No strangers to the textile world, Sydney’s Sparkk have just begun an exciting new adventure.
Known for designing and digitally printing textiles and wallpaper for both the trade and the public, their latest venture Sparkk Shop, is a retail website where they sell their designs as ready-made cushions. Curated from their best-selling textiles and the designs that they themselves love the most, all of the designs for Sparkk Shop’s first collection come from their design library. Yet with hundreds of patterns and colours on offer, creating an appropriate sized collection was no easy feat.
“I had many an agonising hour trying to whittle down the hundreds of our favourites,” says studio manager Olivia Rysenbry. “I suppose that is a testament to how much we love our designs! We will be adding cushions to the site every few months, focusing on new trends and new design collections that Sparkk releases, so I suppose we will go through this process a lot more!”
Owned by the Rysenbry family, they have been well known figures in the textiles industry for over 60 years. Recognised for their focus on sustainability, they believe that the existing model of the textiles industry is dated and should be discontinued.
“In a world that is increasingly conscious of the impact we have on our environment, the concept of purchasing and milling thousands of metres of fabric for every collection you do and having it sit on shelves in warehouses or worse thrown out, doesn’t sit well,” explains Olivia. “From its inception, Sparkk’s aim has always been to operate sustainably wherever possible. Offering one-metre minimums and printing each order on demand means we have no wastage and our offcuts are recycled.”
While the Spark Shop sells only cushions for now, plans are already in motion for expanding into a variety of different homewares.“The beauty of digital printing is that there are so many options available,” says Olivia. “Being able to print on demand means we can tinker and trial without having to commit to stocking mass quantities of products we are unsure will sell. Personally, I am obsessed with the prospect of tiles! How incredible would Sparkk designs look on bathroom walls?”
True that.
From $65 to $85, covers only. Shop online.
