Spacecraft hosts an annual studio sale that is always worth dropping by. This year it includes artwork favourites - backing cloth paintings, calico wallpaper prints, botanical studies, short story artwork, giveaway calico posters…something for everyone. Stewart and Donna asked me to swing by and pick up some images for their sale promotions - newsletter, social media, and website. Here are a few from the selection I captured.
spacecraft
I had a photo session the other day at Spacecraft to capture some of their bed linen for their online store. I also picked up a few sly shots of the beautiful clothing hanging in the shop window. It’s always a joy to spend time with these wonderful folk.
throwing shadows from the sun
Photographs by Emma Byrnes
In November I captured Spacecraft at work in their Rokeby studio on a botanical prints series that had been commissioned for KFive + Kinnarps’ Boyd Collection. The images accompanied an article on the project by Eugenia Lim in Garland Magazine and needed to reflect the interplay between Spacecraft’s research, handcraft, materiality and digital production - the conversation that Lim explores in depth throughout the article.
As Lim writes:
“In Spacecraft’s series of commissioned prints for KFive + Kinnarps’ Boyd Collection furniture, site, history, language, art and architecture intermingle under the guise of soft-furnishings. On face value, these textile designs are simple botanical prints that take the specificity of trees as a motif. The silhouettes of leaves, vines and flowers are assembled, repeated and mirrored onto linen.
But deeper, beyond the “upholstery” of surface, these designs speak of a skilled, curious studio who bring craft, research and experimentation to their work across commercial, artistic and architectural projects.”
The article is well worth the read and highlights the “the quiet and conscientious work of Spacecraft, engaged as it is with the elemental, the material, the botanical, the artistic, the political and the social.”
Wonderful!
space + craft
Photograph by Emma Byrnes
I was recently commissioned by long-standing Melbourne printmaking studio - Spacecraft - to formulate a visual strategy for their brand; produce a bank of images for use on their website; and host in-house training for their staff on maintaining a strong, cohesive style for their daily social media needs. Considering my history as co-founder of Harvest Textiles screen-printing studio; having worked in communications/media for many years; and my love for all things visual - this was a dream brief!
What an incredible small business Spacecraft is and a real life example of small-scale, local production. I spent time getting to know their dynamic approach and running between their print studio and Gertrude Street store, taking photographs as I went. The small team screen-print all of their textiles in their Collingwood studio, then walk the fabric up the road to their beautiful Fitzroy store, where their in-house sewing genius, Rosie conjures it up into homewares or clothing. Then it is ready to place in the store for sale. They also undertake loads of collaborations with artists which keeps things interesting for the whole team. It was an absolute pleasure spending time with such creative and cohesive folk - they have such a strong spirit and a dedication to handmade and locally-made artisan products.
The image above is of Stewart and Danika from Spacecraft hand-printing a Northern Rosella from their Ornithology series. As part of the studio work process, the table backing cloth also takes impressions from each and every print, slowly unfolding as it's own, stand-alone artwork - layers and layers of labour and love. Just wonderful work.
The results of my strategy job will roll out over the next few months and I am excited to watch the brand begin to truly communicate their elegant aesthetic.
Em x