I was born in Sydney Australia in 1966 to parents who had migrated to Australia from Greece in the 1950s. I can not say where my passion for design and textiles started but one of my earliest memories is as a young boy being fascinated by the feel and play of light on the pile of a rich green velvet my dressmaker mother was expertly fashioning into a garment for herself. This may be to obvious a link but I recall the sensations so clearly.
My mother would work for days creating garments with intricate details, painstakingly by hand. Use of her hands in this way was an incredible skill to me and I would watch patiently, asking questions and waiting for the end result which, was made without a pattern and always beautiful. I am certain that this is why creating with my hands is a natural part of me. Some things are handed down.
Many years passed until I was able to follow my dream of designing textiles and clothing and I came to designing in my mid 30’s from a somewhat unconventional background. Family and cultural ties were strong and with this came obligation - I studied and worked in law for 5 years before eventually following my instincts and resigning to study fashion and textile design at university with a number of additional years spent researching techniques and processes that were not part of the local design industry.
My professional interest in textiles started as a student - I was unable to find the fabrics I could see in my imagination. Driven by need, I conducted experiments applying lacquers, heat and acids in controlled and uncontrolled ways. I would dye, shred and reconfigure the results creating completely new textures. It was on a very small scale and I was discouraged in this “creative” approach by lecturers but encouraged by the work and experimental approach of designers Rei Kawakubo, Reiko Sudo and Martin Margiella who followed intuitive responses to their work coupled with material and technical fluency developed whilst pursuing their vision.
As an artist maker, I continue to work n this vain, following feelings as they occur and this then funnels itself into the technical and experimental process of how this notion can be realised as a textile, wall paper or a garment with the visual and tactile qualities I see in my mind . In the experimentation and creation, I embrace technical accuracy but also, trial and error, chance, accident and the relinquishing of control over all of the outcomes – the end result often being different to the outcome I had imagined. But I believe much more can be realised through possibility as opposed to probability. For me, to know exactly where I am going and why destroys creativity.
I have a small studio in Sydney where I experiment; research and hand produce my ideas that, I now pass on to skilled crafts people to manufacture in England and Japan. All work is hand printed and this was an important aspect to me – machine printing gave the advantage of production that was faster and about 1/5
th of my current production costs but, keeping skilled artisans working is important aspect of sustainability that is often overlooked,
The textiles in series 1-,’mistreatment’ were created in 2003 and are a fusion of my earlier experiments in the creation of texture and graphic pattern using shibori style resists, etching techniques, heat pressure, boiling, stripping and clamping. The result is futuristic and watery sheers, lacquered and metallised hemp and linen, and silks with radiant halos around symmetric patterns. It is very much a monochromatic range, - dark, with glimpses of light and reflectivity. Strong emotions I experienced over the year the techniques were researched and the fabrics evolved. The pieces are imbued with my mood as the maker and with the conditions of the day they were made. An element of the unexpected is always present in pursuing the processes used in this body of work and in the creation of the printed designs. The fabrics are imprinted with these uncertainties. I accept that often the fabric and creative process have a mind of their own. They are still selling in AXIS and Cassina in Tokyo.
The latest series, ‘On Closer Inspection’ uses the simplest geometric structures of dots and lines from unexpected sources to invite touch and observation. Mould growth patterns, cell division, Braille and naïve weaving techniques come together to create the patterns in this range. It invites touch and inquisitiveness. The story in the Braille wallpaper makes people smile. I haven’t seen a wallpaper do that before, it adds an element of humanity to the work. It starts a dialogue about the life that unsighted people lead, it starts a dialogue between adults and children who at first are fascinated by the coloured dots and then, in awe when it is explained to them that it is actually a language for the blind. I will be continuing the Braille wallpaper concept working with writers to bring their work to life in this way, exploring other 3d mediums with an Italian company who manufacture many of the products I use.
Series 2 was launched at 100% Design Tokyo in November 2007 and to the European Market at 100% Design London in September 2008.
The Braille project: part 1: listen and record
DESIGN INSPIRATION:
My second collection, broadly, Series 2 “on closer inspection” is a body of work inspired by mistakes and matters that we may normally reject or seek to rectify as designers and as a society (Mould growing on a wall, an accident with a hole punch, weaving mistakes, cad mistakes) and the relinquishing of control in the design process These have come together to create the patterns in this line of wall coverings. The simplest geometric structures - dots and lines, the building blocks, have morphed into visually shifting and interactive patterns inviting touch, observation, and interpretation in this line of wall coverings.
The Braille wallpaper tells a story: listen and record. The Braille wallpaper is inspired to examine notions of publishing, decoration, accessibility of design to all and interaction of the observer through the universal language of 3 dimensional Braille. It examines the role of the designer today. It is inspired to be thought provoking and engender empathy (the blind) – a condition we need to embrace if we are to make inroads into the challenges facing other peoples in the world. It is lack of empathy that allows us to see disaster and food shortage in media and then comfortable ignore it.
DESCRIPTION
I researched and developed this collection for 2 years.
Wallpaper is made of a sustainable non-woven base to EU environmental standards. A lower market price (achievable in other manufacturing locations) has been sacrificed in favour of environmental and socially responsible manufacturing. The result may be sales loss but this decision was driven by ethics and not finance.
The product examines design accessibility through role reversal - a visually impaired person can touch the wallpaper and read the story. Sighted observers cannot. They are observers of a tactile pattern that is experienced through 3 dimensionality. They are excluded from the meaning of the design - a role they are unaccustomed to and which visually impaired people experience daily. Australia has one of the lowest rates of Braille signage in the western world.
The project also examines design process - usually a controlled process, but Braille has a form of its own: It cannot be manipulated outside its technical constraints. The designer and observer may like the story, dislike the pattern or otherwise. The designer relinquishes control of the result. The finished piece contains an inherent duality- an important aspect that designers must embrace– accept constraints, when there is a greater good.
