The Art of Australian women going places!Aboriginal Art Inspires Vibrant Luggage into 2012!
Australian designer continues to create designs with Aboriginal women artists
AUSTRALIA –Celebrating Australian Aborignal art.
CMD is working with celebrated Aboriginal artists Amy (Jirwullurr) Johnson, Evelyn Pultara, Maureen (Marrqangulu) Thompson and another exciting artist, Dianne (Nyuniwa) Robinson. Working together, the project has created an extraordinarily colourful collector art piece luggage and fashion accessories range; no two pieces are exactly the same. The range, which began in 2007, has expanded, each season since, and with a variety of new designs and products.
The aim to create an indigenous artist range and bring it to the Australian fashion world, has grown into a project that shows how business, art and fashion can combine, to assist in the appreciation and support of art. The project is able to provide an extra income source, without, importantly, the artist’s needing to leave their communities, and continues to provide an inspiring and positive purchase despite challenging economic times.
Designs from the project can be purchased from as little as $15 and up to $420 and are stocked throughout many Australian gallery stores, up-market home and gift stores, as well as in Australia’s major airports.
The artists have had paintings shown at various major Australian art galleries including the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, the National Gallery of Victoria and The Museum and Art gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin, and are held by major private collections around the world including The Holmes a Court Collection, Perth. They have also appeared in major group shows as far away as London and Milan, and all the artists even have their own fantastic luggage sets!
Catherine Manuell Design has established a licensing agreement with the four artists, Maureen and Amy from Ngukurr, in East Arhnem land, Dianne from Indulkana and Evelyn from the Utopia region in Central Australia.
As a result, the artists directly benefit from the production of every item made. This continues to be an ongoing royalty for the artists while the product stays in production.
“The concept began after I was suddenly opened up to a world of Australian colour,” explains designer Catherine Manuell about the artists’ work. “I received a postcard of Maureen Thompson’s work, her paintings were so perfect to me. Exciting and full of colour, I felt the more I looked at her postcard, the more I fell in love with the paintings. I began to wonder if she might like to work together with me to create a range of luggage and fashion accessories, and so this exciting project began.”
Catherine Manuell Design is an Australian fashion accessory design company.
We design, manufacture, retail, wholesale, import and export and have over 100 stockists throughout Australasia!
Popular all over the world, Catherine Manuell Design is also a favourite of the famous, the hard working, frequent travellers, lovers of art and in fact everyone who appreciates the art of going places!
If you have any questions about any of our range or regarding this site, please feel free to contact us on:
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
or call us on+61 (0) 3 9499 9844
