In January this year, 2023, the Swiss luxury textile company, Christian Fischbacher, launched the capsule collection ‘100 patterns in 100 days’ inspired by the 100 patterns that I painted in 2020 in Italy during the lockdown.
It’s been a busy year!
Back story: I was stuck in Italy for 2 years over the lockdown. I got there 2nd March 2020, just before it locked down on 8th March right at the height of the beginning of covid. On March 22nd I decided to start painting a pattern a day to help pass the time.
I decided to make a routine for myself to distract from the sadness that was creeping so fast across Italy. I am an artist so I do paint everyday but alone in my house, with coronavirus becoming something that fills the mind, painting everyday was a way to make the time pass & to seek a kind of focused peace.
I was walking with friends at first, when it was still allowed, but later when we had to stay close to our homes, I walked around the nearby vineyards, my garden & small wild slope. With Winter turning to Spring, then to Summer, the countryside here offered something amazing each day & it is this exuberance of nature, that inspired these patterns.
I continued painting a pattern a day for 100 days.
They are a record of what I saw & observed, & how my mind made its own vision of what it wanted to keep. They are my own personal visual diary. The completion of each one was a small success & a marking of each day that passed. The act of making these patterns helped me stay calm, focused & positive thorough lockdown.
From these 100 paintings, came the opportunity to collaborate with Fischbacher fabrics on a small capsule collection entitled “100 Patterns in 100 Days’.
Look Book “100 patterns in 100 days’ by Christian Fischbacher
Once the patterns were complete, the bar in the local village suggested I exhibit the paintings to show the local community. It was here that my old friends, Camilla ( Creative Director of Fischbacher) & Micki Fischbacher ( CEO of Fischbacher), saw the collection. They had come to stay with me on their way from St Gallen to Genova. As they walked through the exhibit, they said that they wanted to do a capsule collection inspired by the patterns.
It was of course, a wonderful opportunity to work firstly with friends, & with Christian Fischbacher, the company. I was thrilled to have been offered this opportunity.
The collection was launched at Paris Deco Off in January 2023 & is now working its way into the CF showrooms, distributors etc.
In Paris, the collection was shown at the Christian Fischbacher showroom on 20 Rue du Mail, 75002 Paris. As I arrived & walked up to the showroom I was so surprised & so happy to see the fabrics transformed into huge lamps & hung all along the street alongside other wonderful fabric lamps from all the other fantastic textile houses showing in Paris. It was a lovely moment!
I was really happy to exhibit the original paintings in the Fischbacher showroom at the launch of the capsule collection, but also alongside the whole 2023 Fischbacher collection of textiles. It was an interesting time meeting all the distributors, agents & potential customers, all in Paris to see everything new in the world of interior textiles & furnishings.
As a result of the launch in Paris at Paris Deco Off , ‘Harimau’ the carpet was featured on the cover of ‘The Textile Eye’ Spring Review & this brilliant surface design magazine, featured the story of ‘100 Patterns in 100 days’, my 100 paintings while in lockdown in Italy. I definitely allowed myself a little glow of pride over this!
In July, in the UK, the collection “100 Patterns in 100 Days’ by Christian Fischbacher has won the Livingetc Style Award 2023 for best fabric collection.
In May I was given the opportunity to exhibit the 100 patterns again, alongside the launch of the fabric collection in Brescia, Italy, at the lovely showroom of Apostoli Interiors. It was a real delight working with Apostoli, another Italian family company that values quality workmanship, fine textiles & innovation in all that they do. The launch was a wonderful affair & again, It was wonderful to meet their customers & help to promote the collection with the paintings in situ.
In 2023 Brescia is the cultural city of Italy & we had the opportunity to wander & visit some of the great exhibits around this lovely city.
On October 18th 2023, the Swiss Embassy in Kuala Lumpur celebrated the collaboration between Fischbacher fabrics of Switzerland & the art of Malaysian artist Rebecca Duckett-Wilkinson with the event ‘Innovation in Art’.
Micki Fischbacher was on hand to introduce the company, the collection & to discuss how Fischbacher will be moving forward in the context of Asia.
It was a wonderful evening at the Swiss Residency in KL & I cannot thank Ambassador Reichlin enough for her gracious hospitality.
The weekend of October 21st & 22nd saw Pentago Group, always an advocate for art & community, host the exhibition ‘100 Patterns in 100 days’. A great collaboration between Malaysian Artist & Designer, Rebecca Duckett-Wilkinson & the Swiss luxury fabric company Christian Fischbacher. The exhibition of my 100 original paintings & the fabric collection, was exhibited at Pentago House in Kampung Attap in the heart of Kuala Lumpur. This was the first time the 100 original paintings have been on display in Malaysia.
The launch of the exhibition took place on the Saturday night. It was a very happy & colourful event with lots of people to meet. I was so happy to welcome so many family & friends. The paintings & the fabrics, & the Harimau carpet, looked really great together in the wonderful space of Pentago House. The exurberate visual telling of the coming together of art & quality textile design. I felt very lucky & proud to have been able to curate my own story of this particular journey with my artwork & the wonderful textiles produced by Christian Fischbacher.
The exhibition was open to the public on Saturday & Sunday & I was thrilled to welcome so many people who have supported my designs over so many years. ‘Owen Rebecca Designs’ our original brand of resort wear & tropical inspired prints, saw so much local support for which we are forever grateful for. It was just such fun to have some of our loyal customers wear their t-shirts & prints to come to this exhibition. It really was wonderful to see you all again & your support of my new work is very much appreciated.
My colourful patterns by Christian Fischbacher are now available as vibrant prints for upholstery & drapery, while my tiger paintings have been woven & embroidered into a stunning fabric named ‘Dawon’ & ‘Harimau’ the first hand knotted carpet by the Fischbacher brand. They provide an uplifting highlight to any interior.
The Swiss Embassy KL, graciously supported the whole event.
Christian Fischbacher is a family-owned company with a long history. It’s headquarters are in St. Gallen, a centre for textiles since the 13th century. Fischbacher has been at the heart of the Swiss textile industry for over 2 centuries. Their products are created with great attention to detail, a deep rooted passion for quality & a drive for creative innovation. A global company, proud of their Swiss roots, they have formed close relationships with the many countries where they created a base for their products. Diverse cultural trends, a continued commitment to innovation & development in the production of textiles is key to their continuing success.
This is an uplifting story that came out of the Covid pandemic lockdown in Italy, when I was stranded in Italy, & decided to paint a pattern a day for 100 days.
2023 has been very busy with all things surrounding this collaboration with Christian Fischbacher & it has been hard work. But, that’s not to say I have not been doing anything else! There’s still lots to catch up on & to tell you about & I’m trying to be better at recording & documenting all the work that I am constantly doing……..I know…… I always write telling myself to be better at this!
*Thanks to Christian Fischbacher for the photos in the blog.
*Thanks to all photographers who provided the photos in the gallery below!
Read more about the Story of the Capsule Collection ‘100 Patterns in 100 days’ by Azlina Ali on Espoletta.
Read also the wonderful feature in ‘Options, The Edge’ on how my collaboration with Fischbacher Fabrics came about.
