Eileen Treacy grew up in County Galway in Ireland and was living in London when she and her husband decided to start a family. “London is great and it offers you lots of opportunities, but when you start thinking of family it doesn’t have what you need,” she says. So they started looking for places with strong family values and a strong economy and realized that Canada fit the bill. “We took a day trip out to the Rockies and we were sold. I’ve been all around the world and I went to the top of Sulfur Mountain and I have never seen anything like this in my life. It is so beyond beautiful. I told my husband we have to move here and he said yes,” she says.
Eileen had studied art and design in college specializing in ceramic sculpture. She combined that with her love of fashion and started creating beautiful accessories for family and friends. She saw the move to Calgary and her upcoming maternity leave as her chance to turn her hobby into a full-time career and started Eileen Treacy Couture Wedding Accessories. “I launched a website and two online stores. Now I have a home studio,” she says. “From day one it’s taken on a life of its own. The home-based studio happened out of demand – it wasn’t something I had planned. It came from people wanting it.”
