Guy Keulemens x Kyoko Hashimoto
Guy Keulemans and Kyoko Hashimoto — 'Paperchain No.2' in Feral Olive Tree, 2026
Paperchain No.2, feral olive tree is a contemporary neckpiece using animist inspired concepts to explore the place, materiality and spirit of changing Australian ecologies. The work is a large-scale paper mâché chain made from feral olive tree paper, presented in its natural tone and in colours dyed using leaves from olive and eucalyptus trees.
The materials are harvested from the artists' own backyard in the Adelaide Hills. Feral olive trees (Olea europaea, subspecies europaea) are a fast-growing, invasive plant in Australia that pose a significant fire hazard due to their dense, low foliage. While eucalyptus terpenes ignite more quickly, oil-rich olive tree bushes create a ‘ladder fuel’ effect that spreads scrub fires up from ground to canopy.
Guy and Kyoko harvested, stripped and processed olive tree plant fibres into paper, extracting a dye from its leaves, complemented with a darker dye made from eucalyptus leaves. The work aligns with place-based making practices and bioregional design principles for resource extraction by focusing on local materials. For the artists, the labour placed into paper-making, sculpting and dyeing, are acts of embodiment. They attempt to enter into a para-sensory relationship with the plant, a bio-cognition, coaxing into emergence the face of a spirit, that can signal to human and non-human species in a shared ecology.
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Guy Keulemans and Kyoko Hashimoto met in 2000 and have since developed their careers individually and together. Their work proposes ethical and aesthetic challenges to paradigms of material practice in art, craft, design and industry, with specific focus on supply chains and the regenerative capacities of local resources.
They create objects that advocate for new forms of sensory and sustainable engagement with the world. Guy and Kyoko have a love for historical and critical discourse and position their works as tools to open up discussion around materials that transition between the environment, place and the body. Based in Adelaide, Guy and Kyoko are represented by Gallery Sally Dan-Cuthbert, Sydney.
Main Gallery
May 2 - June 27, 2026
Felled reimagines timber supply sources in contemporary woodworking practice. Seven makers and designers with a specialised knowledge of timber engage the material beyond newly processed, machined slabs and find possibilities in existing materials including timber waste and plant-debris as furniture and object-design making material.
Felled joins the discussion on practices of consumption through the exploration of a single material - timber. It considers the environmental impacts of extractive processes and positions new systems of working with existing materials. The exhibition celebrates makers and their specialised practices as invaluable thinkers. It is through small-scale studio practices where deep connections to and empathy with a material sparks innovation and new thinking.
Big ideas for a better future begin in the studio.
The exhibition forms part of Conscious Craft – a Craft Victoria initiative showcasing innovative creations by makers and designers who are actively considering sustainability and ethics in their production methods and use of materials.
This event is part of Melbourne Design Week 2026, an initiative of the Victorian Government through Creative Victoria
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Material: Feral olive tree paper maché, eucalyptus dye, methyl cellulose binder
Dimensions: approx. 110 x 40 x 2.5 mm
Please note when purchasing, exhibition works are to be collected when exhibition closes.
Shipping costs may be estimates. Please feel free to contact shop@craft.org.au who will be available to provide an Art Courier quote or shipping costs for larger items.