David Miles Hand Printed Wallpapers

In 2007 I was awarded an overseas fellowship by the ISS institute. This enabled me to research the techniques, both traditional and modern, of printing wallpaper. For my report I was lucky enough to get to talk to David Miles in length about the industry in Australia in the 70's 80's and 90's. David was very generous with his time and sent me some great photos, which I will share with you all and explained how Signature Prints came to have some of his designs!

In the 1970’s there was a very small group of individuals designing and producing wallpaper.
The two most prominent were Florence Broadhurst and David Miles. David was trained as an architectural draughtsperson and was a talented artist. He was working for a flamboyant, high society interior decorator, Merle de Boulay and designed murals for private clients and mosaic
tables. David met Florence Broadhurst in 1965 when he was only twenty years old. Merle
de Boulay had sent him to Florence’s studio to get some wallpaper commissioned.

Another person linked with Florence was David Miles. He was trained as an architectural
draughtsperson and was a talented artist. David was working for a flamboyant, high society
interior decorator, Merle de Boulay. He designed murals for private clients and mosaic
tables. David met Florence Broadhurst in 1965 when he was only twenty years old. Merle
de Boulay had sent him to Florence’s studio to get some wallpaper commissioned

David set up his own business in 1969 and continued to render architectural drawings,
mosaic tables and some design work for Florence Broadhurst. In the late 1960’s Florence
commissioned David to create a large mural for a restaurant in Kings Cross, Sydney. A price
was agreed upon, but on completion of the design David noted that she refused to pay him
the agreed price!

David Miles' print factory

Following a road trip around Australia, David returned to Sydney, and decided to set up in
opposition to Florence, and with his partner (whom he married in 1970) developed a range
of wallpapers. They entered the market with their range named ‘David Miles Handprints’.
Unfortunately the venture suffered a set back when their premises was ransacked.

It took some time to recover from this, but they did with encouragement from people such
as Lady Marion Hall Best and Tom Harding from Décor Associates. After some months they
were ready for business. Their company benefited from an investment by Arthur G Wilson of
Wilsons Fabric and Wallpapers. The Miles’ retained twenty five per cent of the business and
the couple were sent on a world trip to look at some of the world’s best design studios.

In 1976, after twenty six design awards and countless front covers on Australia’s interior
design magazines, Wilsons was bought out by James Hardie. James Hardie renamed the
business Signature Prints.
The Miles’ felt that the business would change and decided to go their own way. They started up ‘Cherie Miles Wallpapers Pty Ltd’ in August 1977. In May 1979, the business was re named ‘David K Miles Handprinted Wallcoverings Pty Ltd’.
They traded until 1986 when the business was sold to Baresque Pty Ltd. Baresque continued
to produce the Miles’ designs until they closed the screen printing side of the business.
Production ceased in August 1991.

Don't you just love this total co- ordination?

This is where it gets interesting - Richard Blaiklock, owner of Baresque, "gave a heap of stuff to David Lennie. It was tough times for him then too so some of the inks, screens and grounds may have been of some benefit". Without doubt, some of David Miles designs would have on those screens.

Not sure if I could live with this, but I love the metallic silver and coral

this would great in commercial applications

When Florence died in 1977, her son took over the running of the business. Production ceased until the company was bought by a syndicate in 1989. This syndicate included David Lennie, now CEO of Signature Prints. The main attraction of this purchase was the library of Florence Broadhurst designs. The library had been purchased by James Hardie in 1978, a year after her death. It was also through this transaction that David Miles' designs have ended up in the Signature prints collection.
Look at the photos and see if you recognise any!

I love all of these, but especially the birds, so now.

Florence Broadhurst has been the most documented person in the Australian wallpaper world. This is due to an aggressive marketing campaign by Signature Prints. To begin with, the campaign was launched to a European market. As the profile of Florence Broadhurst was raised overseas, the Australian market became interested in the product! This is fairly typical of what goes on here unfortunately.

The Power House museum in Sydney is going to hold a retrospective of David and Cheries' wallpapers which will be great to see. I'll keep you posted.