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Cungelella Art + Adairs Team Up For A Vibrant New Collection Inspired By Country

Adairs homewares and furniture has been a staple in Australian homes since they launched in the 1900s, and now their latest collaboration is set to bring First Nations art into bedrooms, kitchens and living rooms in a beautiful way.

The brand has joined forces with the Kalkadoon sisters behind Cungelella Art to create a limited-edition collection inspired by the rich colours and traditional stories of their homelands – Kalkatungu Country in Mt Isa, Queensland.

It’s taken almost a year to translate their artworks onto a range of bedlinen, homewares, servingware and more, but the resulting pieces are a gorgeous reflection of the sister’s colourful works!

Written
by
Christina Karras
Supported By Adairs

Adairs have partnered with the sisters behind Cungelella Art for their latest homewares collection. Wadjin Quilt Cover Separates and Wadjin Pillowcases by Adairs. Photo – Courtesy of Adairs.

The new Cungelella Art x Adairs collaboration turns hand-painted artworks into printed bedlinen and pillows that have been designed to mix and match. Wadjin Quilt Cover Separates and Wadjin Pillowcases from Adairs. Photo – Courtesy of Adairs.

‘Our featured prints in the collection are inspired by the colours of Kalkatungu Country, the native plants, and the beautiful grass known as spinifex that covers the outback landscape,’ Cungelella Art founder Glenda explains. Wadjin Cushion from Adairs. Photo – Courtesy of Adairs.

The campaign was even photographed on Kalkatungu Country in Mt Isa, Queensland. “Annie” Myrrdah Doll from Adairs. Photo – Courtesy of Adairs.

The collaboration also features a cute range for Adairs Kids! Photo – Courtesy of Adairs.

Sisters Glenda McCulloch, Jaunita Doyle, Cheryl Perez, and Dale Bruce all live on their traditional homelands, where they create artwork that channels the natural beauty of their surrounds! Photo – Courtesy of Adairs.

Writer
Christina Karras
26th of April 2023

Australian retailer Adairs first reached out to Cungelella Art last year with a vision to showcase their distinctive artworks in a special collaboration.

Sisters Glenda McCulloch, Jaunita Doyle, Cheryl Perez, and Dale Bruce have been working together as Cungelella Art for the past four years. The proud Kalkadoon women create art inspired by their traditional homelands – where they grew up, and where they are now collectively raising their 14 children. Their business has evolved organically over the past few years, but it started as a way for the sisters to continue the traditional artworks their ‘families have been doing forever’, in new and contemporary ways.

With the sisters located in Mt Isa, and the Adairs team based in Melbourne, they worked together over Zoom to select some of their favourite artworks, in addition to creating some new paintings especially for the range.

‘When we painted this collection, we wanted to evoke a feeling of homeland, calm, grounding and most importantly, family,’ Glenda says. ‘Our featured prints in the collection are inspired by the colours of Kalkatungu Country, the native plants, and the beautiful grass known as spinifex that covers the outback landscape.’

Behind each product is also a time-intensive process of translating the artworks onto textiles and 3D objects. Adairs design manager Bec Jones explains the team spent many hours just to turn each painting into digital patterns, cutting each dot and line from the background to authentically reflect the sister’s handiwork, across everything from mugs, to textiles, and even timber-framed prints.

‘The Wadjin Bedlinen is an Adairs team favourite,’ Bec says of the final pieces. ‘We love how the colours pop on the dark background, and it styles back easily with other pieces in the Adairs range for a cohesive look.’

Everything has been designed to mix and match, so you can bring a piece of Mt Isa’s dreamy sunsets and desert landscape into your home.

The Myrrdah Doll in the Adairs Kids range was another idea that originated from the sisters (it’s named after their grandmother!) while they say they can’t wait to take the new patterned quilted coverlets the next time they go camping out bush!

Shop the new Cungelella Art x Adairs and Adairs Kids collection exclusively at Adairs stores and online here.

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