Lollycopter's photostream  

Joan Vorderbruggen is a writer, storyteller, window and dress designer, professional nurse, and part time American vagabond. She was host of "Storyhole", a raucous open mic'd storytelling event while living in Brooklyn, NY. After relocating to her native Minneapolis, MN she began crafting the tales she'd previously shared via live storytelling into horrifically humorous creative non fiction shorts. Her unpretentious, often lewd content is drawn from her conflicting personas as a nursing professional and her subcultural experience as an abandoned child with an insatiable desire to enjoy life.

Joan is also passionate about the development of eco-conscious dress designs that utilize used and vintage garments and textiles to create new, sublimely feminine works of wearable art.

Limited means growing up stimulated Joan's creativity and interest in expression through her personal style of dress by compelling her to use found items, which, because they were out of "fashion context," could be more easily employed and combined in different ways; this shaped her aesthetic and soon evolved into an obsession with spontaneous design, finding balances with incongruous textures and bright, vivid colors.

It wasn't until she began experimenting with dying techniques that she was inspired to create a line of vintage slip dresses that were hand dyed then embellished with embroidery, beading, hand made ruffles, Swarovski crystals, stenciling, second hand trims, and fabric painting. This process yielded an original, sexy, line of wearable art pieces, each completely one of a kind.

Lollycopter is Joan's brand of handmade, repurposed clothing and lingerie. Using low impact dyes, earth friendly fabric treatments, notions, and trims found second hand, a tattered vintage slip is transformed into a treasured special occasion gown. Joan's vision is to expand Lollycopter’s line to include bridal and ready to wear specialty garments utilizing a broader spectrum of repurposed materials.