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When Laura Pike and Anne-Louise Dadak of Province showed the T&W team their new range of framed prints, we all fell in love. They visited again for our shoot, when our stylist Jessica Bellef hung the prints against a vibrant blue to show off their gorgeous colour and contemporary white frames. Just one of these digital prints will add a perfectly formed pop of pattern, and a collection will make a real impact. We chatted to Laura and Anne-Louise to find our more about their wide-ranging projects as well as their new range. We're thrilled to be featuring new, local talent - exclusive to Temple & Webster.

How did you two meet, and what led you to start Province?
We studied at the College of Fine Arts in Paddington. We discovered that we shared a mutual appreciation for multi-disciplinary practice, particularly the blurry space between art and design. Although we both had similar ideals and aesthetic leanings, we didn't become collaborators until a few years later when we were co-directors of The Paper Mill, an artist-run-space in Sydney. There we worked with the other directors curating and developing exhibitions and workshops for local Sydney artists. Between us we have covered a lot of ground - working as freelance graphic designers, scenic artists and design teachers. We decided we wanted to focus our skills and extend our creative relationship, forming Province in 2011. We have a shared interest in making work with meaning, that connects with our audience, working with our hands and creating design and art from traditional and often slow processes to create this connection.

What have been some of your favourite projects so far?
We enjoy working on projects that extend beyond traditional notions of design. Our most recent commission was to create the branding and visual identity for a new cafe in Erskineville called Fleetwood Macchiato. The project was really fun as it allowed us to explore letterpress techniques for the print material, and to extend their visual identity through the cafe with a bespoke mural for the interior wall.

 

Last year a big project we completed was a 13 metre mural on Enmore Road, commissioned by Marrickville council for the organic food co-op Alfalfa House. This was a really exciting job as we took the project from initial concept design all the way through to the final hand painted mural. Generally, projects where we get to use our hands and combine analogue techniques with digital media are the most satisfying, and it is especially gratifying when it is a project that contributes to the local environment and community.
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How does your creative process work?
We are very much a collaborative practice. We work together on every project, passing back and forwards right until the end. Recently we have completed an illustration series for a boutique coffee roaster and each illustration in the set contains work from both of us. It is really nice to be able to have another set of eyes to look at your work – they see things that you never see, and ultimately the work is of a higher standard.

What was your inspiration for the digital prints?
The range is inspired primarily by colour and pattern – these are the two recurring themes in all of our work. We love geometry as well as more organic forms, and are interested in the relationship between simple and complex patterns. The prints are designed to add colour and life to the home. We try and make work that connects with people, that feels good and that adds life to a space. The idea of escapism is also important in these prints. The series is named after cities around the world that we have visited or long to visit.