Homewares and home furnishings retailer Adairs has just launched its new range with Indigenous artists Lauren Jarrett and Melissa Greenwood, aka Miimi and Jiinda.
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Following their sell-out collaboration last year, each piece of this collection reflects the mother and daughter's Indigenous heritage and personal stories, with distinctive new patterns weaving together traditional and contemporary colours and textures.
Their detailed artworks have been carefully translated onto beautiful organic cotton bedlinen, tassel cushions, home décor, kids' bedlinen and nursery items.
To mark their renewed partnership, Miimi and Jiinda have crafted pieces that tell visual stories about country and kin from the oldest surviving culture in the world.
In every piece the pair express deep love and appreciation for their culture and identity as First Nations women.
Each of the designs in the collection are inspired by the Gumbaynggirr land where Miimi and Jiinda live, considered to be some of the most picturesque areas in Australia.
One of the new bedlinen designs, "Jagun" (which means land and is pictured above right), features symbols of birthing caves, representing the Gumbaynggirr birthing caves on Country in New South Wales, where their female ancestors delivered their babies.
Miimi and Jiinda took time to share their thoughts about collaborating again with a major retailer and their personal favourites from this collection.
Did you have complete control over the design process?
When creating this range we worked with the amazing Adairs design team to create products we felt best expressed the essence and story of Miimi and Jiinda.
For this second collaboration it was exciting to work off customer feedback we received from the first one, as we decided on which original artworks to base the new collection. From there it enabled us to share our stories behind the artworks and the designs.
What do you have to consider when designing something so personal?
When creating the products for a mass market, we had to ensure the designs ran true to who we are and what we create, which was considered in every piece created.
We have always been big fans of Adairs personally and have enjoyed exploring ways to project our art into the broader homewares space.
As proud Gumbaynggirr custodians coming from a strong and resilient bloodline, we feel so proud about the range we have created with Adairs and we hope to inspire others to follow their dreams.
We also hope to inspire non-Indigenous people to get a thirst for knowledge and learn as much as they can about this countries rich and sacred 80,000-year history. This collaboration has given the chance for all Australians to gain a deeper respect for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders.
What is your favourite piece?
It is hard to pick just one favourite! But if we had to say one it would be the Jagun quilted bedlinen.
The colours in this piece are inspired by our ancestral homelands. It is the most beautiful country, made up of beautiful rivers, oceans, mountains, rainforest, creeks, trees, animals, and birdlife.
We also love the Adairs Kids floor cushion and the kids Jagun Mirlarrl sheet sets in blue.
The new Miimi and Jiinda for Adairs collection is available at Adairs stores and online at adairs.com.au.
For more information about Miimi and Jiinda, visit miimiandjiinda.com.