In 2016 as part of the British Council and Australia Council for the Arts’ leadership skills development program ACCELERATE, Lane and Millichip connected. With an instant rapport and shared passion for design and culture, they vowed to collaborate. 

 

“Drawing inspiration from my culture, woven bags, shells, and seeds, I explored baskets and forms in nature that could inspire a bag design. The seeds of the black bean pod are round and oblong shaped, shiny brown in colour and silky smooth to touch… a lesson in nature’s efficiency of design.” Francoise Lane.

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“The final prints and pieces are so indicative of our shared aesthetic – this exchange influenced all aspects of our collaboration. While initially informed by Fran’s connection to nature, I see iconic punk prints, the seed pod to my eye looks like tiger print and the black shapes are like polka dot so it’s sort of this true mash up of nature and punk, and that’s quite an unusual combination of influences. The whole aspect of punk is very urban, almost a rejection of the natural work with all its chains and hard edges. And then you’ve got the natural world with all its soft organic shapes on the other side, and we managed to come up with a project that fused those to disparate inspirations.”  Emily Millichip

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The textile was printed at Centre for Advanced Textiles based in the Glasgow School of Arts, Glasgow, Scotland. 

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The project was a finalist in the Creative Edinburgh 2018 Collaborations Award. 

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Exhibited at Northsite Contemporary Arts,

Cairns, Queensland Australia. A conversation between Lane and Millichip with Director Ashleigh Campbell was filmed for the exhibition.

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