After visiting a pair of tapestries at the Sydney Opera House by Australian abstract artist, John Coburn, last year, mid-century design enthusiast Tim Ross was struck by their magnificence. They were at once soaring and grounded, vast and intimate. They were originally commissioned as curtains, designed to represent the vitality and exuberance of performance within the institution’s interior design. They had been in storage since the ’80s, until just last year, when a mammoth conservation effort was undertaken to restore them.
Inspired by the tapestries’ intricate fabrication and close-to-forgotten existence, Tim embarked on creating a new podcast to explore the history and significance of the textiles, plus two others designed by modern architectural pioneer, Le Corbusier, and the Opera House’s own controversial architect, Jørn Utzon. Through a series of interviews conducted with specialists and personal relatives, House Stories: The Tapestries reveals the swashbuckling tales of excitement and