An Interview with Niamh Galea; Designer of Ramp Tramp Tramp Stamp and

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An Interview with Niamh Galea; Designer of Ramp Tramp Tramp Stamp and Founder of RTTS.Land

Words by Clare Ferra

We're running one of our regular Sydney Pop Ups next week and are excited to team up with independent boutique RTTS.land who have recently opened up a new shop in the 647-649 George St Haymarket building! Our Pop Up will be at Cielo Studio, suite 54 (on level 5) and we will be running a joint drinks and shopping event on the 8th of December from 6-9 pm. RTTS.land will be hosting a curated selection of IRVRSBL pieces and we will be hosting a curated selection of RTTS.land pieces on the same night! I had the pleasure of chatting to Niamh from RTTS.land about her new store and label Ramp Tramp Tramp Stamp.

C: Hi Niamh! Tell us a little bit about yourself and what you do

N: Hi my name is Niamh and I am the designer and owner of independent Australian label Ramp Tramp Tramp Stamp and I also run RTTS.land, our secret store in Sydney’s Haymarket where you can shop RTTS and friends, aka lots of emerging independent designers who I’ve met over the years from all over the world, from those I interned with at Eckhaus Latta, studied with both at UTS in Sydney and at Parsons in New York and from my time working in the Australian fashion industry.

C: You started at Eckhaus Latta - has your time in New York informed the way you do things with Ramp Tramp Tramp Stamp and RTTS.land?

N: I always think of Eckhaus Latta as the great dame of the arthouse brand movement that really has exploded in recent years. They truly were revolutionary with their focus on vintage dead stock fabrics, their inclusive casting and non traditional fashion backgrounds. My time their had a massive impact on me for these reasons but also because the way that company functions is truly like a big slightly dis functional but loving family. Some of my most precious friends are people I met whilst interning and subsequently working at Eckhaus Latta. They really were like a family to me when I was living in New York and barely knew a soul, they always made sure I was okay. I’ve taken that focus on deadstock vintage fabrics into my own work, as well as their approach to inclusive casting. In terms of RTTS.land, the shop space is very much inspired by the Eckhaus Latta shop in New York which is also hidden upstairs in a bizzare Chinatown mall, very much like our space.

C: Do you find Sydney receptive to new and emerging designers?

N: I think Australia is extraordinarily supportive of new and emerging designers. Even the most basic of girlies (sorry dolls) are more likely to be wearing Australian brands, whether that be Sir the Label or Cue over H&M or Zara in my experience! And the same isn’t the case in Europe or the US… I find the support for local designers to be something we take for granted because Australians genuinely take pride in wearing local brands and their is a really hot culture in Sydney of “iykyk” style where certain brands very much hold clout in the same way massive mass produced luxury labels like Prada or LV do.

C: Are there any designers on your watch list at the moment?

N: I always have a long watchlist of independent designers who are coming up. Right now I am so excited by my dear friend and parson’s graduate Samantha Diorio’s new label Ouse. Sam is one of the most talented designers I know and it’s amazing to finally see her work in a commercial setting. I also am obsessed with Ying Feng’s label Club Innocent. Ying is now working as a full time designer for Collina Strada but thankfully still makes time to do some RTTS.land exclusive mini collections. Maroske Peech are the demi-gods of Australian independent fashion and we are beyond excited to begin stocking them this month! I could name so many more, but would like to shoutout RTTS interns Bridget Matison of Troubled Water and Jaimie Novick, who both showed their UTS graduate collections last night, the work is insane and spectacular and I am looking forward to seeing what they do next!

C: Tell us about your vision for your new space

N: For our new space the vision was simple; bright light and open! As much as we love our experimental baby shop in our studio currently, the space is so wacky with it’s vintage lights and colourful patchwork curtains. We imagine the new space as the grown up Ramp Tramp and really want it to act as a quieter background to let the clothing speak. We’re honouring the unique hodge podge history of the building by patchwork restoring the 70’s lino and revealing the historical details above the modern drop ceiling but other than that it’s all grey white stainless steel minimalist!!

C: Finally, what's on the horizon for Ramp Tramp Tramp Stamp and RTTS.land in the near future?

N: Our big projects to end the year are opening the new RTTS.land space and launching some new stockees, for Ramp Tramp Tramp Stamp, we are thrilled to be launching our first ever fragrance which we’ve been working on with Melbourne based perfumer Samantha Copland for over a year!! This has been a massive project and I’m thrilled to finally be sharing it with the world.
Early next year we are releasing our next collection and of course that’s always my favourite moment of the year.

You can follow RTTS.Land here and Ramp Tramp Tramp Stamp here

Details of our our Pop Up event are as follows

Drinks + Shopping

8.12.2023 6-9 pm

IRVRSBL @ Cielo Studio

Suite 54 - Level 5

647-649 George St Haymarket

+ RTTS.Land

Suite 33 - Level 3

The IRVRSBL Pop Up continues through Saturday the 9th and Sunday the 10th from 12-5pm at Cielo Studio