AFAR #3 collaboration as part of Penthouse Mouse 2010.
PHM is a temporary fashion, art and event space which is now in its fourth year. It is located in a disused space and allows Australian labels to do something outside the traditional retail environment whilst also bringing together a talented array of designers, artists and creatives under one roof. A two-week plethora of shopping, fashion shows, art, live fashion shoots, runway shows, parties not to be missed. PHM is part of the L’Oréal Melbourne Fashion Festival Cultural Program in 2010. Open from 11 - 9pm Daily 6th - 19th March 2010. AFAR collaboration ( Room11 + Alexi Freeman ) AFAR#3 investigates Freeman’s latest seasonal motif,  separating layers to form a topography / field of varying density and complexity, shifting with viewer orientation.

The latest AFAR installation; Aaron Roberts ( room11 ) and Fashion Designer Alexi Freeman , appeared in the foyer of the MELBOURNE SPRING FASHION WEEK 2009.

Titles “Death Cloud”, the project dissects and layers the plaid from Freeman’s  S/S 09-10 collection, applying it to a topographical re-hash of  the original flapper motif from AFAR 1.  Cad models are brought to life using handcrafted stencil techniques and hours of hand cut… sticky tape! The extrusion and layering of the pattern allows for a build up of complexity, a volumetric interplay of light, shadow and pattern.

The installation was also hung as part of State of Design 2009 - see here

As part of the Lorreal Melbourne Fashion Festival 2009, Aaron Roberts from Room11 collaborates with Alexi Freeman Fashion Designer to produce a pop up store for his Criss Cross Collection 09. Exploring this years LMFF theme of cause /  effect ,the project will explore production methods of pattern making and possible volumetric outcomes when related to the field of Architecture. Via a topographical extrusion of Freemans’  dress patterns, spatial constructs for the Pop up store will be created.

Images and timelapsevideo below!

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Independently we have been interested in developing collaborative projects between artists and other designers for some time. Facade Intervention was our first formal collaborative project together. Rather than applying a mural to the facade of the school block, we were interested in intervening with the whole structure. Our approach had two main concepts that drove this intervention:

1: To dissolve the facade using light, reflection and making it responsive to changing environmental factors (weather, time of day, etc.) by effectively creating a massive, fractured mirror.

2: To weave a narrative into the structure (through text) which would also serve as a pattern generator, i.e. the text appears to be a pattern from a distance but turns into text and readable narratives closer to the building.

design team:      James Newitt + room11
builder:              James Newitt + room11
status:               Completed
photographer:    James Newitt

An abstracted room within a room, this was a product of a rewarding collaboration with Greg Methe for an improvised performance space for the final of istheatre’s UTE series. Themes developed over previous UTE
installations / performances were consolidated into a dynamic, layered, transformational, minimal set - objects with memory; domestic materials and apparent solidity of form transformed into liquid membranes of lace,
able to be wrapped, twisted and stretched, and at the end return to its original state through an ingenious system of counterweights and pulleys.

design team:     Greg Methe, Ryk Goddard, Aaron Roberts, James Wilson
design team:     room11, istheatre
engineer:           Greg Methe
builder:               Greg Methe
status:                 completed

A space as a catalyst for experience. An immersive experience changing ones frame of reference from the immediate with hints of the spatial context within the vicinity of kelly’s steps and salamanca.

A concentration of volume referencing the sky, the ground and enhancing ones awareness of self in space.