Some Flowers from Japan (Winter 1994): tasselled silk pants, silk shirt

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The company indeed sells to stores in twelve countries, representing a significant export market for Australian fashion. Although the origins of Done A rt and Design were not fashion related, fine clothing and accessories now hold the significant market share in a business which has as its primary goal the creation of things of beauty, whether these objects be high fashion garments, paintings or articles for the home .

From the enormous body of work which Ken Done produces as a direct response to his environment and experience, only a few pieces are selected for development by Judy into designs to grace the fabrics and richly decorated functional objects for which the name Done is best known.

In this way, a painting by Ken of a vase of flowers may form the basis of a design which can be translated into a silkscreen print, a poster for an exhibition or a fabric for a swimsuit, sundress or a pair of jeans. It is in this process of intuitive selection of what will work best in a particular context, that the success of Done Art and Design lies.

Anything from entire works to tiny sections of paintings are chosen for fabric designs. Then Judy, with her design team, creates a fashion range that complements the prints and fabrics. The uniqueness of Done Art and Design's fashion is this concept of art-to-wear, making clothing art.

Judy and Ken Done share a distinctive style and approach to art and design which is reflected in everything they undertake . Creative activity has always been the central driving force. Ken left high school at fourteen to study art at East Sydney Technical College, and worked as an art director in advertising in Sydney, London and New York. Raised in Sydney, Judy, as a teenager, created her own wardrobe utilising off­cuts of fine imported furniture fabrics from interior decorating stores. For Judy these unusual fabrics offered the most interesting colours and textures.

As house model and fashion style co­ordinator for the Sydney department store Farmer's , she found a sympathe tic environment in which to develop her fashion orientation. At this time, Judy also created ceramics, and held several working exhibitions . A fter returning from London in the late seventies, Judy designed knitwear and established a successful couture fashion boutique in Sydney's Double Bay.

The origins of Done Art and Design were laid when Ken left his successful career in advertising to consolidate his work as an artist. To launch the opening of his first gallery, a dozen T­shirts were printed with the now iconic design of Sydney Harbour. They were an instant sell-out, and soon T-shirts were available alongside his paintings. In 1982, the first Done store was opened in Sydney's Rocks area, exposing the art and design work to Australians as well as growing numbers of foreign tourists .

In 1986, Judy joined the business formally as a designer and developed the apparel range from beach to resort wear, from clothing to fashion and from women's wear to include men's and children's wear. Judy's background enabled her to steer the garment component of the company from simple screen-printed T-shirts and leisure wear to a fully-developed fashion range offering swimwear, resort wear, sportswear and accessories .

Judy designs two distinct ranges: a trans-seasonal range that projects an Australian theme, featuring images of Sydney Harbour and the Barrier Reef; and, since 1991, Judy has released two seasonal collections of high fashion annually, for Summer and Winter .

Judy's designs have a simple refined elegance of style because they are based on paintings. Her prints are always luscious, coloured with the hues of exotic flora, tropical waters and luminescent sea life. Her work embodies a particularly Australian style which also reflects her own individual style.

Paint palettes (Winter 1994): Work shirt worn with classic

jeans and grandfather top

Judy Done, Grand Award Winner of Fashion Industries Award 1993 with her

bridal gown

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At Hemingways (Summer 1992/3): Classic jeans and denim crop jacket

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Freesias (Summer 1993/4): · Long beach dress

The mos t formal designs have an air of relaxed informality. Apart from her own garmen ts, Judy chooses to wear designers who create an uncluttered elegance: Donna Karan, Calvin Klein, Giorgio Arman i from Italy and Karl Lagerfeld's designs for Chanel.

Swimwear was first introduced in the early eigh ties and initially was manufactu red under licence . In 199 1 the swimwear styling moved in-house when Judy introduced her first resort wea r collection. As a central element of Judy Done's collection, the actual styling of the swimwear is of major importance . Costumes are not only made to flatter , but most importantly , to see the wearer through the rigou rs of summer life, utilising cotton/lycra blends that preserve shape and colour . Judy regularly incorporates innovative fabrics, such as textured lycras, into her ranges. Fashion swimwear is now released twice a year, for Summer and Winter. Both ranges are fully co-ordinated with that season's range of printed garments, which are as varied as jeans, knitwear and luxurious silk shirts. The maillots and bikini­bra swimming costumes thus function also as leisure wear, with the other garments layered over them, and increasingly the costume is becoming the basic shape around which the seasonal look is constructed.

Judy's Winter collections emphasise comfort, warmth and ease; shapes are simple and lines fluid. The focus is on flattering, slimline leggings and neatly cut jeans teamed with pure wool knitwear, reversible anoraks and quilted fitted tops. Printed wool blanketing redefines the unstructured coat and jacket . For 1994, Judy's distinctive jewel colours are mixed with plains and naturals, and are set off by a new collection of co-ordinating accessories, ranging from scarves through to bags. Winter is a relatively small range compared to the full resort summer range, reflecting the short, mild winters we experience.

The work is demanding and inspiring. Judy, interviewed by Julia Cest on the ABC in Adelaide in November 1992, said that she finds 'an enormous amount to do. We work constantly, seven days a week . Ken and I have been working together for seven years, but we have been married for 27 years. We have always shared an understanding of design and colour and now we have turned this into our own business.'

Of course, Judy and Ken don't work alone . Over 150 people are employed directly by Done Art and Design. There are licensing and retailing arrangements in many countries, including the United States, Canada, Japan, Singapore and Europe, although the business focuses on the South Pacific basin: Australia, Hawaii, Guam, Acapulco and Mexico. The volume of activity provides a focused market for Judy's garments and a wonderful creative freedom, for as Judy says: 'With our own stores, we can be as creative as we like .' This freedom takes Judy and Ken into many areas. From 1991, collaboration with Peter Meier, master jeweller, has created a range of handcrafted jewellery inspired by Ken's seminal works on the Barrier Reef and the colours and brilliance of the ocean itself. 'The Reef Collection' utilises gold, diamonds and natural gemstones.

Judy has a deep understanding of Ken's creative drive, his need to express art in and through his life, and does perceive an important part of her role as supporting his work, in her words 'to give Ken time to paint, which he needs more and more'. The exhibition 'Celebration of Nature: The Art of Ken and Judy Done' shown at the Griffith Regional Art Gallery and the Loft Museum, Adelaide, in 1992, brought together for the first time the fabrics and the paintings from which they evolved . The major themes of this exhibition were those of nature as a rich generator of meaning, and the natural creativity that forms the foundation for Ken and Judy's artistic sensibilities. The works shown of terrestrial and coral gardens, paintings and multiple works on paper, and fabrics, examined the artistic processes of the couple.

Frangipani (Summer 1993/4): Sundress worn over bikini , co-ordinating

sunglasses and straw-trimmed hat

Beach towel

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Pansies (Winter ( 1994): Tapered pants, long line waistcoat

and beanie

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During the exhibition Judy visited the venues and worked with art and design students, sharing information on her motivations and processes.

One of Judy's passionate preoccupations is the garden that she has created on the rocky, sandy slopes around Ken's studio and their home (designed by Glen Murcutt) overlooking Chinaman's Beach on Sydney's North Shore. The garden is replete with colour, but one can see the designer at work in the separation of colours into tonal areas; this is a crafted environment, but never stiffly controlled. Ken often paints these flowers and a number of his most enduring images include the blue Morning Glory and the yellow Frangipani which abound here. The vibrant blue and gold tones are signature colours in the work of both Ken and Judy.

Their shared philosophy is a non-elitist attitude to art. Both feel that the proper place for art is not solely on the walls of art galleries. Art can and should be affordable and accessible and be present in all aspects of daily life . This is the motivation behind the art-to-wear concept with which Judy and Ken have bridged the artificial gap between art and design and transcended what were previously regarded as separate roles, those of artist and designer .

An enduring commitment to the local is reflected in Judy and Ken's dedication to producing and manufacturing totally in Australia, using, wherever possible, Australian materials, including fine wools and cottons. Local cotton growers in Moree sponsored a recent viewing there of a major touring exhibition of Ken's paintings. The growers enthusiastically support Ken and Judy's dedication to be Australian­made. Their fashion, paintings and products are not and never have been, created for a foreign or tourist market. Their work is successful with this audience as it speaks to them directly of the experience from which it comes,

embodying a fresh spirit of vitality and optimism which is identifiable as Australian. Done Art and Design treats the rest of the world as the season to come after Australia. Judy doesn't wait to see what has been successful in Paris, Milan or New York before releasing her own range-she believes it is possible to instigate and create original work here and that the rest of the world will follow .

In the search for new fabrics and printing techniques, Judy's needs have pushed present technologies into new areas. Advanced printing techniques have been developed here in Australia which allow the production of more intense, clear and numerous colours on printed fabric . A recent area under development is printed wool. Progressive cancelling of licensing and wholesaling arrangements has brought these activities in-house, allowing for greater creative control and scope for development.

From November this year until mid-1995, a major retrospective exhibition of the work of Done Art and Design, featuring Judy's design ranges will take place at the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney. For the first time the wearer will be able to see the whole process by which a painting as large as ten metres long can be metamorphosed by Judy into a gorgeous bikini. The exhibition is planned to tour Japan and international venues in the USA and Europe, showcasing Australian innovation to the world.

Nancy Pilcher, editor of Vogue Australia, said at the FIA awards; 'Through the designs, millions of people have a vision of what living in Australia must be like. Ken and Judy portray the essence of Australia in a positive, upbeat way. We should all be thankful for their unique and abstract perspective on Australia and on the worldwide image of Australia they purvey' (quoted by Candida Baker, 'When all's said and done ... ' in The Age, 11 September 1993).

Donna Lee Brien

Magenta Reef (Summer 1993/4): Bikini, silk shirt and chain link bag

The work of Judy Done can be seen in Done Art and Design stores and in David Jones stores throughout Australia . The resort wear ranges are available internationally in many of the world's best department stores, including Bloomingdales, Saks Fifth Avenue and Seibu.

Thanks to Sheri McEvoy and Kirstie Davidson for supplying material for this article

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