Catasta Charisma

Catasta Charisma is the pseudonym of Heath Clark, a UK artist, model and entertainer specialising in latex wear. Heath is also a designer and creator in latex and writes numerous manuals and patterns for working with rubber and latex.

While Heath has been wearing rubber for over 25 years, Catasta Charisma wasn't born until 2008. Catasta started out as a character in the virtual world of SecondLife and became a guru of sorts, sharing his knowledge and experiences of various fetishisms with generally a younger community dipping their toe into the rubber world. Catasta didn't stay around in the virtual world for too long, however, and was encouraged to leave by many of his admirers to share himself on a larger platform. Catasta introduced herself/himself (the gender of Catasta Charisma fluctuates on a whim) to the world through Youtube back in April 2009 with a series of short videos. Video was a new medium to Heath and these first films were little more than him dressed in rubber flapping his arms around and not knowing what to do but, over the years and up to present day, he gained better understanding and started to produce ever more sophisticated films with narrative story lines and editing. In his films Heath explores various topics of what it means to him to have a passion for rubber whether it's the trying on of a new hood, taking a walk in public while dressed head to toe in rubber, activities that take place at fetish events, turning imaginative fantasy scenarios into a reality or just sexing it up before the camera. In another light the films attempt to show something about what it feels like from the inside, how rubber can transform the personae dependent on the apparel worn and where, how it facilitates the exploration of identity. Through his films Heath in the form of Catasta gained a substantial following for such a specialised area and became known for making fetish films that were just that little bit more alternative to what was commercially available.

The films of Catasta Charisma can also be found on display at The Red Hand Gallery in Denver Colorado, a "fungeon" run by Domina Elle that opens its doors to the general public to help broaden people's perceptions regarding the BDSM scene.

Heath was born in a Nottinghamshire coal mining village in 1970 where he still resides to this day. Born with a frustrating speech impediment he quickly discovered two things that gave him the focus required to overcome it, one was drawing and painting and the other was a love of stretchy materials (nylon, lycra, rubber) with which he would encase himself. The fetish side gave him calm, in a state of bondage he would drift away into an imaginative land of faerie. With his artwork he became over the years a reputable artist and his work can be found all over the world.

In 2013 Heath started to make his first rubber costumes bringing not just his experience and knowledge of rubber to this venture but also his artistic eye and dressmaking skills. The Latex Creations of Catasta Charisma are slightly divergent from your traditional fetish wear. They still pursue the same lines of pleasure that Heath derives from wearing rubber, the sense of total encasement in multiple layers of rubber upon the body, the restriction on movement, the sensory deprivation, but his work has a much greater show for fantasy. Heath creates outfits that can be seen to have their origins in science fiction, fantasy, myth and fable. They are a combination of the theatrical with fetishism. His latex creations tend to be one off pieces combining multiple garments that coordinate with one another. They often utilise modular components so that a variety of looks can be achieved with the one outfit by the removal of pieces or/and the addition of others. Heath also makes his own rubber using liquid latex, producing both sheet rubber in various textures, actual paintings as well as embedding foreign objects into the latex itself. Two of his recent experiments involved foaming latex to produce sheeting that could be both seen and breathed through and latex with a layer of hidden iron particles in which fridge magnets could be attached!

Heath has been seen and has written articles in a variety of magazines such as Marquis, Massad and Mach2 as well as having been featured in various mainstream newspapers. He has also given talks on the uses of latex in garment making at the University of Lincoln Fashion School. Heath has also modelled and performed with an assortment of fetish icons such as the incredible Jean Bardot during events such as The Montreal Fetish Weekend.

Heath is the owner of an American patchwork store and it is from the shop that he makes his latex creations. Any member of the public who visits his store can openly view him working and be introduced to the most wonderful material. In 2015 The Latex Creations of Catasta Charisma began an artistic collaboration with Exxess Latex from Washington State, USA and has put on extensive fashion shows of up to 24 models at a time wearing over 200 garments between them in just one showing. The fashion shows have taken place numerous times at the Montreal Fetish Weekend, Sub Rosa Dictums Avantgardista in Munich, the German Fetish Ball, Dominatrix in the Netherlands, Mach2, Zara du Rose and RubberCult in the UK

Up to present (2019) Heath has written numerous manuals on working with latex and rubber. The most extensive manual being The Compendium of Rubber Garment Making - over 600 ages on how to work with rubber and draft ones own tailored patterns.

External links

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