own life - I could see Waterbear starting to change mainly at that point in time. I started getting really into overtly explicit writing. Usually around themes of depression or using violence/gore as a method of describing emotion. Whilst I don’t want Waterbear to be viewed as some kind of eternal sadness narrative, it has grown with me in the sense that I began integrating my own experiences within it. And any changes were kind of mirrored in the story or the hats I make/want to make. 
I always want Waterbear to have an intrinsic spark of hope or potential future happiness for the pair of characters to find. They love each other so dearly and I wish for them to find happiness as much as I wish it for the real people in my life.
In the future I plan to expand Waterbear into new and different spaces where I can experiment and learn about new methods and materials [although I think this will take longer than I wish it to]. I look forward to showing you what this small story can become. A story where Waterbear and Mak can exist in all facets of life, to live freely.
Having this platform to be able to create this story has been a very unexpected blessing in my life and Waterbear would be nothing without the help of my friends and the people who have supported me along the way. I am forever grateful to them for helping me to start and to continue this venture.
And to anyone who follows or purchases a Waterbear creation.
Thank you <3