Tales from the territory

NORTH DIRECTOR CRYSTAL THOMAS INTRODUCES US TO THE NEW WARLU COLLECTION.

Tell us a bit about NORTH, please. NORTH exists as a vessel to celebrate, support and broaden the exposure of textile design by Indigenous artists living remotely on their Country. We’re not an Aboriginal-owned business, we’re a not-for-profit organisation governed by Indigenous and non-indigenous board members. We work with remote community artists and art centres to develop beautiful products featuring their designs and carrying their stories.

How does the not-for-profit model work here? Revenue from sales is directed back into the development of creative opportunities – responsive to the ideas and requests of the artists we collaborate with. Last year our profits were used to fund the first communitydriven Warlu publication, with a dynamic young Warlpiri woman, Samara, taking the lead as editor. This year, we hope to find grant support for the publication so the profits can be put solely towards First Nations wages.

How has NORTH changed over the years? NORTH began in the interior space. Coming from an interior design background and moving to the Northern Territory, I really wanted to see these incredible textiles used in people’s homes. Our first collection was upholstery fabric featuring the work of Cornelia Tipuamantumirri, a senior artist from Munupi Art Centre and the Tiwi Islands. We then produced a range of cushions, a lifestyle collection and another upholstery collection, all featuring screen-printed designs from artists in the Top End. We’re now in the middle of our third fashion collection and the response has been absolutely incredible.

How do you put a range together? It’s important to us that the collaboration process is culturally informed, exciting and empowering. For the Warlu collection, this involved creating big posters with photos of different fashion styles and cuts

– we sat with the artists and talked about how they’d like to see their artworks shared. Warlu is short for Warlukurlangu, which means ‘belonging to fire’ in the local language, Warlpiri, and is named after a Fire Dreaming site west of Yuendumu. This year, Marrawuddi artists in West Arnhem are working on designs they’d like to see featured on their clothes. John is creating a Mimih spirit design, Robert is painting a rock wallaby design, and Ayesha is experimenting with hand-drawn maps of local river systems over watercolour paint splotches!

Tell us a bit about the fabrics and silhouettes used. Our collections are mostly linen, with the addition this year of a silk/viscose blend. We design for a northern Australian climate where you feel most comfortable wearing natural, lightweight fibres. With the help of a fabulous pattern-maker, we try to choose a range of silhouettes that offer versatility for customers of varying ages and sizes.

Do you have any fashion-related role models? We have industryrelated role models! Specifically, Grace Lillian Lee, the founder and director of First Nations Fashion + Design, and House of Darwin, an Nt-based social enterprise.

What’s your dream for the future of the label? We hope we can develop a sustainable model to support more Indigenous employment and leadership within NORTH’S core team. We’d also love to facilitate more remote community projects. Personally, I’m looking forward to spending time in the gateway to Kakadu National Park to work on the Arnhem Land collection for 2021!

Where can we see more NORTH stuff? Online at northhome.org or on Instagram at @o_north_o.