WORDS Michaela Stehr
Pierre Frey is known for fabrics and wallpapers with exquisite signature prints. The French company recently released two new fabric collections inspired by indigenous art and craft.
Designers are often influenced by their birthplace and travels. Frenchman Patrick Frey’s wife Lorraine, who lived in South Africa until the age of six, was inspired on a recent visit to the place of her youth. At a Johannesburg market she noticed women weaving baskets from reeds and other natural fibres, and this led to the creation of Pierre Frey’s Les Tribus print.
The Origines fabric collection was conceived during a visit to Australia. Strongly influenced by indigenous art, the designs reference spiritual, cultural and natural elements. The main theme is the concept of The Dreaming, which relates to a period before the origin of the universe as well as to ancestral beings. Indigenous Australians use art as a communication medium with their ancestors.
The 27 designs in the collection feature an earthy colour palette with red, blue and yellow accents to symbolise the elements of the sun, water and sky.
Pierre Frey fabrics are available at Mavromac showrooms in Johannesburg and Cape Town and at Walnut Interior Fabrics in Durban and Blumberg Interiors in Port Elizabeth.
