There seems to be no end to Catherine Martin’s creativity. The Australian star has won four Academy Awards and a Tony for her costume and production designs, created a menswear range for Brooks Brothers, supplied the vision for the Faena Hotel Miami Beach and turned her hand to homeware collections. Her latest creation is her third fabric range for Mokum Textiles, entitled 'Paradiso'.
'I spent a lot of time in Miami when I was working on the Faena Hotel project,' says Martin speaking from New York, where she’s working with husband Baz Luhrmann on a forthcoming Netflix series, The Get Down. 'The glamorous 1950s vibe of Miami, as well as huge amounts of research into the 1940s hotel scene there, really led me to a couple of motifs that were very popular in that time period,' she explains.
Those motifs are flamingoes and the sun. They’re joined by a third design, a coral pattern. All are available in a number of colours, and are suitable for both indoor and outdoor use.
This type of design work gives Martin the opportunity to express her own ideas. 'When you work on a story in movie-making or opera or musical theatre, your inspiration always needs to be the essential story – and helping the director and actors tell that story,' she explains. 'When I design fabrics there is discipline involved and you have to think about the material and the world in which you're working. Designing fabric allows an enormous amount of creative freedom so it’s lots of fun.'
And her perfect piece of furniture for the range? An Eames rocker in white, finished with Helios fabric in yellow. 'I can only imagine that for a Saturday afternoon on a sunny spot on your porch, reading a good book and drinking a glass of wine, there couldn't be anything better.'
The Australian star has also bagged a Tony for her costume and production designs, as well as creating a menswear range for Brooks Brothers
The colour and exuberance of Miami’s 1950s hotel scene inspired Martin’s new collection
Martin’s designs feature flamingoes and the sun. They’re joined by a third design, a coral pattern, and all are suitable for both indoor and outdoor use
Martin loves working on fabric and textile design projects, as they offer her the luxury of creative freedom not always afforded by designing for film or TV.
INFORMATION
For more information, visit Mokum’s website
-
Fendi’s latest Design Miami showcase collaboration brims with curiosity and intrigueFendi’s latest Design Miami showcase is a collaboration with curiosity-provoking furniture designer Lewis Kemmenoe
-
Claridge’s welcomes ultra-chic new suites by Bryan O’Sullivan StudioThe newly inaugurated Brook Suites at Claridge’s, are uplifting, tactile and in touch with the revered London hotel’s timelessness
-
Mexico's long-lived football club Atlas FC unveils its new groundsSordo Madaleno designs a new home for Atlas FC; welcome to Academia Atlas, including six professional football fields, clubhouses, applied sport science facilities and administrative offices
-
California cool: Studio Shamshiri debuts handmade door handles and pullsLos Angeles interior design firm Studio Shamshiri channels the spirit of the Californian landscape into its handcrafted hardware collections. Founder Pamela Shamshiri shares the inspiration behind the designs
-
Is Emeco's 'No Foam KNIT' a sustainable answer to synthetic upholstery textiles?'Make more with less' is Emeco's guiding light. Now, the US furniture maker's new mono-material textile, the 'No Foam KNIT', may offer a sustainable solution to upholstery materials
-
Smooth operator: Willett debuts new furniture at Design Miami 2024, with a playful touch of retro allureLA furniture designer Willett turned heads in the design world with the launch of his eponymous brand earlier this year. Ahead of his Design Miami debut, he told us what’s in store for 2025
-
Hella Jongerius’ ‘Angry Animals’ take a humorous and poignant bite out of the climate crisisAt Salon 94 Design in New York, Hella Jongerius presents animal ceramics, ‘Bead Tables’ and experimental ‘Textile Studies’ – three series that challenge traditional ideas about function, craft, and narrative
-
Forged in the California desert, Jonathan Cross’ brutalist ceramic sculptures go on show in NYCJoshua Tree-based artist Jonathan Cross’ sci-fi-influenced works are on view at Elliott Templeton Fine Arts in New York's Chinatown
-
Italian designer Enrico Marone Cinzano fuses natural perfection with industrial imperfectionEnrico Marone Cinzano's first solo show at New York’s Friedman Benda gallery debuts collectible furniture designs that marry organic materials with upcycled industrial components
-
Teruhiro Yanagihara's new textile for Kvadrat boasts a rhythmic design reimagining Japanese handsewing techniques‘Ame’ designed by Teruhiro Yanagihara for Danish brand Kvadrat is its first ‘textile-to-textile’ product, made entirely of polyester recycled from fabric waste. The Japanese designer tells us more
-
One to Watch: Brooklyn studio Outgoing gives new meaning to the idea of world buildingLife and creative partners Brett Gui Xin and Del Hardin Hoyle from Outgoing blur the lines between craft and concept in experimental designs that have the potential for greater application
