CAPS Coolgardie

Blending creativity and respect to Country

ASB collaborated with a school and 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. ASB then opted for hoodies and polo shirts, capturing a relaxed weekend essence for the uniform. Using their in-house team and a local sublimation partner, ASB seamlessly converted the artwork into tailored pieces, adapting designs for various sizes and garment features.

The 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 shirt’s placket and sleeves.

Steve Woods (Music & WACE Art Teacher at CAPS), provides an insight into the idea development and creative art process:

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 matched what the client wanted

At the end of the project, CAPS was provided with completely authentic weekend wear for the boarders, that was Australian-made, fun and exceeded the initial objectives set out by the team.

In the words of our client

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 ASB 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.