DREAM WEAVERS

Looking for some beautiful indigenous art for the bedroom? Here it is, in a collection of sumptuous bedlinen and accessories.

- Elizabeth Wilson

Arnhem Land is a landscape steeped in culture and stamped in vivid colours. At Maningrida, a coastal community 500 kilometres east of Darwin, the shoreline rocks are saffron-coloured, the soil is ochre and the ocean is ultra blue. Not only are these the hues of the land, they also inhabit the stories, textiles and weavings produced by those who live there.

And now, those colours and artistic talents are being showcased in an exciting new collaboration. Artists at the Bábbarra Women’s Centre in Maningrida have teamed up with Melbourne-based homewares, bedlinen and apparel brand, Kip&Co, to produce a collection of bedlinen and napery that celebrates their art and tells their ancestral stories.

The alliance began when the centre’s artists – all distinguished textile designers and weavers, some of whom have exhibited internationally – decided they wanted to translate their designs into bedding. “The artists were excited by the idea of picturing their designs on a larger scale,” says the women’s centre manager, Jessica Phillips. “We don’t have the capacity to do this ourselves in Maningrida as our printing table is not big enough.”