Abstract
In 1959, Sydney based textile designer Florence Broadhurst emerged on the design scene with a collection of prints inspired by Japanese motifs; Art Nouveau and Deco swirls, abstract weaves and traditional tapestry designs. Setting up her studio in the heart of avant-garde Paddington with a team of young designers and screen printers at her side, Florence Broadhurst, also known as ‘Madame Pellier’, began creating her lavish, bold coloured designs. These eclectic prints were extensively utilised for wallpaper and interior furnishings and introduced the Australian post war consumer to vibrant geometric patterns and valiant colour plans. If one examines the cultural debates around textile design and cultural appropriation, one is faced with a choice: either to accept the concept that appropriation belongs to a series of mechanisms that include the assimilation and incorporation of Other materials or ‘signs’ into ones own culture to enlarge, re-inforce or exoticise, or to conclude that the raison d'etre of the designer is that of aesthetic and social commentary. Through investigation and debate, this paper will explore the design and cultural influences of Florence Broadhurst and the Broadhurst Print Collection, and question the issues around cultural appropriation, or ‘borrowed inspiration’. It will reflect on the boundaries between representational and non-representational, abstract and figurative design that echo a kaleidoscopic mix of traditional practices and new inventions that ultimately sway in the murky waters of artistic licence, cultural transmission and power relations. This paper will also consider the multiple ways in which Florence Broadhurst consumed and rearticulated her own political agenda’s dominant signs; from the discourses of art, history, Orientalism and fashion in general. By examining the diverse interplay between the complex processes of the appropriation, consumption and production of Broadhurst’s designs, the aim of this paper is to examine and question the ambivalent nature of textiles and its production of meaning in cultural life.
Keywords
cultural identity, design and culture, cultural hybridization, artifact/textiles, critical thinking, art and design
Citation
Karaminas, V., and Clifton-Cunningham, A. (2006) Wallpaper Tiger: The Florence Broadhurst Collection and the Questions of Cultural Appropriation in Design., in Friedman, K., Love, T., Côrte-Real, E. and Rust, C. (eds.), Wonderground - DRS International Conference 2006, 1-4 November, Lisbon, Portugal. https://dl.designresearchsociety.org/drs-conference-papers/drs2006/researchpapers/83
Wallpaper Tiger: The Florence Broadhurst Collection and the Questions of Cultural Appropriation in Design.
In 1959, Sydney based textile designer Florence Broadhurst emerged on the design scene with a collection of prints inspired by Japanese motifs; Art Nouveau and Deco swirls, abstract weaves and traditional tapestry designs. Setting up her studio in the heart of avant-garde Paddington with a team of young designers and screen printers at her side, Florence Broadhurst, also known as ‘Madame Pellier’, began creating her lavish, bold coloured designs. These eclectic prints were extensively utilised for wallpaper and interior furnishings and introduced the Australian post war consumer to vibrant geometric patterns and valiant colour plans. If one examines the cultural debates around textile design and cultural appropriation, one is faced with a choice: either to accept the concept that appropriation belongs to a series of mechanisms that include the assimilation and incorporation of Other materials or ‘signs’ into ones own culture to enlarge, re-inforce or exoticise, or to conclude that the raison d'etre of the designer is that of aesthetic and social commentary. Through investigation and debate, this paper will explore the design and cultural influences of Florence Broadhurst and the Broadhurst Print Collection, and question the issues around cultural appropriation, or ‘borrowed inspiration’. It will reflect on the boundaries between representational and non-representational, abstract and figurative design that echo a kaleidoscopic mix of traditional practices and new inventions that ultimately sway in the murky waters of artistic licence, cultural transmission and power relations. This paper will also consider the multiple ways in which Florence Broadhurst consumed and rearticulated her own political agenda’s dominant signs; from the discourses of art, history, Orientalism and fashion in general. By examining the diverse interplay between the complex processes of the appropriation, consumption and production of Broadhurst’s designs, the aim of this paper is to examine and question the ambivalent nature of textiles and its production of meaning in cultural life.