Dorothy Herel, Text vest – Jabberwocky, linen fibre paper, silk and letterpress, Losne, printed by Thierry Bouchard, 1991; stitched by Dorothy and Petr Herel, Rare Books collection, gift of Petr Herel. Image used by kind permission of Petr Herel.

The exquisitely realised textile and costume designs by Melbourne-born artist Dorothy Herel (1939–2016) defy arbitrary divisions between fine and applied arts. Influenced by both her Australian training and her many years in France, Dorothy – like her husband, the Czech printmaker Petr Herel – embraced paper and poetry as key mediums. This Text vest, which features Lewis Carroll’s Jabberwocky (1872) in English and French, captures the poetic delicacy and delight in materials that characterised Dorothy’s oeuvre.