The Perth Interior Designer Bringing Aboriginal Culture Into Contemporary Design
Fabrics by Fineseat | Artwork by Buffie Corunna in collaboration with Leah Paige Designs
Total truth time. I have no acknowledgement of Country of my website. I haven’t updated my Instagram profile with a locational reference to the cultural lands I am based and I sometimes don’t even know if I should be using the word Aboriginal or indigenous!
Does this sound like you too?
You may be asking yourself why a business such as mine isn’t more at the forefront of cultural understanding or why I am not making a greater effort to publicly encourage more of you to do so - and my response to that is really simple. I don’t feel I understand enough yet to do it.
Acknowledgement of Country, is a way to acknowledge and pay respect to First Nations peoples as the Traditional Owners and ongoing custodians of the land, and I feel there is a lot you need to understand before using it. Here are some phenominal resources to assist from Common Ground.
I’m doing some learning and research before I make my acknowledgement as I want it to mean something more than just a popular trend by which to jump on board to boost your social standing; however this article starts with exactly that kind of possible pre-judgement.
Leah Paige Designs, headed by a red-headed fair skinned Perth interior designer Leah Bennet, recently ‘came out’ as Aboriginal and launched her first commercial piece of furniture, ‘The Sevens’ - based on the aboriginal boomerang of the same shape.
Let’s talk bravery right there!
AN INTRODUCTION
Leah Bennet is a Wudjari Noongar woman with family ties to the Ravensthorpe region but if you were to judge by looks alone there is no way you would entertain this as true.
Finding out at around the age of 12 when her grandfather was passing that she has significant family blood lines to our nations First people; it wasn’t until later that Leah made the decision to inform herself properly about what this all meant (as was with many discoveries of cultural ties, the historical information is often not passed down through families due to societal taboo) and turn that disconnection, into knowledge seeking and knowledge seeking into contemporary design.
This doesn’t come without a proportion risk.
For that Leah, you have my utmost respect!
Luckily, the feedback has been everything to the contrary. Many seeing this niche as a total blessing.
It was after attending her official launch, that I sat for a moment and realised, I couldn’t really remember anything about what Leah did before this point?
Whilst I felt a little guilty for that, it was obvious that she has found ‘her real place’ (and real family) in the scheme of a very same industry. This is someone who is trusting their vision and who we all actually need to keep going!
WHAT IS ‘THE SEVENS’?
The Sevens is a sofa design based on the aboriginal boomerang of the same shape. It’s not the standard one we all know today, and cleverly, with modular configurations at it’s core, it can change into around 12 different versions of itself.
Above are some of the fabrics ‘The Sevens’ sofa. The piece is produced by Business Interiors and has been specifically designed with commercial spaces in mind such as hotels, universities, art galleries and more. Can I see this piece slotting easily into a transitional space? Absolutely! And do I see it holding far more purpose than just a piece to sit on? Without a doubt!
It’s a talking point.
It represents an opportunity to educate, share, embrace and enlighten.
We are so frustratingly vague when it comes to this culture. If it isn’t dominated with red, white and yellow dots is it even Aboriginal?
In my mind, incorporating Aboriginal design is the future of Australian design.
The Sevens, has the ability to connect the wider community through thoughtful and stylish means because it defies the generic ‘tourist’ version of this culture; digging far deeper into country, past and into future. It’s all encompassing. I’m starting to realise that now.
WHAT’S TO COME?
This first piece really is just a taste of what we can expect in the future from Leah.
With demand for residential pieces on the rise, there is talk of a collaboration with Chrissy Couture Interiors on a range of ottomans, plus Leah will be launching her own range of homewares to follow.
I love this philosophy of creating modern, contemporary spaces centred around culture, that draws inspiration from site specific stories or histories, local dreamings or art pieces and it’s one I feel very fortunate share.
FOR THE INTERIOR DESIGNERS
During the Q+A session, we were able to ask Leah anything, and it occurred to me that this was an ideal opportunity for the industry to start gaining some much needed knowledge when it comes to cultural inclusion in the spaces and concepts being put forward to their clients.
It was obvious from listening to Leah talk about the significance of her culture that this needed to take place in the earliest instance, rather than being a token after thought nearing the end or worse, without any emotional context.
My question to Leah was “Would you consider hosting educational sessions for other designers around how they can better understand and incorporate indigenous designs into their work?”
You’ll have to wait and find out if she rolls that service out. Here’s hoping though.
Leah pictured above with Perth artist, creative and her colloborator and Noongar Yorga woman Buffie Corunna. Buffie’s designs are also pictured here by Fineseat
THE REALITY
The biggest elephant in the room for me during the launch night, was that I felt a little robbed of real education around the world’s oldest civilisation.
In primary school I think I remember more about Willie the olympic mascot than I ever learnt about the true history that encompasses this land.
I know more about Captain Cook yet have a foggy set of foot notes occupying my memory that hugely downplay the treatment of these people - the genocide, the colonisation, the discrimination, made out to be a mere blip on the back of massive British victory (invasion).
And I’m not the only one.
LEARN : Know Your Country recently posted on Instagram that 68% of Australian’s wish they had better education around First Nation’s people, culture and histories.
By taking a look at this website, you’ll also have the ability to sign a petition that campaigns for ALL primary school kids to have access to the wisdom of First Nations Cultural Educators.
Please leave a comment below and let us know how you went.
For any of you interested in furthering your understanding and appreciation around indigenous design I highly encourage you to follow Leah’s journey and get in touch.
Here in Perth, Western Australia, Boorloo, we I feel we are extremely fortunate to have an interior designer at the forefront of bringing contemporary designs with such historical depth to life for us to appreciate and so much more along the way.
Deb xx
