Sydney-based textiles company Sparkk has teamed up with local brand Shibori to produce a range of indigo cushions and fabrics.
The Shibori collection features traditional Japanese shibori dying techniques, which is a more structured and planned form of tie-dye. According to Sparkk co-founder Edwin Rysenbry, supporting emerging and established textile designers is something the company is passionate about.
“We work and collaborate with many talented artists and designers and the connection and partnership with Shibori was instant,” he says. “There is something about their craft that is unique and unlike anything else we have.
“Pepa Martin and Karen Davis, founders of Shibori, are renowned for pushing boundaries and offering something different… Already we have had an overwhelming response to this collection.”
Sparkk was founded by husband and wife team Edwin and Barbara, and is a family affair with a long history in the textiles business, beginning with a curtain shop opened by Edwin’s father in Auckland in the 1950s. The tradition continued with Mokum textiles, which opened in Auckland and Sydney in 1979 and 1895 respectively. The family sold Mokum in early 2011 and moved on to the next adventure, Sparkk.
Initially, Sparkk produced textiles for the wholesale market, allowing customers to design their own fabric using different patterns and colour ways that was then digitally printed on demand. Seeing a market, the Rysenbry’s then decided to launch a retail cushion site, making soft furnishings from their popular fabrics.
Along with the Shibori range, the brand regularly collaborates with other artists for designer collections, and has a partnership with the Victoria and Albert museum (V&A) in London to produce cushions using heritage prints from the museum’s archives.
“It’s a huge privilege and an interiors benchmark to be working alongside the V&A,” says Rysenbry.
Sparkk will be launching several new products at Life Instyle Melbourne this August.
