As Fiona Spence hung pieces from her inaugural collection of bathroom towels on a clothesline in a field on the northern tip of Bruny Island over-looking the Tasman Sea, it was as if she was raising a flag for a new Australian design aesthetic.

The homewares brand, named Innate, features richly woven textiles abstractly patterned in a plethora of earthy hues and watery blues with judicious daubings of inky black.