Stained glass windows like you've never seen: How an abstract artist transformed an East Melbourne cafe

We are constantly looking for new ways to engage with Rowena Martinich’s expressionist art.

Be it splashed over table linen or scrawled across wallpaper, her radical use of colour and her abstract patterns have a bewitching effect.

Thanks to a gob-smacking new project in East Melbourne, there’s a quaint coffee shop that now serves as proof of Martinich’s genius, where a floor-to-ceiling mural bears her signature mark.

Martinich’s first high-profile project was a series of murals that incorporated a five-storey window at RMIT University. This new installation may be on a smaller scale, but it packs plenty of personal significance.

Nestled in Fitzroy Gardens, KereKere cafe runs a series of initiatives to support the community, and regularly showcases the work of local artists. It also happens to be Martinich’s preferred place to start her day. 

‘Whenever I visited KereKere, I felt like the large end window would be perfect to create a contemporary stained glass window, to activate an otherwise transient experience of looking out onto a courtyard,’ she says.

‘The other windows in the cafe frame views of the gardens, which are absolutely beautiful.’

When Martinich was chosen to be the shop’s new artist in residency, the stars aligned.

‘On entering KereKere you get a strong sense of an uplifting communal spirit,’ she says of the space. ‘I wanted to reflect this in the artwork, to make [it] accessible, [and to] give back in a way that is not directly commercial,’ she says. 

Martinich wanted her installation to light a spark between patrons at the cafe. With those soaring patterns of bright pink and yellow, the mural is certainly a conversation starter. ‘Our everyday lives are very structured – My artwork is a contrast to this.’

The interplay between light and shade also adds to the installation’s effect. As natural light changes throughout the day, so too does the reflection of colours inside the cafe.

‘The way the artwork reads from the interior to the exterior is also quite different,’ adds Martinich. ‘By moving through the space and out into the courtyard, you get a whole other perspective of the painting – The painted side from the courtyard, and the reverse from the interior.’

While the actual painting of the artwork onto clear adhesive vinyl took about a week, the installation took place over the course of one day, mainly at the hands of Martinich’s husband Geoffrey.

‘I was pregnant at the time, and not hugely into climbing ladders,’ she says.

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