experimental mark making

We are giving you ample warning - put September aside for a shibori silk session with pattern doyenne Joanna Fowles. She will be joining us for an artist's residency from September 17th-23rd and host a one day shibori silk scarf workshop while she is here that is already poised to sell out.

Jo is a British born Sydney based textile designer and digital crafter. Her work is primarily process driven with a focus on hand elements and mixed media. With a playful approach she experiments with large-scale mark making, wood, paint, dye, shibori, photography and screen-printing techniques to produce abstract geometric digital craft designs. Her fascination with fabric has led her along the path of stylist, screen printer and textile designer working in both fashion and homewares. She has sold and exhibited her work internationally. Her work has featured on trend forecasting site WGSN and has sold to clients such as Louis Vuitton Paris. 


Tell us a little bit about yourself.  I've had a fascination with fabric and pattern ever since I can remember. I left London for Sydney in 1998 with the intention of a short visit. A few months turned into eight years. I worked in creative fields as fashion editor and stylist before deciding to change tack follow my passion and do an intensive year long screen printing course at TAFE. That changed my focus entirely to fabric and creating pattern on cloth. After graduating I set up a small screen printing studio with another graduate and created soft furnishings label Perry & Fowles. We printed everything ourselves and it was great fun. After several years I returned to London to work an study textile design at Chelsea college of art in London. My focus shifted towards more digital applications within textiles with the freedom to explore and develop my work conceptually. I returned to Australia only last year for love and I am so so happy to be back here again. I share a lovely warehouse studio space with other designers, teach and work to commission.

Where do you draw inspiration from? 
The list is very long, so much inspires me and my work. Inspiration often comes from looking intently, finding the bits that excite me and adapting those elements to suit my own aesthetic. Inspiration can come from a building, place, artist or the environment around me. I love traditional textiles from trips I've made to Africa and India. Artists who's work I regularly return to for inspiration include Yayoi Kusama for her obsessive mark making, Louise Borgeouis for her beautiful textile art collection I saw in London two years ago Cy Twombly for his beautiful mark making and beautiful colour palettes and Ellsworth Kelly for his collages. Geometric pattern is something I return to again and again, I never get tired of it. I think my favourite building must be the Alhambra Palace in Grenada Spain. The geometrics in there blew my mind. I also go through phases of being blog obsessed, so obsessed I sometimes have to limit my time on the internet so I can get my work done. There is so much amazing stuff out there! Instagram is another favourite way to keep a visual online diary and now I've discovered pinterest too for scrapbooking online inspiration. I love to display all my imagery to group it and arrange it and create inspiration walls in my studio which I feed from and refer to to inform my designs.



What is that people would expect to gain from your workshop?  People who attend the workshop will gain a basic understanding of dyeing fabrics to create beautiful pattern onto silk scarves.

Have a look at Jo's website and her tumblr site....so much beautiful work there. We can't wait to have her mooching around here in September.
Book into her workshop now.
Em x

tied up

I have been in a complete macramé frenzy since attending Andrea Shaw's great class at Harvest Workroom a couple of weeks ago.
We are currently in the process of fitting out our little retail space - Harvest Storeroom - so naturally I have decided to put my new found macramé skills to good use. I just can't get enough of that fluoro pink!
Fancy becoming a macramé maniac too?? Due to popular demand Andrea will be running another macramé class - YAY! 
All deets and booking info can be found here! 
xxx Jess

pom pom steed

This week at Harvest Workroom local Melbourne artist, writer, curator and mother Tai Snaith filled the Pop Craft window with a majestic and colourful portrait of her recently deceased horse, Nazif, and the pompom bridle that he wore in a dress-up session preceding his death.
Nazif had been Tai's horse since she was a child and when she began having dreams about his impending death she decided to celebrate the life they had spent together by fitting him with handmade costumes and a photo shoot with her friend Jo Duck. The results are stunning and made all the more emotional when Tai mentions that this was the second last time she saw her beloved horse.
When I got up close to the bridle there were still horse hairs attached and it sent tingles down my spine thinking of this special horse. Luckily Tai had brought along her mini-sidekick - her 2 year old son Leo who lightened the tone of the whole affair by sharing the contents of his pint-sized suitcase that he carries around and joining in the action of installing the artwork. The work will hang in the window at Harvest Workroom for one more week.
Tai's work is a definite head turner - catching most folks eyes as they trundle past on the tram. Loads more pics of the window here and an interesting interview with Pop Craft here.
Make sure you also look out for Tai's first children's book called The Family Hour that will be launched on July 5.
Em x

nocturnal printers

Our current group of Screen Printing Intensive students printed their own repeat pattern designs last night - aren't they gorgeous?
The students I mean! And the designs are great too. Some very intricate patterns there.

There were many cups of tea drunk and yummy dinner smells wafting through our studio. It is really nice having the same folk attend workshops over many weeks - they become so familiar and comfortable in the studio.
Next week we will start preparing their screens for the photo exposure component of the course. I can't wait to show you what they come up with.
More pics from last night here.
Em x

owl know how at harvest workroom

If you have walked past Harvest Workroom over the last two weeks you would have had the privilege of seeing Cat Rabbit and Isobel Knowles fantastical window installation at Pop Craft featuring characters from their new children's book - OWL KNOW HOW. 
All of the plush little owls and rabbits are made from felt and live in a cardboard city that Cat and Isobel have crammed into our front window. The installation also features their award winning animation.
I couldn't help but take some of the little creatures for a wander around Pop Craft and photograph them playing in the colourful yarn. You can see some pics of the interior of the cardboard home here.
The book is available at Pop Craft and is a very sweet tale of Cornelia Rabbit using her owl know-how to save her cloud city from falling into the treetops.
The installation will only be in the window for another couple of days to make way for a new installation by Tai Snaith. Come and have a peep.
Em x

popped up

Pop Craft set up last week at Harvest Workroom coinciding with a cold snap that has well and truly got the punters madly clacking away on their needles. We love having all of the colourful yarn to ooh and aah over whenever we find a spare moment and a few personal projects are already underway.
The first round of knitting workshops will begin this Thursday...it will be a very productive 4 week course that enthusiasts will undertake using unique pattern designs from Pop Craft. Find out more about the workshops here.
If you can't sign up for a workshop this week- don't fear. A second round will begin in June.
Hope to see you there.
More pics of Pop Craft here.
Em xo