Productive Waiting & Textile Design Inspiration from Nature

If you are a follower of my Instagram feed, you may already have seen the creative flurry happening at our house this week. I'm not sure if I've mentioned that NP and I are expecting our first child - in fact the mystery person was due last Friday! It's times liked these when I thank my lucky stars that I can fill my time with making and napping very happily. I've even been able to squeeze in some work for my Masters of design remarkably.

The Moreton Bay fig fruit seem to encapsulate the storing of memory, patiently waiting to drop from their home in the sky after a storm or strong wind. Seeds are released and awakened, just as memory can with the right triggers.

So far I have used them to naturally dye silk and wool, resulting in a beautifully soft neutral tones. Their rounded forms have been translated into bulbous felted textile pieces. The magnificent tones are the basis of a new colour palette.

And now a watercolour repeat design has emerged...

Thank you fig fruit - you are marvellous distraction.

 

Alex Falkiner: Textile Maker and Colour Connoisseur

If you are in Sydney in the coming weeks and require an injection of joyful colour and texture, I prescribe a visit to any of these exhibitions or workshops Alex Falkiner (aka Alfaky) is involved in. Or if in need of a quick top up, go over to her website and Instagram feed as soon as possible!

Alex Falkiner's felt, crochet & grosgrain necklaces. Photo by A. Falkiner.

Alex Falkiner's studio and baskets. Photo by A. Falkiner.

Alex Falkiner's rope and felt necklaces. Photo by A. Falkiner.

Alex Falkiner's Baskets. Photo by A. Falkiner.

Prescriptions can be filled here:

 

The Curio Collectors Cabinent, Gaffa Gallery
281 Clarence St, Sydney, NSW
7th - 18 March 2013

Knit | Knot | Weave, Gallery Lane Cove
164 Longueville Rd, Lane Cove, NSW
4th March - 1st April 2013
* A few of my talented friends - Paula do Prado and Brook Morgan are also in this show!

Workshop: Knot and Twist: Fabric Necklace Creations with Alex at
85 Dunning Ave, Rosebery NSW
Saturday 6th April

 

Coral and Tusk

Good morning friends! This morning is a porridge and chai kind of morning, with rain and wind and heavy skies in Sydney. I have big plans to get some things made today, the weather making it easier to be indoors. However I've just heard that rivers are flooding in other NSW areas, which can never be very good.

Have you seen these little creatures from Coral and Tusk? Quite a few of these are in my virtual shopping cart, with the hope of at least one making it's way to our home!

The way the studio operates reminds me of when I worked as a commercial textile designer - lots of chat and cups of tea... Their video shows how lovely the Coral and Tusk Workroom is...

 

 

 

Coral & Tusk from Coral & Tusk on Vimeo.

Designer Stephanie Housley gives a sneak peek into the delightful world of Coral & Tusk, her line of pillows and accessories. See her imagination come to life as embroidered drawings in her beautiful Brooklyn showroom/production studio.

Publisher Textiles Sale - Today & Tomorrow

Nabbedd myself some great cushions and printed fabric meterage at the Publisher Textiles Sale today. If you're in the area and pop by you are in for a treat!

You belong to me!

This little friend from the beautiful Tinctory Shop has just been popped into my shopping trolley. Thank you so much Pia for letting us know about Eva's wonderful smocking and dying work. I hope she doesn't mind if I share some more of her pieces? She has such a beautiful and unique aesthetic.

Our beautiful weekend away...

Our weekend away to the Southern Highlands was even better than we thought it could be!

Craft, cooking and watching those crazy ladies from Grey Gardens kept us entertained.

Thank you to my lovely mum who let us stay in her beautiful house. I can't wait to visit again soon!

x Emma & Yumi

PS To see a few more pictures hop over to our flickr page!

Marion Hall-Best

Tonight I was lucky enough to hear Joanna Nicholas and Michael Lech speak at The Mint  about one of my favourite Australian interior designers Marion Hall-Best. She was a fiend with colour - chartreuse, magenta, burnt orange. I remember my Gran telling me she much preferred Marion to Florence, as Florence was a bit snobby. 

We saw a beautiful show and tell of fabric samples she imported and sold in her Woollahra shop - Marimekko, Jim Thompson silks, and Frances Burke fabrics. She also supported Australian artists and designers such as Gordon Andrews, Grant Featherston and Clement Meadmore.   

Her overseas travel inspired her aesthetic. In particular, a trip to Japan in 1957 lead to her bringing back  "temple blinds" (like matchstick blinds but very fine which she spray painted in spinach green, white or orange) and rice paper which she used as wallpaper. I remember my old apartment hallways in Darlinghurst being covered with this textured paper - suddenly I appreciate it a little more! She must have been in Japan at the same time as my grandparents - my grandpa constructed a zen garden in Lane Cove which I loved when I was little. It reminds me of our trip last year and how incredibly inspiring the country is.

There were some family and colleagues of Lady Hall-Best in the audience, who kindly illuminated on the details of fabric and interiors. I am in love with her sister's name: Dora Sweetapple. The only other name that can almost compete is one Yumi told me of: Velvet Belle. 

Swatches, colour cards, interior plans, wallpapers and diaries have been hunted down by the Caroline Simpson Research & Library Centre, which you can go and see during the week by appointment. They also have an extensive library connected to anything of the Australian home.

First Image: Dining alcove designed by MHB for Peter Playfair's flat in Elizabeth Bay, photographed by Antonia Blaxland, found at the Caroline Simpson Research & Library Centre, Sydney.

Second and Third Image: MHB interior, from "The Best Style: Marion Hall Best and Australian Interior Design 1935-1975" by Michaela Richards.