Getting Down and NERDy: Brett De Vos – Embroidery

You may not think so from looking at me – a heavily tattooed guy with an oversized beard – but… my ‘nerdism’ is that of many an 80-year-old lady: I embroider. Yup, needle, thread and cloth kind of embroider… and I bloody love it!

In my defense, my scenes are a little different from the typical floral motivational phrases. I do a lot of film reference scenes and a bit of erotica for the juxtaposition, among some other cute little bits and pieces.

Being a director is an art form that involves a lot of people all working together and requires a great deal of figuring out along the way so for me embroidery is a nice departure from that – I get to switch off, be by myself and once the design is drawn out it’s mostly just repetition… hours and hours of it.

It’s cathartic, laborious and strangely soothing. So while most are out on a Saturday night hopping from bar to bar and back again, I’m usually cozied up doing some hardcore embroidery while listening to the philosophical psychedelic meanderings of 1970’s Ram Dass (look him up).

If I decide to go really wild I may even partake in some vegan biscuits and a sparkling beverage while I lay my threads down… okay, no sparkling beverage – let’s not get too crazy now.