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Woolgathering with Patricia Piccinini.

We love looking back at stories told with some of our favourite clients, collaborators, and communities. We’re sharing these here as a series called Woolgathering.

Today we’re revisiting an interview with @patricia.piccinini, published through our @inwildair project.

In Wild Air was a weekly newsletter that invited guests to share six things they love. Patricia’s edition feels especially prescient in our current moment, featuring her personal take on Frankenstein, “animal economics”, bodies, homes, and the concept of Posthumanism, which she explains beautifully here:

“Posthumanism sounds like something from science fiction, evoking images of bionic, super-enhanced people who have eschewed their humanity in favour of future technology. This is not what it means. In reality, Posthumanism is both more radical and less dramatic. It is a contemporary philosophical position that aims to shift the place of the human (usually in the form of an old, white man) from the centre of the ‘classical humanist’ universe. While there is something to be said for the ideals of ‘fairness’ associated with humanism, the extent of this actually quite limited and much of the disastrous way we treat the environment comes from setting ourselves outside of it, apart from it, or above it, rather than within it.

Philosophers such as Donna Haraway and Rosi Braidotti invoke the term to imagine a world in which people are part of the universe — along with all other animals and organisms — rather than the rulers of it. Obviously, I’m grossly simplifying a complex idea that I would love to understand better myself, and I apologise for that. However, both personally and in my work, I am very excited to know that there are people out there thinking deeply about another way that we might imagine ourselves and our relationships with the world that surrounds us”.

“There’s this fantastic 80s video of a conversation between a very young Isabelle Huppert and Jean-Luc Godard between scenes on Sauve Qui Peut. Huppert is lost, trying to find who she is within the role, asking the director what she should do, who she should be. Knowing isn’t interesting, he says. Seeing is interesting. She sits uncomfortably with this. It sucks that feeling of not knowing, but that is the dreadful state of when you’re really doing the work. I wrote it on a post-it, for when I’m in the mire, which is pretty much always”.

Close Reading is a dispatch of literary obsessions, published by @woolgather.co. Each edition features a guest writer who shares one word, one quote, one lyric, one book, and “one other thing”.

The eighth edition is by @jaynetuttle, a writer, performer, and bookseller. 

Trained in theatre at the École Jacques Lecoq in Paris, she has worked as an actor, director, translator, and bilingual copywriter. Her first book, Paris or Die (@hardiegrantbooks) was developed into a solo theatre show with director John Bolton and performed throughout Australia and France between 2021 and 2023. The book is currently optioned for development into a feature film.

In 2023 and 2026 she was a laureate of the City of Paris, to research, write and perform in Paris in conjunction with @recolletsparis. She has received fellowships and awards from La Napoule Arts Foundation, @bundanontrust, @regionalartsvic, and the @nationalwritershouse 

Jayne co-owns @thebookshopatqueenscliff in coastal Victoria.

In this edition, Jayne shares words of nature, dreams, travel, friendship, and the search for understanding.

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Subscribe free at closereading.co

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Illustration by @lachconn

“For the last few years, I have taught a lot of creative writing classes centred around nature and climate change, and I always assign Daisy Hildyard’s The Second Body either in excerpt or in full. ‘The Second Body’ is an incredibly useful concept, particularly for artists and writers. Hildyard talks about the ways in which we inhabit both our first bodies – the one sitting here reading this, digesting food, scratching at a hang nail – and our second bodies, which might be thought of ecosystemic bodies, which connect us to every living thing on earth. Sometimes the first body crashes into the second body, and it’s those moments that I find myself encountering more and more in the last five years. Whenever I do, I am incredibly grateful to have Daisy Hildyard’s work to think with”.

Close Reading is a dispatch of literary obsessions, published by @woolgather.co. Each edition features a guest writer who shares one word, one quote, one lyric, one book, and “one other thing”.

The sixth edition is by @madeleine_watts, a writer of novels, stories, and essays. Originally from Sydney, now based in Berlin, Madeleine’s debut novel, The Inland Sea, was shortlisted for the 2021 @milesfranklinliteraryaward and the UTS Glenda Adams Award for New Writing. Her second novel, Elegy, Southwest, was published in February 2025 by @simonandschuster (North America), @pushkin_press (UK), and @ultimopress (ANZ). It has been shortlisted for the Christina Stead Prize for Fiction and longlisted for the ALS Gold Medal.

Her writing has been published in Harper’s Magazine, The Baffler, The Believer, The White Review, Literary Hub, The Paris Review Daily, Los Angeles Review of Books, The Irish Times, Guernica, Meanjin and The Lifted Brow, among others. She is the winner of the 2015 Griffith Review Novella Competition. Between 2014 and 2020 she was a bookseller at McNally Jackson in New York City.

In this edition, Madeleine shares words of understanding, communication, the pleasure of bookstores, and the connections between body and mind.

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Subscribe free at closereading.co

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Illustration by @lachconn

Woolgathering with Jessica Grindstaff.

We love looking back at stories told with some of our favourite clients, collaborators, and communities. We’re sharing these here as a series called Woolgathering.

Today we’re revisiting an interview with @jessicagrindstaff of @phantomlimbcompany, published through our @inwildair project.

In Wild Air was a weekly newsletter that invited guests to share six things they love. Jessica shared her love of writer Karl Ove Knausgaard, Peter Zumthor’s architecture, poetry, soaps, and ceramics, but it was her dream cocktail party guest list that we keep returning to:

“Erik Sanko and I have been having a conversation for 20 years about what it would be like if such and such (insert deceased luminary here) were to meet such and such and what would they talk about. We decided to make a short film that is a cocktail party where all of these people are invited and finally meeting. They are of course all marionettes on an intricate lush set. Their conversations are collaged from pre-existing recorded dialogue of their actual voices. The big surprise is when the camera pans up revealing the puppeteers, I won’t spoil it.

These are the people: Harry Houdini, Louise Bourgeois, Groucho Marx, Alfred Hitchcock, Hellen Keller, Frida Khalo, Vladimir Nabokov, Ernest Shackleton, Georgia O’Keefe, Diane Arbus, Jean Michel Basquiat, Bill Baird, Joseph Beuys, TS Eliot, Derek Wolcott, Claude CahoonJohn BergerSalvador DaliPina BauschDavid Bowie, Paul Klee, Egon Schiele, James Baldwin, John Lennon, Maya Angelou, Zora Neale Hurston, Captain Beefheart, Oliver Sacks, Joseph Campbell, Billie Holiday, Virginia Wolf, William S Burroughs, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Pablo Neruda, Italo Calvino, Maurice Sendak, Edward Gorey, Mapplethorpe, Charles And Rae Eames, Shostakovich, Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, Nina Simone, Frank Lloyd Wright, and Samuel Becket”

Our work often involves deep research into history, culture, and ecology. A few years back, we partnered with @nswnationalparks on a project called Our Grand Canyon, an exhibition and educational program that sought to celebrate the restoration of the historic Grand Canyon walking track in the Blue Mountains.

This carousel features just a handful of treasures we found with local naturalist Ian Brown. There’s a great privilege in sharing these moments that often go unseen, stories that often go untold.

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#environment #ecology #bluemountains #writing storytelling

Our work often involves deep research into history, culture, and ecology. A few years back, we partnered with @nswnationalparks on a project called Our Grand Canyon, an exhibition and educational program that sought to celebrate the restoration of the historic Grand Canyon walking track in the Blue Mountains.

This carousel features just a handful of treasures we found with local naturalist Ian Brown. There’s a great privilege in sharing these moments that often go unseen, stories that often go untold.

…
#environment #ecology #bluemountains #writing storytelling

Our work often involves deep research into history, culture, and ecology. A few years back, we partnered with @nswnationalparks on a project called Our Grand Canyon, an exhibition and educational program that sought to celebrate the restoration of the historic Grand Canyon walking track in the Blue Mountains.

This carousel features just a handful of treasures we found with local naturalist Ian Brown. There’s a great privilege in sharing these moments that often go unseen, stories that often go untold.

…
#environment #ecology #bluemountains #writing storytelling

Our work often involves deep research into history, culture, and ecology. A few years back, we partnered with @nswnationalparks on a project called Our Grand Canyon, an exhibition and educational program that sought to celebrate the restoration of the historic Grand Canyon walking track in the Blue Mountains.

This carousel features just a handful of treasures we found with local naturalist Ian Brown. There’s a great privilege in sharing these moments that often go unseen, stories that often go untold.

…
#environment #ecology #bluemountains #writing storytelling

Our work often involves deep research into history, culture, and ecology. A few years back, we partnered with @nswnationalparks on a project called Our Grand Canyon, an exhibition and educational program that sought to celebrate the restoration of the historic Grand Canyon walking track in the Blue Mountains.

This carousel features just a handful of treasures we found with local naturalist Ian Brown. There’s a great privilege in sharing these moments that often go unseen, stories that often go untold.

…
#environment #ecology #bluemountains #writing storytelling

Our work often involves deep research into history, culture, and ecology. A few years back, we partnered with @nswnationalparks on a project called Our Grand Canyon, an exhibition and educational program that sought to celebrate the restoration of the historic Grand Canyon walking track in the Blue Mountains.

This carousel features just a handful of treasures we found with local naturalist Ian Brown. There’s a great privilege in sharing these moments that often go unseen, stories that often go untold.

…
#environment #ecology #bluemountains #writing storytelling

Our work often involves deep research into history, culture, and ecology. A few years back, we partnered with @nswnationalparks on a project called Our Grand Canyon, an exhibition and educational program that sought to celebrate the restoration of the historic Grand Canyon walking track in the Blue Mountains.

This carousel features just a handful of treasures we found with local naturalist Ian Brown. There’s a great privilege in sharing these moments that often go unseen, stories that often go untold.

…
#environment #ecology #bluemountains #writing storytelling

“The marvellous German compound word Vergangenheitsbewältigung means ‘coming to terms with the past’, most often used in relation to Germany’s reckoning with its 20th-century history. When I lived in Berlin in the 1990s I saw this process everywhere: in the overhauling of the old displays at the Sachsenhausen concentration camp memorial that ignored post-war East German brutalities; and in the small brass plaques – Stolpersteine, or ‘stumbling stones’ – set into pavements outside the homes of those who were deported, reminding passers-by of lives erased. The fact that there is a word for this speaks, to me, of a willingness to look the past in the face. In Aotearoa we are only beginning to teach our difficult histories in schools.

Close Reading is a dispatch of literary obsessions, published by @woolgather.co . Each edition features a guest writer who shares one word, one quote, one lyric, one book, and “one other thing”.

The sixth edition is by @catherinechidgey, an award-winning writer, based in Aotearoa New Zealand. Regarded as “one of New Zealand’s greatest living writers” (@radio_new_zealand ), her debut, In a Fishbone Church, won Best First Book at both the New Zealand Book Awards and the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize (South-East Asia and South Pacific region). The Axeman’s Carnival and The Wish Child both won the Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction – New Zealand’s most prestigious literary award. Catherine Chidgey lectures in Creative Writing at the University of Waikato. Her latest novel is The Book of Guilt, published by @penguinbooks in 2025.

In this edition, Catherine shares words of memory, history, and the beauty of wild places.

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Subscribe free at closereading.co

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Illustration by @lachconn

Woolgathering with John Baldessari.

We love looking back at stories told with some of our favourite clients and collaborators. We’re sharing these here as a series called Woolgathering.

Today we’re revisiting an interview with the late, great artist John Baldessari, published through our @inwildair project.

In Wild Air was a weekly newsletter that invited guests to share six things they love. John passed away shortly after sharing his. We believe it was his final interview.

The edition was one of our favourites, memorable for how hilariously brief it was. In fact we can post the entire thing below.

1. Gangster Movies: I wish I could be one.
2. Philip Guston: Amazing Painter.
3. My Living Room Chair: Comfy and inviting.
4. Barolo Wine: Tastiest one I know.
5. Toy Helicopters: How do they do that?
6. My Studio Staff: Incredibly efficient.

John, wherever you are, we thank you for your work, your time, and your humour.

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Photos by @fuchsalbrecht

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#environment #ecology #bluemountains #writing #storytelling

“Now is the time to read beyond headlines, forensically check credentials of writers and sources, deliberately recalibrate our algorithms to disrupt our echo chambers, seek out trusted voices. To become part of the conversation that extends beyond repeating the – often hilariously – horrifying clickbait and conspiracy fodder meme-ing around”.

Close Reading is a dispatch of literary obsessions, published by @woolgather.co. Each edition features a guest writer who shares one word, one quote, one lyric, one book, and “one other thing”.

The fifth edition is by @zoesado, a writer, designer, and educator based in Sydney. Zoë Sadokierski is associate professor in @vc.hons @utsengage. Her practice-based research explores ways that visual communication – particularly illustrated nonfiction, data storytelling and anarchival collage – can be used to engage audiences with complex scientific and cultural issues. She is a former president and founding member of the. @theabda. In 2015 Zoë established Page Screen Books, an independent publisher of artist’s books and visual essays. Her works on paper and artist books have been exhibited and collected internationally. Her book Father, Son and Other Animals (@corditepublishing, 2024) explores climate change and species extinctions through the lenses of parenting and creative practice.

In this edition, Zoë shares words of nature, technology, creativity, literacy, and the importance in finding perspective.

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Subscribe free at closereading.co

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Illustration by @lachconn

The stuff that dreams are made of.

Lifted from The Tempest, borrowed from The Maltese Falcon, and adapted for Golden Age Cinema & Bar. This quote could also be used to describe that perfect relationship with a client where you’re both singing from the same hymn book.

Woolgather founder @heathkillen worked with @ourgoldenage for many years as an art director, copywriter, and campaign designer. The real gold for this brand was found not just in mining movie culture for beautiful words and images, but in translating them for use. Anyone can quote, but expressing that quote in your own voice is where the dream comes to life.

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#movies #design #storytelling #branding #copywriting

“Over the last decade, as I’ve grappled with the implications of polycrisis and collapse, American essayist Rebecca Solnit has been a guiding light. In particular, I often return to her words from the 2004 collection Hope in the Dark: “Stories trap us, stories free us, we live and die by stories”, with the consequence that “the change that counts in revolution takes place first in the imagination”.

Close Reading is a dispatch of literary obsessions, published by @woolgather.co. Each edition features a guest writer who shares one word, one quote, one lyric, one book, and “one other thing”.

The fourth edition is by @yves_rees. Dr. Rees (they/them) is a Senior Lecturer in History at La Trobe University, co-host of Archive Fever history podcast, and founding editor of @lantana_journal They are the author of Travelling to Tomorrow: the modern women who sparked Australia’s romance with America (@newsouthpublishing, 2024) and All About Yves: Notes from a Transition (@allenandunwin, 2021), as well as co-editor of Nothing to Hide: Voices of Trans and Gender Diverse Australia (Allen & Unwin, 2022) and Transnationalism, Nationalism and Australian History (@palgrave_macmillan , 2017). Their essays and criticism have been published in the Guardian, The Age, @sydreviewbooks, @australianbookreview, @meanjinquarterly_, @griffithreview, @crikey.news, and @overlandlitmag , among other publications. They are also co-editor of the journal History Australia and guest curator of the 2026 @transbookfestival.

In this edition, Yves shares words of resistance, empowerment, and the search for hope and community in times of despair.

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Subscribe free at closereading.co

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Illustration by @lachconn

As we move toward another @dark_mofo season, we’ve been reflecting on our time working with this iconic cultural brand.

As former art director for the festival, Woolgather founder @heathkillen helped define new chapters in the ongoing Dark Mofo story.

One of the most striking aspects of the brand is its discipline. With an extremely limited colour palette and an often antagonistic approach to typography, space, tone, and the written word develop a special power.

Each year, core themes such as “resurrection” quietly underpin the season’s campaign, echoing through every touchpoint, from copywriting to moving image to environmental design.

The work is forged through deep conversations on symbolism, mythology, sociology, and art, which as you can imagine, are some of our favourite days at the office.

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#darkmofo #design #storytelling #branding #copywriting

“‘A Parhelion is a bright spot in the sky appearing on either side of the sun, formed by the refraction of sunlight through ice crystals high in the atmosphere. Also known as a ‘mock sun’ or ‘sun dog’. I’ve never had the chance/confidence to use this word in real life, but I love the way it looks and sounds”

Close Reading is a dispatch of literary obsessions. Each edition features a guest writer who shares one word, one quote, one lyric, one book, and “one other thing”.

The third edition is by @lauraelizabethwoollett. Laura is the author of a short story collection, The Love of a Bad Man (2016), and three novels, Beautiful Revolutionary (2018), The Newcomer (2021)—all published by @scribepub—and West Girls. The Love of a Bad Man was shortlisted for the Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for Fiction and the Ned Kelly Award for Best First Fiction. Beautiful Revolutionary was shortlisted for the 2019 Prime Minister’s Literary Award for Fiction and the Australian Literature Society Gold Medal. West Girls was longlisted for the 2024 @thestellaprize.

In this edition, Laura shares words of home, humour, atmospheres, lost books, and found podcasts.

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Subscribe at closereading.co

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Illustration by @lachconn