Blog
Updated 13 May 2021
We're not going to let the little matter of Dutch & New Zealand heritage stop us from claiming Sparkk as an Australian business. Edwin Rysenbry, pictured below with his wife Barbara, son Christian and daughter Saskia started Sparkk to explore the limits of digital printing. As well as creating and producing fabric to their own designs, they offer a custom colour & design service to both interior decorators and consumers.
What is your background, and how did you come to start Sparkk?
Three generations of our family have been involved in the furnishings industry over the past 60 years - my parents immigrated to New Zealand from the Netherlands after the Second World War and opened a curtain shop in Auckland. We started Mokum Textiles in Auckland in 1979 and in Sydney in 1985. When that business was sold in early 2011 we wanted to explore the creative possibilities of digital printing that a more established distribution business would have probably struggled with - and with two of our four children already involved in Sparkk it's looking promising!
Tell us more about your designs - what inspires you?
We're inspired by magazines, blogs, fashion trends, travel, history, nature - and more! Digital printing allows us to be very creative - we are free to experiment and try different things because we don't need to commit to finished stock. Saskia, the Creative Director for Sparkk, created the new designs in today's feature after being inspired by the dazzling architecture, colour and vibrant design she experienced on a trip to Uzbekistan last year.
How does the custom design/colour service work?
For custom colourways all we need are colour swatches - plus of course which colourway you'd like to work from. First up we'll send a digital sample and then if that looks OK a printed sample to check before placing an order (digital colour isn't sufficiently accurate). Our minimum order is 1.0 metre and we don't charge extra for the service.
For custom design we need a .tif image at the size to be printed. Most custom work is placement - we just repeat the image as many times as it is needed. If the image needs to be put into a repeating pattern or manipulated to get it print-ready, our studio will quote in advance of starting work. Visit the Sparkk web site for more information.
A conversation with Sparkk
We're not going to let the little matter of Dutch & New Zealand heritage stop us from claiming Sparkk as an Australian business. Edwin Rysenbry, pictured below with his wife Barbara, son Christian and daughter Saskia started Sparkk to explore the limits of digital printing. As well as creating and producing fabric to their own designs, they offer a custom colour & design service to both interior decorators and consumers.
What is your background, and how did you come to start Sparkk?
Three generations of our family have been involved in the furnishings industry over the past 60 years - my parents immigrated to New Zealand from the Netherlands after the Second World War and opened a curtain shop in Auckland. We started Mokum Textiles in Auckland in 1979 and in Sydney in 1985. When that business was sold in early 2011 we wanted to explore the creative possibilities of digital printing that a more established distribution business would have probably struggled with - and with two of our four children already involved in Sparkk it's looking promising!
Tell us more about your designs - what inspires you?
We're inspired by magazines, blogs, fashion trends, travel, history, nature - and more! Digital printing allows us to be very creative - we are free to experiment and try different things because we don't need to commit to finished stock. Saskia, the Creative Director for Sparkk, created the new designs in today's feature after being inspired by the dazzling architecture, colour and vibrant design she experienced on a trip to Uzbekistan last year.
How does the custom design/colour service work?
For custom colourways all we need are colour swatches - plus of course which colourway you'd like to work from. First up we'll send a digital sample and then if that looks OK a printed sample to check before placing an order (digital colour isn't sufficiently accurate). Our minimum order is 1.0 metre and we don't charge extra for the service.
For custom design we need a .tif image at the size to be printed. Most custom work is placement - we just repeat the image as many times as it is needed. If the image needs to be put into a repeating pattern or manipulated to get it print-ready, our studio will quote in advance of starting work. Visit the Sparkk web site for more information.
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Head Office (No Showroom)
2/1-7 Unwins Bridge Rd, St Peters,
NSW 2044, Australia
Your customer reference #:
01-X-CSN
