Maker of the Month - Edith Rewa

The lovely Edith Rewa is launching her new collection Field Trip at the end of this month. We are hosting the Melbourne launch party and we couldn't be more chuffed. You are invited to join us for a celebration drink here at Guild of Objects and be the first to see Edith's highly detailed Australian botanical illustrations jump of the page and on to her silk scarves.

Thursday 30 March | 5pm - 8pm

This month we interviewed Edith about her practice and her new collection.

Can you please tell us a little about yourself and your craft?

My name is Edith and I like plants!

I am a Textile designer and Illustrator, stirred by all things botanical and Australian.

I currently live in Blackheath in the Blue Mountains were I spend most of my days drawing natives, working on my label and doing client based freelance work. Bush walks, swims, bike rides and coffee intersperse work as well as trips to the big smoke or interstate to keep me sane from a solo work space!

How did you first get started as an illustrator and textile designer?

My first real love of illustrations and textiles started in high school where a warm and wonderful teacher introduced me to printmaking and more aptly, screen printing- the most satisfying process to combine the both. I stumbled across the Textile Design degree at RMIT almost by accident and have felt pretty lucky to be learning and fumbling my way into a career in it from there on! I started off in a commercial design studio in Sydney before migrating to full time freelance life in Blackheath in The Blue Mountains with a whole lot of drawing along the way.

Can you give us some insight into your creative process and where you draw inspiration from?

My inspiration is almost always centered around place. Landscape and observations and learnings of the flora and fauna within. Bush walks and travel keep my mind and drawing hand pretty darn excited. There is a reoccurring urge to share and showcase native specimens that might not otherwise be overly noticed or geographically possible in our day to day lives!

What does your studio look like?

It is usually always a bit of a muddle of piles of books, plants in varying states of decay, sprawled pens and half finished drawings. There will reliably be a pile of scribbled ‘To Do’ lists lying around, a cordial soda water and sweet treat. My studio is very much a working reflection of the project I am working on at the current time. I like to use my walls as giant mood board and gallery space to help me jot out ideas or keep my mind on track.

Any advice or words of wisdom for other makers out there?

I am going to cheat and share some words from John Olsen that stuck with me from his recent exhibition (You Beaut Country)…

‘’Stay with your dream and learn to play’’

We are really excited about your upcoming launch at Guild, can you tell us a bit about your new collection and how it came together?

I can’t wait to share it with you all! It has been a long one in the making as I have been travelling about Australia and drawing and learning about places and plants in between other work over last year.

Here is a little project snippet…

Field Trip exhibits a world I found to be alive and erupting with colour, pattern and incredible plant peculiarities. I learned about desert places previously unknown to me, excitedly illustrating my way into the landscape through the flora and fauna.

These designs push the Eremeophila neglectas into the spotlight, challenging the idea that ‘there is nothing out there’, wanting our arid land plants to be noticed and applauded. The silk scarves exhibit a landscape I explored in a series of trips into arid Australia. Fragments only, but I hope they take you there.