Behind the Object: Walker & Bing x Dilana Fez Collection

ArchitectureNow (ANow): How did your design partnership come about?

Nikki Walker (W&B): Darya comes from a Wonderful Arts background and has labored for the final 20 or so years in promoting and styling and I went again to school as an grownup scholar, finishing a textile design diploma in 2017. I’ve a background of 25 or so years as a producer in tv commercials and movie, which is how Darya and I first met. I used to be the producer on a challenge and Darya was the stylist.

We did a number of jobs collectively and we turned associates. We might continuously say to one another, “We must always do one thing collectively”, and out of these conversations got here Walker & Bing, primarily designing and producing silk scarves and sarongs.

Our partnership is kind of distinctive on the subject of how we work. We create 95 per cent of the artworks in some type of analogue vogue, utilizing acrylics, oils, inks, from pencil drawings to watercolours and all the things in between. I almost at all times embody a component of flora, fauna or geographical reference in my work and Darya’s artwork typically consists of summary parts and themes. 

Typically an overarching theme for a set will probably be current from the outset and inform our art work. At different occasions, we’ll come collectively and share our work and it seems we’ve been engaged on an identical theme, impartial of one another, virtually at all times with an underlying narrative — typically regarding our ancestry. Both method, we then comb by the work, selecting full items or parts, after which we play with the colourways and  composition, typically spending hours between Adobe Fresco, PS and Illustrator, experimenting with composition and scale. 

We’ve found that scale and compositional framing is without doubt one of the most constant hallmarks of our remaining works. We discover countless choices on scale by the method and we by no means fail to seek out a number of framings that we love. We then have to spend time deciding which choices we should always go along with — it’s so exhausting leaving a few of them behind! 

With our Dilana assortment, we’re each keen about New Zealand wool and notably excited by discovering scalable makes use of for coarse wool. The ultimate assortment of my textile design diploma was centered on utilizing New Zealand wool and I used to be awarded a silver award within the Finest Awards for a wool bag I designed utilizing New Zealand coarse wool. However if you depart college, it’s troublesome to seek out methods to entry the sources, each bodily and affordably. So, when the chance got here alongside to collaborate with Dilana and work with them utilizing New Zealand wool, we completely jumped on the likelihood.

ANow: How did this collaboration come about? Particularly, the concept of merging Walker & Bing’s narrative-driven artistry with Dilana’s experience in textile design.

Darya Bing (W&B): We’d been on the lookout for a associate to work with on a rug assortment for a while after which we got here throughout Dilana’s work with some wonderful New Zealand artists. Regardless of not having the profile of a few of their artists, we approached Dilana and, happily, they favored our work. And right here we are.

This collaboration was a pure evolution of each our organisations’ shared values and mutual admiration. We’re drawn to Dilana’s distinctive craftsmanship and dedication to working with artists in a method that respects each inventive imaginative and prescient and materials integrity. So when the chance arose, it felt like the right alignment — our work is deeply rooted in storytelling, identification and heritage, and Dilana has an extended historical past of translating artwork into textiles that honour these narratives. The inventive course of began with conversations about themes, strategies, color and supplies, and, from there, we labored carefully with Dilana to refine our art work into textile designs that will translate into this stunning assortment, which we’re extremely proud of.

ANow: The gathering options intricate hand-knotted and hand-tufted rugs, all crafted utilizing New Zealand wool. How did you navigate the challenges of adapting positive artwork into textile type?

Nikki Walker (W&B): New Zealand wool is an unbelievable materials to work with. It’s each luxurious and sturdy, with a pure capacity to carry dye fantastically. The method began with deciding on key artworks that greatest mirrored the themes of the assortment. 

Scale and composition got here into play right here in an enormous method. We did a number of iterations of assorted artworks, cropping them and producing so many colourways, which is one among our favorite issues to discover but in addition makes for a time-consuming elimination course of. 

As soon as the items had been chosen, we collaborated with Dilana to refine color palettes and compositions, contemplating how every design would translate right into a three-dimensional, tactile type. One of many greatest challenges was making certain that the spontaneity and vitality of our brushstrokes and ink work, and in addition our chosen colors, weren’t misplaced within the transition.

Dilana’s expertise, relationship with the artisans bodily making the rugs and their mixed recommendation meant that we had been in a position to make use of a mixture of hand-knotting and hand-tufting to supply the rugs, which has maintained the depth of color, tactility and motion we had been after. We weren’t capable of journey to view the rugs being made however Dilana despatched us pictures and we trusted Hugh (Bannerman) and Sudi (Dargipour) from Dilana by way of each the ultimate consequence and the colors, and the outcomes are fantastic. Unwrapping the rugs after they arrived actually was like Christmas.

ANow: Are you able to share a selected design or motif from the gathering that holds specific significance and the story behind it?

Darya Bing (W&B): We come from markedly completely different backgrounds — Moroccan, Irish and Māori — however, inside these cultures, we’ve discovered that every of our practices has a way of familiarity, every to the opposite. Collectively, we like storytelling, and historical past and ancestral narratives appear to be inherent in what we produce.

The Fez assortment started as a sequence of typically full artworks and, different occasions, easy ink marks impressed by Mount Taranaki and the Atlas mountains of Morocco. It’s in regards to the motion of individuals between lands, migration and belonging that each side of our households have skilled however, in fact, in fairly alternative ways and occasions by historical past.

We checked out reframing, cropping, scaling and composition of the completely different artworks — which was fairly an train in scale — to think about how the work may look on a rug versus a shawl or sarong, for instance. 

The Aroha is a design impressed by conventional weaving patterns and motifs of migration and motion. It displays the concept of belonging — how tales, symbols and traditions are carried throughout generations and landscapes. The interwoven traces and layered textures within the rug mirror the best way identities are shaped over time, formed by each historical past and private expertise. The Aroha is the one rug within the assortment created utilizing a mixture of hand-knotting strategies in silk, bamboo and wool to create a really dimensional impact, bringing the narrative to life in a visible and tactile method. The Aroha is a bit just like the ‘mom rug’ if you’ll — the one from which the remainder of the gathering flows.

ANow: How does this assortment contribute to preserving conventional craftsmanship whereas additionally embracing modern design sensibilities?

Nikki Walker (W&B): One of the essential elements of this collaboration is using hand-crafted strategies which have been handed down by generations. By working with Dilana’s artisans, we’re making certain that these time-honoured abilities proceed to thrive in a recent context. 

On the identical time, we’re additionally bringing a recent perspective by infusing these conventional strategies with fashionable storytelling and design.

Sustainability can be a key a part of our philosophy – utilizing New Zealand wool not solely helps native business but in addition ensures that every piece is comprised of a renewable, biodegradable materials. This assortment is about honouring the previous whereas creating one thing that feels related and significant for at present’s world.

Go to the Walker & Bing web site right here.

See extra from the Behind the Object sequence right here.