2009. Making Place: Wallpaper & Textiles

Synopsis

The Falling Leaves collection of Australian-made, commercial quality, sustainable textiles and wallpaper is the result of 12 months research into sustainable materials and manufacturing in Australia and have come about as a result of the project Making Place: Wallpaper & Textiles, supported by a Brisbane City Council Creative Sparks Grant.

Carrying the ‘Heavy Duty Commercial’ rating, the Falling Leaves textile collection works as an architectural device in the reconfiguration of a space. With excellent drape and handle these textiles can be hung, stretched on a screen or used in upholstery.

This collection combines rapidly renewable and biodegradable EcoWool™ (wool with low to zero pesticide residue) and bamboo. Wool is a naturally fire retardant material and bamboo an anti-bacterial resource with high absorption properties, which make it a high-performer in humid climates resisting mould and mildew, inherent qualities that mean the only finishing processes implemented are mechanical, not chemical. Wool is also known for it’s ability to absorb and not re-emit VOC’s (Volatile Organic Compounds), improving indoor air quality.

This product can be reclaimed and recycled, encouraging a move towards living in harmony with the resources around us. Suitable for commercial and residential applications.

The Falling Leaves wallpaper collection is a vehicle for carrying ‘the story’ as either the focal point of a space or as part of the overall design concept in creating a space.

Printed on paper with water-based inks, this wallpaper is finished with a matt varnish (commercially required for wipe-ability). This is a low VOC product. Suitable for commercial and residential projects.

At the culmination of the project, the new collection was photographed in an abandoned and decaying, heritage-listed Queenslander, once a stately Australian home and now a mere skeleton of its formers self, to partially transform the space through a process called ‘making place’.

By using wallpaper and textiles to re-inhabit one of the rooms of the house the project examined ‘belonging’ and our collective ability to make a sense of place for ourselves in the world. Using the warp and weft structures in textiles and the symmetry of the repeat pattern in wallpaper, the work aimed to connect people and place by making links between the objects we use as ‘place-makers’ and the world in which we live.

Details

Exhibition Title: Making Place: Wallpaper & Textiles
Year: 2009
Dimensions: Variable
Materials: Large format archival digital print on 100% Cotton Rag, Wallpaper, Textile covered ottoman
Venue: Artisan
Photography: Troy Hansen