Introducing ‘Here Before’, a carpet collection featuring the designs of Aunty Sam Walker-Wilson, a Yorta Yorta elder and artist, living on Gunai Kurnai Country, who has been telling her stories now for over two decades, mainly through hand crafted, painted pottery and clay, a material that has been widely used by Australia’s traditional custodians in painting, on bark, wood and rock faces, and body painting.

Available through Dreamtime Flooring, Australia’s only 100% Indigenous owned flooring wholesaler, the collection includes six separate designs, broken into three groups – ‘Under the Scars’, ‘Above Water’, and ‘Stories of Time’.

Each has its own significance, tells its own story, and offers the privilege of a cultural journey with Aunty Sam, into the world of her ancestors.

Unique collaboration

The release of ‘Here Before’ represents something of a first for the Australian flooring sector – a new type of collaboration between Dreamtime Flooring, an organisation dedicated to celebrating the rich narratives of Indigenous culture through flooring, and GH Commercial, the Oceanic subsidiary of Mohawk industries, drawing on over 150 years manufacturing experience through Godfrey Hirst operations.

As part of the relationship, Dreamtime Flooring and GH Commercial have come together, bringing First Nations artists work to life in a distinctive alliance unlike any other. This partnership model empowers Dreamtime Flooring to be GH Commercial’s design collaboration partner and exclusive distributor of the Here Before Collection, fostering growth for an 100% Indigenous owned business.

In this case, Dreamtime Flooring was able to connect Aunty Sam, a founding member of BNYM Indigenous Designs, with GH Commercial’s design team to create something truly special. Through her involvement in the ‘Here Before’ collection, she was able to transfer her ideas and stories to a carpet medium in which she hadn’t previously worked.

Three product groups

As the accompanying images show, the results were well worth the effort. Significantly, as designed by Aunty Sam each includes a unique narrative.

’Cracked Earth’ signifies the land acting as a guide for Indigenous People and sharing its wisdom through the scars of the earth left behind; while ‘Earths Canvas’ explores how the ‘scars’ of the earth hold the memories of the seasons and how Indigenous people would use the earth to teach them the cycling of the seasons.

Then, as part of the ‘Stories of Time’ group, ‘Sacred Stories’ depicts traditional line work found in ancestorial caves and paints; and ‘Against the Tide’ portrays the ocean crashing against the rock, shaping our coastline, telling its own story and natures history.

Finally, the ‘Above Water’ group includes ‘Sand Symbols’, which represents sand symbols used by First Nations Australians for mapping of country with the lines and symbols drawn in the sand; as well as ‘Coastal Guardians’, a design that symbolises the importance of a balanced life and the special connection to the animals and the ocean providing a sense of fulfilment.

Giving back

In bringing First Nations designs to light in this way Dreamtime Flooring and Godfrey Hirst hope to not just provide a blueprint for future design collaborations, but also to help streamline income back into Indigenous communities.

As such, for every square metre sold of the Here Before Collection, they will donate $1 each to a charitable Indigenous organisation annually during NAIDOC week.

The ‘Here Before’ collection comes in a range of carpet formats. Under the Scars as Pattern Perfect™️ Carpet Planks, Stories of Time as Designer Jet® Carpet Planks, and Above Water as Designer Jet® 1.96m Wide Sheets.

All are available right now across Australia, exclusively through Dreamtime Flooring.

Dreamtime Flooring
dreamtimeflooring.com

GH Commercial
ghcommercial.com