Ailsa Graham Art Fabrics collection

Collection of material relating to Ailsa Graham Art Fabrics including table linen, furnishing fabrics, handkerchiefs and scarves, as well as drawings for textiles, pages from sketchbooks and media clippings. Ailsa Graham Art Fabrics (1948 ̶ 1958), textile studio. Ailsa Graham Art Fabrics (AGAF) was established by Ailsa Graham (1925-2015) in Gertrude Street, Fitzroy in 1948.The Studio produced furnishing fabrics, dress materials, scarves, handkerchiefs, table linen and soft furnishings, such as cushion covers using a hand silk screen process. Graham was born in Kerang in 1925, and attended Firbank Girls Grammar School in Brighton (1934-1942); she subsequently studied at Melbourne Technical College (now RMIT University) (1943-1946) taking out a Diploma in Applied Chemistry. Graham was an active member of the Student Representative Council at the College, and in 1945 was elected Chief-Editor of Catalyst, the student magazine and the following year elected the first female editor of Jargon magazine (1946). With just one assistant, June Alexander, Graham’s business began to flourish and they were distributing small articles to city and suburban gift store, and beginning to make furnishing fabrics as well. Graham worked in close collaboration with others on the textile designs including Beverley Knox (1932-2010), who attended Methodist Ladies College and then studied fabric design and art at Melbourne Technical College (1949-1950). Knox began working for Graham in 1951, later becoming her business partner and chief designer (1951-1956). Stanislaus Ostoja-Kotkowski (1922-1994), fabric designer John Rodriquez (1928-2000) and interior designer Lesley M. Perrott (née Austin) (1925-2002) also worked briefly for the Studio as textile designers. Ailsa Graham married Kenneth Matheson in 1953, and after the birth of her first child in 1954, Beverley Knox managed the Studio; Graham returned to the Studio the following year. In 1956 Beverley Knox married Robert Graham, and subsequently left the business. The Ailsa Graham Art Fabrics Studio closed in 1958, following a fire which destroyed the entire studio. The collection was donated to the RMIT Design Archives by Ailsa Dunmore Matheson and Beverley Graham (née Knox). The collection is arranged according to media, there are 4 boxes of material. The textiles are housed in Boxes 1, 2 and 3, while Box 4 largely contains drawings and pages from sketchbooks and other related material. There is an inventory available online, and the majority of the collection has been digitized.

艾尔莎·格雷厄姆艺术织物相关藏品集，涵盖桌用亚麻织物、装饰面料、手帕与丝巾，同时包含纺织品设计手稿、速写本内页及媒体剪报。
艾尔莎·格雷厄姆艺术织物工作室（Ailsa Graham Art Fabrics，1948—1958）由艾尔莎·格雷厄姆（1925—2015）于1948年在菲茨罗伊的格特鲁德街创立，该机构简称AGAF。该工作室采用手工丝网印刷工艺，生产装饰面料、服装面料、丝巾、手帕、桌用亚麻织物及靠垫套等软装饰产品。
格雷厄姆于1925年在凯朗出生，1934年至1942年就读于布莱顿的菲班克女子文法学校；其后于1943年至1946年在墨尔本技术学院（现皇家墨尔本理工大学，RMIT University）攻读应用化学文凭。格雷厄姆在校学生会中表现活跃，1945年当选校刊《Catalyst》主编；次年（1946年）当选《Jargon》杂志首位女性主编。
格雷厄姆仅配备一名助理琼·亚历山大（June Alexander），其业务便迅速发展，她们不仅向市区及郊区的礼品店分销小型布艺制品，还开始涉足装饰面料的生产。格雷厄姆在纺织品设计领域与多位合作者紧密协作，其中包括贝弗利·诺克斯（1932—2010）：诺克斯曾就读于卫理公会女子学院，1949年至1950年于墨尔本技术学院攻读面料设计与艺术专业。诺克斯于1951年入职格雷厄姆的工作室，后成为其业务伙伴与首席设计师（1951—1956年）。斯坦尼斯拉夫·奥斯托亚-科特科夫斯基（Stanislaus Ostoja-Kotkowski，1922—1994）、面料设计师约翰·罗德里格斯（John Rodriquez，1928—2000）以及室内设计师莱斯利·M·佩罗特（婚前姓奥斯汀，1925—2002）也曾以纺织品设计师身份短暂供职于该工作室。
1953年，艾尔莎·格雷厄姆与肯尼斯·马修森成婚；1954年她诞下第一个孩子后，工作室由贝弗利·诺克斯代管，格雷厄姆于次年重返工作室。1956年，贝弗利·诺克斯与罗伯特·格雷厄姆成婚，随后离开该工作室。1958年，工作室因一场大火焚毁全部场地而关停。
该藏品由艾尔莎·邓莫尔·马修森与贝弗利·格雷厄姆（婚前姓诺克斯）捐赠至皇家墨尔本理工大学设计档案馆（RMIT Design Archives）。该藏品按媒介类型分类，共计4箱藏品：第1、2、3箱收纳纺织品，第4箱则主要存放纺织品设计手稿、速写本内页及其他相关资料。该藏品的在线目录可公开获取，且绝大多数藏品已完成数字化处理。