A unique collaboration between Dreamtime Flooring and GH Commercial is bringing Indigenous artwork to life through flooring while supporting First Nations communities in the process.
Proud Yorta Yorta man and Managing Director of Dreamtime Flooring Josh Haddock and National Sales Manager at GH Commercial Joel Williamson share more about their work together.
“The partnership is a strategic one based on trust. We still operate as two separate companies but come together with a mutual goal that is to celebrate and recognise Indigenous culture through the flooring medium,” Managing Director of Dreamtime Flooring Josh Haddock says.
“It comes with the strength of being Australian made and manufactured in Geelong and with the strength of being an 100% Indigenous owned company. GH are our sole manufacturer and Dreamtime Flooring is the sole wholesaler of the product”.
“Together we’re stronger,” National Sales Manager at GH Commercial Joel Williamson says.
“Our goal is to see Dreamtime growing and prospering and being a real force when it comes to flooring products in Australia. We are seeing these large companies coming in and acquiring artists’ IP and somehow this has to be broken so the artists can grow. We are doing this because we choose to work with each other and we are inspired to work with each other”.
Josh says the value of the partnership is that GH Commercial is coming forward with the understanding of the importance of buying Indigenous products through Indigenous people.
“Ultimately it’s our story to tell it’s our history to share and these are our pathways forward. And while they're learning from us we are learning from them too. They’re showing us the tricks of the trade. They’re not just manufacturing for us they’re partnering with us, they’re helping to upskill us as a company and showing us how we can do things better,” he says.
“The traditional model takes ownership, it doesn’t do anything to help upskill us to tackle the corporate world the way GH has been able to do since the 1800s. In all fairness, it’s time for us to get our turn to do that”.
Josh says sharing Aboriginal artwork through flooring designs is an important way to ensure their culture isn’t lost.
“Indigenous people didn’t have a written language. Our stories are in our artwork so every time an Indigenous artwork-inspired product is presented it brings our stories back to life and it continues the conversation of the stories”.
The artists that Dreamtime Flooring and GH Commercial work with receive not only their initial payment but an ongoing commission base.
Dreamtime Flooring donates a percentage of its own profits from every square metre of flooring sold towards supporting First Nations communities. Last year this money supported On-Country Pathways and its initiatives.
Dreamtime Flooring’s latest range with GH Commercial, the Here Before Collection is about to launch. The Here Before collection has been developed in a way that it can be used effectively in any space across Australia.
“We put a lot of effort into making sure we could share the stories without crossing cultural lines,” Josh says of the new collection.
Listen to the full podcast here.
