CAPS Coolgardie
From their humble beginnings in 1980, Christian Aboriginal Parent-directed School (CAPS) has come a long way. 2021 marked the 40th anniversary of the school, so it was only fitting they celebrate the milestone. They came to Look Brilliant for a complete solution.
Blending creativity with
respect for Country
Look Brilliant collaborated with the school and a Noongar artist, Peter Farmer, designing Australian-made apparel that showcased student artistry. Though initially leaning towards a goanna motif, an eagle emerged as the chosen design during a workshop. Recognising the vividity of the artwork, dye sublimation became the evident choice. Look Brilliant then recommended hoodies and polo shirts, capturing a relaxed weekend essence for the uniform. With our in-house design team and a local sublimation partner, we seamlessly converted the artwork into tailored pieces, adapting designs for various sizes and garment features.
Our design team then transitioned a high-resolution photograph of the original artwork into a printable format. This process involved intricate adjustments like repeating and rearranging parts of the painting, ensuring additional patterns could be incorporated into elements like the polo shirts’ placket and sleeves.
I contacted Peter Farmer, who was keen to meet up to discover the story of the project. After our meeting, we were both of one mind – to move forward together. Our students sent their brief to Peter, including colour, (with meanings), and theme. We then met Peter at Curtin University where he and his son encouraged the students to draw and paint on a canvas to get a measure of their style and confirm which animal would appear on the shirt. The idea of a goanna moved to an eagle and as Peter drew an eagle the idea was set in place! Peter then gave us a prepared canvas with our requested ’sunset’ and asked us to come up with the design for below the sunset, with some guidelines. He would add the eagle, and depending on balance, we would then decide about what would appear above the eagle. After weeks of hard work in art class and meeting up with Peter again, the final composition was agreed upon. Peter and his team took the students’ designs and completed the artwork.
Weekend wear that worked
At the end of the project, CAPS was provided with completely authentic weekend wear for their boarders, which was Australian-made, fun and exceeded the initial objectives set out by the team.
Local residents now recognise our boarders at weekends when they go to town for shopping and events, and the compliments come on a regular basis. We were recommended to use Look Brilliant and from that moment on, the designs came into being on our polos and hoodies. Everyone loves our design and the artwork is proudly displayed in our school lobby.
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