In the buildings where iconic Onkaparinga blankets were once made, Fabrik Arts + Heritage is weaving a new story.
The recently opened Fabrik celebrates textile heritage and the history of the Onkaparinga Woollen Mill throughout the space with museum displays. The hub has galleries, artist studios, workshop spaces, a museum and retail store.
The newly built pavilion includes an exciting retail space stocking a huge range of South Australian art, furnishings, homewares and accessories.
Fabrik is open Wednesday through to Sunday from 11am to 4pm.
Fabrik weaves together contemporary art practices, local makers, First Nations cultural traditions, and international textile craftsmanship. It also emphasises textile sustainability, reuse, and recycling as part of its ongoing story, shaping the future of this unique and historic site.
History of Fabrik
The Onkaparinga Woollen Mill site is one of the few former mill precincts in Australia that has been well preserved and successfully repurposed. When the Mill closed in the early 1990s the precinct was managed by Council and became a home for start-up business enterprises. Today there are eight established food, wine and engineering businesses on site and as many people employed as there were when the Mill closed.
Throughout this time a cluster of industrial buildings in the heart of the site have been used for cultural purposes, including markets, community museum displays and art exhibitions. In 2015 a local art collective called Hills Art formed to develop arts and cultural activity at the Mill and to demonstrate to Council and the wider community the potential the site held as a cultural centre. The success of these community members, along with extensive community consultation, led to the decision of the Adelaide Hills Council in 2018 to develop an arts and heritage hub, aimed at building community connections, encouraging community creativity, attracting visitors to Lobethal and supporting arts business enterprises.
Why Fabrik?
The language of textiles is rich and we had many wonderful options to choose from. Fabrik is the German word for factory or mill and its use acknowledges the old woollen mill’s functions as well as giving a nod to Lobethal’s German roots.
