Crazy, colourful and kitsch at Mount Vic and Me

The designer and illustrator has created her original artwork on tea towels, T-shirts, socks, greeting cards, skirts and jackets, sneakers, posters, mugs, postcards, upholstered vintage chairs and fabrics.

She reached the 3,000 mark earlier this year and had already whipped up a couple of hundred more by the time the Gazette caught up with her.

"Yes, it's 3,200 now - keep up," she said with a smile.

"My aim was to get to 3,000 by the end of January and I did it. I was rather surprised actually."

She had further cause for celebration 10 days ago when she marked the 10^th anniversary of the opening of her bright, colourful shop at the top of the Mountains in Mt Victoria.

She was also included as one of just five female designers featured in a special post by world design hub Spoonflower celebrating International Women's Day on March 8.

Spoonflower is a global marketplace connecting makers and consumers with artists worldwide and is hugely influential in the design world.

"It gives me more exposure internationally which means bigger jobs," she said. "To have Australia recognised was really nice and to read all the stories of the women around the world."

Mount Vic and Me is a riot of fun and fabric, colour and kitsch.

Penny Wong benignly looks down from a T-shirt at the door; Julia Gillard's "not now, not ever" phrase from her famous misogyny speech is emblazoned across an armchair; Gough Whitlam smiles from a badge; magpies, king parrots and black cockatoos are dotted on mugs and socks.

Ms Cooper, a graphic designer by training, said her clientele falls into three distinct categories: those wanting Australiana, the political fans and the feminists.

Their needs can be met on anything from a brooch to a cushion, an apron, magnets, stubby holders, leggings and rugs.

Designs can be fashioned into wallpaper or printed on to fabrics.

Ms Cooper has 170 stockists around Australia but also does a lot of business online. See www.mountvicandme.com.