FORM presents Midland Atelier 2008-2013 // Perth, Western Australia.

Midland Railway Workshops. Photo by Mark Stothard, 2011.
Image courtesy of FORM.

Pattern Shop studio at Midland Atelier, photograph by Eva Fernandez, 2013.
Image courtesy of FORM.

Work in progress at Midland Railway Workshops, 2010. Photo by Michelle Taylor.
Image courtesy of FORM.

Located in the heart of the historic Midland Railway Workshops in Perth, Midland Atelier is Western Australia’s first hub for creativity – a home to Australian and international designers working across a range of mediums from photography to furniture design.

In 2008, the Metropolitan Redevelopment Authority decided to expand existing woodworking facilities at the historic Midland Railway Workshops. They collaborated with FORM, a not-for-profit arts organisation, to restructure the format of the site’s former Pattern Shop into a unique collective that would support the local designers and makers. Complemented by the residency program for local and international creatives, the Pattern Shop became the heart of the Midland Aterlier – a unique space for creative development through which innovation and collaboration is fostered within one of Western Australia’s architectural treasures.

Untitled leather sculpture by Tanija and Graham Carr, 2005. Photo by Victor France.
Image courtesy of FORM.

Anonymous Sculpture. Photo by Eva Fernandez, 2013.
Image courtesy of FORM.

Built to manufacture and repair locomotives, rolling stock, bridges, track equipment and everything else required to maintain the state’s rail transport system, the Workshops were the largest industrial complex in Western Australia’s history. The site today is an icon of Perth’s Eastern fringe, with Midland Atelier facilitating a renaissance of the Workshop’s former identity as a centre for the manufacture of bespoke and hand-crafted production.

I highly recommend watching this fantastic video made by two local filmmakers in celebration of the last five years at the Atelier. It taught me so much about this incredible initiative and also the truly spectacular heritage building and it’s workshops. It’s just breathtaking.

Images taken from video. See more images here.

In celebration of the Atelier’s fifth anniversary, FORM has commissioned new site-specific works by leading Western Australian creatives, designed to showcase some of the Workshops’ most spectacular hidden spaces. The exhibitions are accompanied by the launch of a publication Midland Atelier, 2008-2013, showcasing all of the creative outcomes to emerge from the Aterlier since its foundation. These include the works by highly respected international artist including jewellers Helen Britton and Dabid Beilander (Germany), street artist ROA (Belgium), and photographers Marin Parr (UK), Sohrab Hura, Bharat Sikka and Ketaki Sheth (India) amonghts others.

Desk 2, by Guy Eddington, photograph by Eva Fernandez, 2013.
Part of the From the Atelier exhibition at FORM Gallery, Perth.

From the Atelier & Faultliners

FORM Gallery, 357 Murray Street, Perth, WA
Showing 14 June-14 September, 2013
Open 9am-5pm, Monday-Friday, 10am-5pm Saturday

Sabine, cardboard, plastic and glue, Susan Flavell, 2010, photograph by Pascal Veyradier.
Part of the Paper, Cotton, Leather, Flowers, Wood exhibition at Midland Atelier

Paper, Cotton, Leather, Flowers, Wood

Midland Atelier, Yelverton Drive, Midland, WA
Exhibitions runs: 5-21 July, 2013
Open 10am to 5pm, Thursday-Sunday only
Free admission

[Images courtesy of Kara Pinakis/ FORM.]