Meet the Team

CO-FOUNDER

Polina Osherov is a serial entrepreneur, and an expert at putting together high-performing creative teams since 2001. As the Co-Founder and Executive Director of PATTERN she’s dedicated to improving community infrastructure, retooling systems of collaboration and changing cultural economies to create inclusive opportunities for Midwest-based creatives and makers.

CO-FOUNDER

Denisha “Dlang” Ferguson is the creator and Executive Director of Indiana Fashion Week. Dlang began her career in fashion as a sewist in her early teens. At the age of 15, she produced her first fashion show as a way to provide a platform for creators to showcase their work. Her heart for fashion and for people has aided her in garnering over 20 years of expertise. Much of her work now is as a consultant and educator to entrepreneurs, with a focus on building community, capital and impact.

INSTRUCTOR AND PRODUCTION LEAD

Daniele Main, is an Indianapolis born and based sewist who mostly works with vintage and secondhand materials, steaming off her love of history and historical fashion. Coming from generations of home sewers, she has been independently sewing on machines since the age of 5. During her teens and early 20’s she built up technical skills by working in costumes and uniform departments for the local performing arts and community, including WPAC. She enjoys teaching skill of sewing and expanding the idea of the fashion industry to others. Especially to younger generations, now as a mother of two.

PATTERN MAKER

Catherine Fritsch, owner of Mercurious Designs, has been designing and constructing custom-fit clothing since the early 1990s. She has been working for herself since 2007, freelancing as a pattern maker, apparel designer, and sample maker. Her inspirations come from vintage clothing, wonderful fabrics, and the strong savvy women she knows and respects.

INSTRUCTOR

Starry is an Indianapolis based fashion designer and sewist. Having fallen in love with sewing and textiles as a child, her passion for the craft led her to pursue a career in the industry. She has worked professionally in the design, production, and alteration of garments, giving her a unique perspective in the field. Starry was a featured designer in Indiana Fashion Week’s Emerging Designer Runway Show in 2021. Passionate about sustainability in fashion, she believes that a large part of being environmentally conscious is teaching others how to sew and repair their garments, and genuinely enjoys passing on these skills. She is a creative at heart and loves to use vintage and recycled textiles, patterns, and garments to produce one-of-a-kind pieces.

INSTRUCTOR AND PRODUCTION ASSISTANT

Lee Herin is a queer, Interdisciplinary Textiles artist native to Indianapolis. Lee’s work is process oriented, landing between visual and performance art fabricated by using discarded, recycled, and thrifted materials to create soft sculptures, sewn garments, and site based works. They have multiple textile installations up around the city and created “Ode to Alice Green” from used race flags in 2022 for the Indy 500 Welcome Race Fans project. Lee started sewing at a young age but left the machine for Fine Art in their adolescence with a focus on Painting and Drawing. Lee picked up sewing again while in school at the Art Academy of Cincinnati in 2017, teaching themselves the basics and teaching others at the Indianapolis Art Center from 2018 to 2022. They have been sewing since with a passion for creative experimentation, sustainable practices, full bodied expression, and community education.

SOURCING MANAGER

Jo Dean is an apparel and handbag designer who has sold her creations in boutiques and department stores in the US, Canada, Japan and London. While she enjoys creating from recycled materials, she also creates dresses and women's separates from silk that she draws, paints, and writes stories on. She began her career as a self taught artist/ designer but later in life earned fashion design degrees from Purdue and Ball State Universities, and FIT. Once she was educated in the ways of the fashion industry, she held jobs in the design department of athletic and ready-to-wear companies. She taught fashion design at the Art Institute of Indianapolis for 12 years. Jo Dean currently lives in Indiana, but called NYC and Taos, NM home for many years.

INSTRUCTOR

Beth Bennett has been designing and making costume and fashion for over 25 years in Indiana and beyond. Trained in theatrical costume design, she possesses a strong background in garment construction and history of dress Beth has taught courses in everything from basic sewing construction to advanced design and pattern making. Her inspiration is very often vintage styles, her signature style is quality couture construction, and her mission is to promote fashion design as a true art form.

PATTERN MAKER

Lisa Brazus has been working in the Fashion Design Industry since she graduated college. Her education focused on Retail Training, with an emphasis on Textiles and Clothing. She has several years of experience in direct sales and marketing, having worked with several large brand retailers. She turned her focus to the growing Bridal Industry, training to become a detailed-oriented pattern maker, designer, and fashion construction engineer. After several years in this industry, she expanded her horizons, becoming an Associate Professor and began educating future generations in Fashion Design, teaching over fifteen different courses in garment construction, pattern making, design, and retailing.Her new goal is to become a bespoke entrepreneur, where she can market all her years of experience as a freelance fashion designer.