In 2015, Jonathan Bryant of Urbis embarked upon the sensitive reconstruction of the Art Deco interior of the Futurist Room at Sydney's State Theatre. The first stage involved the conservation of the unique murals which was carried out by International Conservation Services. The second stage focused on the accurate reconstruction of the room's Art Deco style carpet.
In 2017, more reconstruction work was carried out, this time for the lavish Butterfly Room with its Louis XIV furniture and butterfly shaped lamps. The aim was once again to restore the original murals and recreate the delicate butterfly patterned carpet.
The major challenge for both rooms was to piece together the designs of these unique windows into the past, armed only with the original black and white photographs of the rooms taken at the opening and descriptions from news articles.
“Given the historic importance of the Character Rooms and the challenge of faithfully recreating their unique carpets, I didn't hesitate in approaching Designer Rugs to work with us. My relationship with Designer Rugs goes back almost twenty years and there was no room for compromise on a project of such historic importance.”