We recently had the pleasure of working with award-winning artist and director Kim Carpenter in converting his playful design sketches into physical garments for Graeme Murphy’s The Happy Prince production premiered by The Australian Ballet in 2020.

Oscar Wilde’s The Happy Prince is a moving story which has been specially commissioned into ballet via Graeme Murphy’s acclaimed creative flair. Alongside Murphy, Kim Carpenter’s distinct and playful designs beautify the ballet in a spectacle which captures both children’s and adult’s imagination.

We used Kim’s drawings as a guide to create digital textile prints for a significant portion of the show’s costumes. Certain costumes required engineered placement printing whilst others could be constructed from custom designed yardage.

Beyond the interpretation, printing, and creation of placement pieces, we also produced group sets of unitards. We extracted playful elements from Kim’s designs and used them as focal points to tie in the overall feel of the production. It was exciting to see our textile designs used beyond stretch wear and across a range of other costumes and accessories.

The Happy Prince, 2020 The Australian Ballet

Production Credits

Based on the story by Oscar Wilde

Adapted by: Kim Carpenter and Graeme Murphy
Choreography Graeme Murphy
Creative Associate: Janet Vernon
Composer: Christopher Gordon
Set and costume design: Kim Carpenter
Lighting design: Damien Cooper
Projection design: Fabian Astore

Photo Credits: Jeff Busby