On the loom at the Australian Tapestry Workshop: ‘22 Temenggong Road, Twilight’ 2018, Justin Hill. Photograph: Jeremy Weihrauch.
The Australian Tapestry Workshop (ATW)
Since 1976, the Australian Tapestry Workshop (ATW) has built a global reputation for creating contemporary tapestries in collaboration with living artists and architects. Over 47 years the ATW has woven more than 500 tapestries for significant public and private collections nationally and internationally.
The ATW is unique to Australia, and one of only a few workshops in the world dedicated to hand- weaving contemporary tapestries. The ATW’s tapestry weavers experiment with interpretation, colour and technique to realise a design into a tapestry form. The outcome being one of innovation and technical accomplishment – these hallmarks have established the ATW’s reputation as a centre of tapestry excellence.
ATW tapestries can be found in many public and private collections across Australia and around the world. They feature at leading national cultural institutions such as; National Gallery of Australia, the National Portrait Gallery and National Library (Canberra), Sydney Opera House, Melbourne Recital Centra, Arts Centre Melbourne and the National Gallery of Victoria (Melbourne), and the Queensland Gallery of Modern Art (Brisbane). Prominent government buildings, including Parliament House, Australian War Memorial (Canberra) and the Sir John Monash Centre (Villers-Bretonneux, France), feature significant tapestries. Overseas they are on display at Sir John Monash Centre Villers- Bretonneux (France), Esplanade Theatres on the Bay (Singapore), Aotea Centre (Auckland), National Centre for the Performing Arts (Bombay), Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Singapore), Nanjing Library (China) as well as at nine Australian embassies.
How Tapestries are Woven
Each ATW tapestry is hand-woven by a team of specialist weavers using the traditional Gobelin technique, by which an image forms by tightly packing layers of weft (horizontal threads) over warps (vertical thread). ATW wefts consist of multiple strands of wool or cotton of varying colour; this allows the weavers to deftly control hue and tone.
The weavers use the ATW’s extraordinary base range of over 368 yarns all specially formulated and dyed on-site in the Colour Laboratory. All ATW tapestries are made from high-quality Australian wool, grown using environmentally sustainable and humane animal practices.
On the commencement of a tapestry, the ATW weavers will create a series of explorative tapestry samples. During this crucial development phase, the weaving team will work with the designer to discuss colour, materiality and detail before weaving. The final placement of a tapestry also plays a vital role in interpreting a design as it will significantly influence the function of distance, light and sound in the space. With care, tapestries maintain their richness and warmth, long outlasting many other art forms.