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Saturday, April 24, 2010

Signature Prints Tour + Sale

It is no secret that I love wallpaper and I have mentioned Signature Prints and their Florence Broadhurst designs in the past but I simply must share with you my latest visit there. This time I was armed with a stack of questions for an assignment I am working on and my camera which I didn't have with me the last time I visited.


Entrance to Signature Prints


The staff were very friendly and generous with their time. I was taken on another, more detailed tour of the factory, given some insight into their printing process and a bit of background on the company. These are some of the photos I took of the factory as well as a few photos provided by Signature Prints (thank you!)

Ikeda design being printed onto fabric



The designs are printed in alternating strips to allow the last print to dry before going over it again.


The wallpaper sheets are fixed to the table with masking tape so that there is no movement during printing. The printing is all done by hand.



Fingers design



I loved these overlapping designs. Some customers have even asked if they can purchase a piece of it!

The environmentally friendly, water-based inks are collected and reused.



Only 70 designs are currently in production with 530 designs in the archives. The design library was created from 1959 - 1977. The designs in production have been restored and framed in aluminium frames for durability.




Thank you to Helen Lennie and the team at Signature Prints for your time. It was fun!




Melbourne readers I have some news to share with you! Signature Prints will be visiting this coming Thursday - Saturday (29 April - 2 May) and holding a floor stock sale with discounts and some new products on sale too.

9am – 6pm Thursday 29th & Friday 30th April,
Saturday 1st & Sunday 2nd May 2010
Shop 12, 69 Merchant Street, Victoria Harbour, Docklands
For enquiries phone: 02 8338 8400

Enjoy and I hope you liked this little tour.

(Images me unless otherwise stated)

19 comments:

  1. Wow. Is everything hand printed? It looks really amazing! The Ikeda design looks really pretty.

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  2. Wow Viv. Thank you so much for sharing the pictures of your little adventure! I'm trying to be a screenprinter myself, and the whole space and their beautiful designs just have me drooling over my laptop :)

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  3. Viv, I am so jealous that you got a factory tour. I love the Signature Prints store. Wouldn't it be great to see what else is in those archives :)

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  4. Fascinating, Viv! What an awesome experience. Thanks for sharing the photos.

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  5. Amazing! And they're coming to Melbourne next week! Viv, I think you just made my day.

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  6. Melinda - I can only imagine what gems must be lurking in there.

    I was told during my visit that there may be more designs out there too. People have visited Signature Prints after ripping down old wallpaper only to find a Broadhurst wallpaper design underneath. I find it amazing how many designs were created during her career.

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  7. i'd always thought their wallpaper was very expensive but when you see how it is produced by hand then one can start to appreciate the price...

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  8. they do a good sale - i lurk around their online store pretty frequently!

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  9. This post has made my day! I've read "Florence Broadhurst, her secret and extraordinary lives" book and was inspired by so many of her designs and amazed that many of them are still contemporary and beautiful today. I am very thankful to the lovely people at Signature Prints for restoring and reproducing these wallpapers. I'd love to forage through the old archives. These wallpapers are truly a treasure of Australia's design history. Thanks for your wonderful insight into their factory.

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  10. I've always wanted to go on a Factory tour of Signature Prints - how exciting!! I love Florence Broadhurst designs a little too much, so it's lucky for my bank account I'm not in Melbourne ;)

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  11. this was really interesting, thank you so much for sharing :)

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  12. Have you seen the amazing Florence Broadhurst Rugs?
    http://www.florencerugs.com.au
    Absoulutly stunning stuff.

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  13. love the screen printing and would love to try something on a grand scale. did a little back in high school and it was a blast

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  14. AWESOME photots!! I LOVE screen printing and I can't believe how many SCREENS they have!

    xox

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  15. oh wow. this is such a superfun post. i love the colors and patterns and everything about it. :)
    hope you had a great weekend. xo

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  16. Thank you for this post, it's wonderful and so interesting. I would love to visit a factory and explore the making process myself. Well done!

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  17. Great tour, Viv! I think a visit will be on my must-do list next time I'm in Sydney, it must be such a fascinating place to see in action.

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  18. love, love, love Florence Broadhurst designs...toooo gorgeous!

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Thank you so much for taking the time to leave me a comment, Viv xx

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