Adelaide designer Aurelie Sowerbutts has traded runways for rockets. Find out how the TAFE SA graduate’s couture-level precision is helping build space tech destined for the Moon.
If you’d walked into TAFE SA graduate Aurelie Sowerbutts’ workspace a few years ago, you might have seen bolts of fabric, sketches pinned to walls and a half-finished garment draped over a mannequin.
These days, she’s sewing something a little different – high-tech fabrics, including a foil-like outer layer, designed to withstand the harsh environment of the Moon.
“I wear gloves, a lab coat, and everything has to be spotless,” she says. “The materials we use are so delicate that if you make a mistake, you can’t unpick it. You just have to start again.”
That material is part of a multi-layer insulation (MLI) blanket, designed to wrap around a piece of South Australian space technology known as the lunar night survival box. Built by Adelaide start-up entX, the box is being developed to help equipment survive the Moon’s extremes – from blistering daytime heat to freezing lunar nights.
Aurelie’s role, as an MLI Technician at another local company, Moonlode, is to manufacture the blanket that keeps that precious payload stable.
“It’s basically like a super-advanced version of kitchen foil,” she says. “It keeps the temperature steady using layers of reflective film and mesh built by hand to fit perfectly around the box.”
The project is still in testing, but the technology is expected to launch on a rocket next year as part of trials for future lunar missions.
From maths to materials
Before fashion – and certainly before space – Aurelie’s life revolved around numbers. After completing a degree in pure mathematics at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand, she moved to Adelaide and worked in finance and IT for several years.
“I always loved sewing, even at school, but it was just a hobby,” she says. “Then after I got married and had my first child, my husband said, ‘Why don’t you give it a go properly?’ So I did.”
That decision led her to TAFE SA’s Advanced Diploma of Fashion Design and Merchandising, which she completed in 2022.
“I really liked the practical side,” she says. “You start from the basics – pattern making, sewing, design construction – and build up from there. That’s what TAFE taught me.”
After interning with local brands like Sally Phillips, House of Campbell and Couture + Love + Madness, she joined activewear label Ryderwear as a designer.
“I always thought I’d just stay in fashion,” she says. “I loved the creativity and the community around it. I didn’t expect my maths degree to come back into the picture at all. But looking at what I do now, it really has. There’s so much precision in both – the same kind of problem-solving, just with different materials.”
The email that changed everything
Things changed when TAFE SA’s Head of Fashion, Helen Jansson, forwarded an unusual email to graduates. A local company called Moonlode was looking for someone with fine sewing skills and a creative eye to work on a space project.
“It just clicked – it combined both sides of me, the analytical and the creative,” Aurelie says.
At Moonlode, Aurelie joined a team of just four people working out of UniSA’s Innovation & Collaboration Centre, as an alumnus of its Venture Catalyst Space program.
Together they’ve been developing the thermal blanket for entX’s lunar survival box, supported by national programs like iLAuNCH Trailblazer and the Australian Space Agency’s Moon to Mars Initiative.
“When people hear I’m working in space, they think I’m in a big NASA-style lab,” she says. “But really, it’s like very precise couture – just with different materials.”
Stitching for space
Each blanket is made in a cleanroom-style environment with meticulous attention to detail. “You have to wipe everything constantly because even a loose thread can contaminate the material,” she says. “It takes patience and precision, but it’s incredibly satisfying.”
And while her background in fashion might seem galaxies away from space tech, Aurelie says the overlap is clearer than most people think.
“People always say, ‘fashion is creative and STEM is logical,’ but they go hand in hand,” she says. “In both, you’re problem-solving. You’re figuring out how to make something work – it just happens to be for different purposes.”
Family, flexibility and finding her path
Now 35, Aurelie is a mother of three, expecting her fourth child any day. She continues to work with Moonlode on a flexible contract while preparing for the new arrival.
“They’ve been amazing,” she says. “We all have families or other full-time jobs, so we work when we can – evenings, weekends, whenever the project needs it. It’s been such a good balance.”
Her experience has also changed how she thinks about study and career paths. “People sometimes feel like it’s too late to start again. But it’s not. In my TAFE class there were people from 18 to their 60s. Everyone had different reasons for being there, but we all loved learning. That’s what makes it special.”
It’s part of a wider shift across South Australia, where State Government investment in TAFE SA is helping more people – from school leavers to career changers – build skills for the industries of the future. From design and defence to space technology, hands-on learning is giving South Australians the confidence to turn their passions into careers.
Plus, there’s a range of Fee-Free TAFE Courses on offer, with enrolments for 2026 open now.
TAFE SA’s Interim Chief Executive Adam Kilvert says its close ties with industry mean graduates are ready for the jobs our state needs next.
“TAFE SA graduates like Aurelie have a range of practical skills that can be applied to new and emerging industries and we’re thrilled that Aurelie has this opportunity to work with Moonlode on the entX thermal blanket,” Adam says.
TAFE-trained talent powering SA’s space industry
Aurelie’s employer, Moonlode, appreciates the level and range of skills TAFE SA grads bring to the start-up.
“Space technology products require specialised work, so it’s crucial to have people with the right skills for the job,” says Lachlan Etherton, Moonlode’s Business Development Manager. “MLI blankets like this one require special materials and processes that we’ve been working to master. We plan to make many more specialised products for the growing space industry – and TAFE-trained staff are a key enabler for that.”
Aurelie agrees: “Space and fashion might sound so far apart, but the TAFE diploma taught me so many transferable skills – not just in design, but in problem-solving and precision – and now I’m using them in a way I didn’t expect, but really enjoy”.
“Thinking about something I’ve made going into space – it’s just amazing.”
Inspired by Aurelie’s story? Explore how hands-on learning at TAFE SA can help turn your passion into a career here.
