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Thursday, August 22, 2013

Interview with Adam Jones of Quercus & Co

I have a lovely interview to share with you today with Adam Jones, wallpaper designer and owner of Quercus & Co which is a Sydney-based wallpaper and printing studio. You might remember I wrote about his beautiful wallpaper designs a few months ago which are hand painted and then digital produced onto heavyweight paper. It has been fun to see his designs pop up in various places including being featured recently on The Block. Most recently he has released a new collection of designs called 'Colourwash' featuring bright, colourful washes of translucent inks that are hand-brushed into bold designs and inspired by traditional Chinese screen fretwork and Japanese Shibori. So beautiful!

I asked Adam a few questions and to give us a little insight into his creative process:


Please tell us a bit about your background and what led you into wallpaper design.

I grew up in a creative family and always loved art and craft, later studying Textile Art at Goldsmiths college in London. It was a very 'conceptual' time for art in the mid 80s (I was in the same year as Damian Hurst) and anything decorative was dismissed as trivial. A few years later I reluctantly took a job in a paint and wallpaper shop in Clapham but really enjoyed it. Moving to Sydney in the early 90s I worked as a decorative painter and colourist. I was with Porters Paints for over 10 years. I planned to start producing wallpaper many years ago however the right time didn't arrive until late 2011 when I thought 'dammit, this has been dragging on too long'. After much research I leased a huge professional inkjet printer and launched Quercus & Co in May 2012.

What techniques do you use to produce the designs and where do you find the inspiration?

The technical issues with printing have been an incredibly steep learning curve. I'm passionate about digital printing as its potential is unlimited and the pace with which technology is progressing is mind-boggling, however my first love is for the hand-drawn - the marks and brush strokes of pencil or paint. Like playing music or singing, drawing and painting by hand require a connection to how you feel and if you're lucky that feeling is carried through into the artwork. It's this connection that inspires me and however subtle this may be I like to consider a new design on how the pattern or colour 'feels'.

I have so many ideas planned that one of the most difficult things is sorting through which direction to move into next. Currently I work on my own and the demands of running all aspects of the business leave only a small amount of time for creative work... but I'm getting there!


What has been one of your proudest or most memorable project so far?
I'm thrilled with every order I send out and I don't mean financially (although I'm amazed I can make a living at this) but that someone has made the effort to buy something I have created. I really hope they enjoy it! I basically like pleasing people, perhaps that's shallow..


A memorable project would have to a scenic-chinoiserie style gold wallpaper I created for Fat Noodle, a restaurant in the Treasury, Brisbane designed by Luchetti Krelle. I haven't had the opportunity of seeing it installed yet.
PS. I had a look at the Quercus & Co website again this morning and there is a picture of the installation at Fat Noodle. STUNNING work! You can see it here


+ Images with permission Quercus & Co
+ Address: Quercus & Co Wallpaper Studio - Level 1, 722 Bourke Street, Redfern


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