Client: Catholic Homes - Sister Mary Glowery Aged Care Facility

Overview

A collaborative commission between the Australian artist, Paula Hart and Dutch based Redfort Architectural Fabrics, with their product Lace Fence for the Catholic Homes – Sister Mary Glowery Aged Care Facility in Perth, Western Australia.

The custom lace patterned artworks with designs of birds and floral elements are created in SS304 Stainless Steel and powder coated in Interpon D2525. The artwork consists of 6 screens for the entry Port Cochere and a complimentary series of 8 panels integrated into the fencing and gates. The fencing and gate panels range from 2881mm x 1600mm, 2657mm x 1390mm and 2953mm x 1600mm totaling 87m2.

Just as lace in the Church is symbolic of the effort and care put into the worship of God, Lace Fence by comparison to industrial laser-cut or perforated metal, conveys a similar message. Lace Fence communicates positive, emotional connection through its intricately detailed, hand crafted materiality. Its gentle presence says “kindness”. Its craftsmanship says, “you are valued”. In the context of an aged care facility this message conveyed through craftsmanship is invaluable.

Goals

Paula wanted the opportunities for residents’ physical engagement with the artwork. Touching it. Examining the stitches. Creating a sense of connection through up close interactions. The gate project, complimenting the entry feature, seemed a perfect opportunity.

Paula followed a liturgical approach for the imagery with traditional peace doves and floral elements, but with a Western Australian twist. WA is recognised as having one of the most diverse and unique floras in the world. They are also obviously our flowers that we have connection to and hold meaning for us.

The Golden Wattle is our national floral emblem. The resilience of wattle represents the spirit of Australians and is used as a symbol of remembrance and reflection.

Eggs-And-Bacon is the common name for a beloved pea flower readily identifiable and endemic to the south-west botanical province of Western Australia.

The quintessential and iconic Perth coastal native Tuart trees are a defining presence and a significant ecosystem tree, providing habitat for numerous fauna species. The seed capsule has an extraordinary 7 year flower cycle.

Catholic Home’s symbol, the dove with the olive branch represents their core values of Hospitality, Joy and Love. Birds zipping through the flora brings life and movement.

Process

Designing the Lace Fence is complex. It’s not that the Lace Fence looks like lace - it actually is lace. While Lace Fence uses stainless steel wire, these stitches are the same as familiar stitches found in textiles lace using silk thread and bobbins.

When designing with Lace Fence, Paula uses a combination of custom designs and the Redfort Lace Pattern Collection. The Redfort Pattern Collection is made up of a series of traditional lace bobbin stitches. The Redfort Lace Pattern Collection also includes various motifs assembled from these stitches. The circular wattle flower is an adaptation of one of Redfort’s motifs. Then features such as the Tuart seed pods and pea flowers are completely custom made.

Paula and Joep have developed a great working relationship over their various projects. While Redfort collaborate with artists globally, Paula is the only Australian artist collaborating with Redfort Fabrics and creating these custom motifs. With each commission Paula gains more understanding of the ways to work with the traditional lace stitches and is constantly proposing new “what if we….” challenges.

Joep then takes care of the entire process of producing shop drawings, coordinating with the architect for support structure details, fabrication and international delivery.

Additional Information

And a little more about what Lace Fence is... Lace Fence is a high-end metal fabric invented by Dutch designer Joep Verhoeven and his design house Redfort Fabrics. It is made by a combination of industrial and manual processes by master craftsmen at the Redfort Production house in Bangalore, India. The decorations are made by hand and integrated into the machine-made mesh. Lace Fence has been designed as integrated architectural fabric, created in panels and attached to a modularised framing system. It is robust and durable, with low maintenance and “whole of life” costs integral to its success. Lace Fence is designed so that lengths, panels and patterns have bespoke solutions as suitable for the needs of each project. In addition, the panels are produced in a sustainable manner and Fair Trade materials are used. Lace Fence pieces are in various international collections, most notably the collection of the Centre Pompidou in Paris, and have been commissioned for architectural and public art projects globally. This is 21st century craftsmanship for architecture.