Textile length

Maker & role
Dora Sweetapple (b.1899, d.1987), Designer; Gilkes and Co. (estab. 1905, closed 1948), Printer; Marion Best Fabrics (estab. 1940, closed 1946), Manufacturer
 Production date
circa 1941
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Object detail

Title
Hibiscus
Production place
Sydney/NSW/Australia
Collection
Caroline Simpson Library & Research Collection
Measurements
1 - Textile length, bolt, L: 19 x W: 45.5 x D: 4cm (L: 190 x W: 455 x D: 40mm); 2 - Textile length, L: 280 x W: 87.5cm (L: 2800 x W: 875mm)
Credit line
Gift, through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program, by Mrs Rosslyn Sweetapple, 1993
Caroline Simpson Library & Research Collection, Museums of History New South Wales
Caption
'Hibiscus' textile length, design by Dora Sweetapple for Marion Best Fabrics, Sydney, c1941
Description
This textile has been screen printed with a pattern designed by Dora Sweetapple for Marion Best Fabrics, Sydney. Marion Best Fabrics, established around 1940, was the first example in Australia of a group of artists being commissioned to design textiles. The venture was the brainchild of Sydney interior designer Marion Hall Best (1905–1988). During the 1940s, Best registered with the Australian government (under the Designs Act) 17 unique designs for textiles by at least nine different artists inlcuding her sister, Dora Sweetapple. The designs were screen-printed in small print runs, which allowed Best and her designers to specify the exact colours required and then the fabrics were used to furnish Best’s interior design schemes and sold in her shop in Queen Street Woollahra.

Marion Best Fabrics first appeared in two Marion Best-designed display rooms for 'An Englishman's Home 1700–1941', a Red Cross fundraising exhibition held at the David Jones department store in May 1941. Curtains with a design by Thea Proctor appeared in the 'Classic Modern Room', while the 'Young Modern Room' included curtains made from a design by Dora Sweetapple.
Accession number
L93/53-1:2

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