Designer learnt craft in '60s London, still fulfilling his passion for fashion

He came with experience from London's vibrant fashion scene to up the ante in New Zealand fashion and make our lives that little bit more beautiful. These days England-born fashion designer and Aoraki Polytechnic tutor Brian Molyneux nurtures his talent in the small town of Woodbury, near Timaru. The Courier reporter Cerisse Denhardt talked to the designer about his journey into the fashion industry and how he came to be on this side of the globe.

Fashioin designer Brian Molyneux is living proof that, accompanied by hard work, the most ambitious goals are within our grasp.

I am pleased to have found Molyneux at his house in Woodbury after admittedly driving past the town a few times.

Molyneux has thrived as a designer in the dynamic fashion capital of London, but he now lives at its polar opposite - the intimate and easily overlooked location of Woodbury, near Timaru.

I sit down opposite him, somewhat in awe.

But, despite his international success, Molyneux has a down-to-earth smile that puts me at ease.

His boundless creative energy has the capacity to inspire even the biggest fashion cynic.

The 60-year-old fashion designer works as a fashion design tutor at Aoraki Polytechnic.

When he is not at work, he is still fulfilling his incessant passion for fashion from home.

He wakes up and thinks about fashion.

He eats his breakfast and thinks about fashion.

He gets dressed and thinks about fashion.

You get the idea.

Gems of sporadic inspiration are woven into each day.

He records them in his sketchbook, which is always beside him.

He is constantly designing garments, which he will later bring to life.

Molyneux studied a five-year art course at a polytechnic in Lancashire, England, where he was born.

He was always the top of his class, he told me matter-of-factly.

"I don't want to be big-headed," he insisted.

A sparkle of excitement is evident as he explains the '60s rock culture among the young fashion designers at the time he was studying.

"They were groovy, switched-on people. It was an exciting time that brought young fashion alive."

His life as an aspiring designer also included some challenges.

Molyneux's mother was also an artistic person, but his father was a long-distance lorry driver who questioned whether being a fashion designer was a "proper job".

He doubted whether Molyneux could make money from designing clothes.

But when he saw how talented his son was, he came around.

When Molyneux finished his polytechnic course he wasted no time.

He did not ring employers, or fill out job applications.

He went straight to London and knocked on designers' doors to look for work.

He knew that if he rang prospective employers it would be too easy for them to turn him down.

"That was a big thing, going to London. It was the fashion capital of the world at that time.