EXCLUSIVE interview
with
Dr Annette Gero
QUILT HISTORIAN
In conjunction with the release of her astonishing new
book The Fabric of Society, we share an exclusive
interview with quilt historian, Dr Annette Gero. We
share the story of her career as a collector of quilts and
how she came to create such a huge, wonderful book
of old Australian quilts and a selection of patterns.
Annette Gero has spent more than two decades collecting and researching old quilts from
America and Australia. After a chance sighting of a quilt in the early ‘80s, her love affair
with quilts began, firstly for old American quilts then old Australian quilts.
Her collection grew as her reputation grew. Annette was invited to speak at various events and
quilt shows around the country, where she met more and more quilters and heard more and more
quilt stories. Annette studiously recorded each quilt’s details, with a deep conviction that these
quilts were precious and important. Her life-long passion for design and textiles easily fed her growing interests. }“I grew up with a mathematical mind and
masses of
Interview Begins fabric around
the house.
”
DS: You work in medical research. How and
when did you become interested in quilts?
AG: My profession as a scientist sent me to
the USA to do medical research in the early
1980s – that was when I saw my first quilt.
DS: What was it about old quilts that
intrigued you?
AG: When I saw my first quilt it was love
at first sight; graphic designs and wonderful
fabrics. The way one could change the
outcome of a pattern by changing the fabric
colours fascinated me! It was basically the
graphic nature that attracted me to the quilts,
but it also was the stunning quilting, which I
learnt to look out for; those wonderful stitches
that created the three dimensional effect.
As a kid I always wanted to be a doctor,
but I ended up doing medical research. My
mum and I always designed and made my
clothes. My love of textiles and fabrics came
from my mother, who was a textile and
fashion designer and my mathematical mind
came from my father, who is a scientist;
I grew up with a mathematical mind and
masses of fabric around the house.
