The Australian Tapestry Workshop is regarded as a world centre for one of Western civilisation's oldest and richest art forms.
Based in South Melbourne, the Workshop is one of only a small number of organisations in the world and boasts an international reputation for the freshness, vitality and technical excellence of its hand-woven tapestries.
Over 400 contemporary tapestries have been created since it was established in 1976.
Unique in its philosophy of an integrated approach to creating artworks, in which artists and weavers collaborate as equals, the Workshop's emphasis on working with living artists has led to many significant collaborations including Arthur Boyd, Jon Cattapan, David Noonan, John Olsen, Jorn Utzon, Susan Norrie, Emily Kngwarray and Angela Brennan as well as an extensive range of international artists.
Every year about 10 million people see a tapestry created by the Workshop. They hang in a range of public buildings and private collections around the world hotel lobbies, boardrooms, chapels, schools and hospitals, the foyers of performing arts centres and gallery complexes, in Australia's Houses of Parliament and selected embassies and high commissions around the world.
A tapestry is never simply an imitation of an artwork in another medium. Fine artists in their own right, the weavers blend the old and the new. Working by hand in the traditional 14th Century Gobelin style but with modern looms, they translate and interpret using specially spun Australian wool dyed in-house with a palette of 366 colours to create entirely new contemporary artworks.
Due to the Workshop's efforts and achievements over the past 34 years, tapestry is now highly regarded by artists and collectors alike as a stand-alone contemporary art form and an important artistic tradition in today's modern times.
