Rycki Symons

Artist Extraordinaire

Rycki Symons was born on the 25th February, 1966 and his passion lies not in one particular aspect of his work – but in the greatest amount of variety and multi-skill that his art allows. Rycki not only illustrates, but paints, pattern makes, sews, screen prints, designs clothing from corporate ranges to couture, embroiders, and computer generates graphic designs & corporate logos. Rycki's career started with 3 years of study at the East Sydney University Of Technology, where he won several national awards from Dupont Lycra to the Harlequin Textile design award. This recognition took him straight into head designer for Brian Rochford – the leading swimwear designer of the time - creating textiles and entire collections over several years. Rycki next secured uniform contracts for the Royal Pines Resort, the Indy Grand Prix and the Marriott Resort. He did graphic designs for three Gold Coast Theme Parks and freelanced for a sports company that created clothing for all the national football & Aussie rules teams. His wedding & evening gowns also brought Rycki much recognition with articles appearing in the Gold Coast Magazine. Winning 3 categories one year in the Gold Coast Fashion Awards saw him receive the Supreme Award for that year. Rycki then went on to win The Bulletin independent design award for best garment the following year giving him the commission to dress all the staff at the Gold Coast Bulletin. Work followed with a Gold Coast based company that gave Rycki a higher profile recognition – designs for Fosters and Bonlac foods for the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games, Tourism Queensland uniforms and the entire clothing contract for the 2001 Goodwill Games. Pottery and Ceramics were also a passion. Rycki created tribal & ocean inspired hand painted pieces, which sold throughout the Gold Coast with special commissions for interiors and collectors. Rycki would also freelance illustrate and create corporate & fashion presentations for companies that submit tenders for contracts around the nation.

The last few years Rycki founded The Academy of Design, which is one of the biggest design schools in the country - with purpose built premises reflecting International Education standards. The Academy of Design