Vita Cochran

Australian Design Centre plays a critical role in celebrating the work of Australian artists who embrace the highest degree of skill and who continually explore material, process and ideas to advance contemporary craft and design practice.

Object Space is a window gallery located in the window of the Australian Design Centre HQ on William Street in Darlinghurst. The exhibition space has direct street frontage, is accessible to view 24 hours a day and is lit for viewing at night.

5 April - 23 May 2018

On display 5 April - 23 May, is the exhibition En Vitrine (In the Front Window) by textile artist, Vita Cochran.

Vita Cochran is a textile artist with a particular interest in early 20th-century women modernists and the way that the decorative arts and abstract painting informed each other. Artists such as Sonia Delaunay and Sophie Taeuber-Arp applied their distinctive visual languages to painting and also embroidery, furnishings and fashion, which they considered of equal value.

The exhibition Vita has made for Object Space was conceived as a homage to a fascinating and forward-looking window display created by Sonia Delaunay for the 1925 Exposition Internationale des Arts Decoratifs in Paris. Delaunay’s window showcased boldly embroidered handbags, draped patterned scarves and a wonderful screen of contrasting geometric patterns. Diana Vreeland described it as “a one woman campaign of irresistible visual exuberance”.

Vita’s hand-embroidered handbags and applique hangings embrace bold colour and geometry. These works seek a position somewhere between utility, fashion and art, and the fabric hangings behind them could be draped on a body, a piece of furniture, or hung on a wall.

Work on display:
Stairway Bag, 2018
Wool embroidery and applique on linen

Scalene Bag, 2018
Wool embroidery on linen

Envelope Clutch, 2018
Wool embroidery on linen

Zigzaguer, 2018
Wool with wool applique

Bloq, 2018
Linen with wool applique and embroidery

Bande, 2018
Wool with wool applique

Find out more about Vita Cochran's textile practice and inspiration by reading a Q&A with CEO and Artistic Director Lisa Cahill here. 

Top Image: Vita Cochran, Envelope Clutch, 2018.  Photo: Vita Cochran
Bottom Image: Vita Cochran, New Times Call for New Visions, 2018. Photo: Vita Cochran