Take one enormous roller door, wrap it in a beautifully under-stated, original and authentic Aboriginal design, then drop a removable easy-dot print wrap over the top, to convince the other Block contestants that an arrogant self-portrait design is the finished product. What you are left with is TV gold, dreamed up by renowned design and printing company Grafico, in collaboration with The Block 2025 contestants Britt and Taz and local roller door company 4D Doors.
Channel 9's The Block film crew record the moment Corney and his team unwrapped the top layer of artwork to reveal a considerably more palatable original Aboriginal artwork
As the official wallpaper product sponsor for popular Channel 9 reality TV show ‘The Block’ for the last 11 seasons of the show, Creative Director and founding CEO of Grafico Group, Damian Corney, was delighted to hear that 4D Doors had the appetite to do something different for the final ‘reveal’ of this year’s The Block season.
The finished product once the original contestant image had been peeled away“We collaborated with a local, Daylesford-based aboriginal art collective called Dumawul, who provided an authentic Aboriginal art design. But we needed to hide the artwork from the other contestants until the show’s Sunday reveal, so we hatched a plan with the contestants of this house to wrap a second layer over the base layer of the Aboriginal art to trick contestants into thinking this second layer was the final artwork.”
Corney continues: “To keep things entertaining, for the second layer, we designed a larger than life
An image of contestants Britt and Taz comprised the overlay print prior to revealing the final more modest version beneath image of the two contestants working on that house, Britt and Taz, making sure it was still done artistically with the right colour palette, to trick the other contestants into believing this self-portrait was actually the somewhat arrogant, finished product.”
Both artworks were digitally printed using Grafico’s Canon Colorado, with the designs showcasing the key strengths of the printer’s UVgel technology. Corney adds: “We knew that the Colorado would enable us to produce prints that remain vivid and scratch-resistant and that there would be no issues with prints bowing or stretching. Moreover, the durability of the UVgel inks ensures the prints are able to endure the wear and tear that they will likely receive being wrapped on a giant garage roller-door.”
The Aboriginal art design for the roller door was printed on Grafico's Canon ColoradoGrafico used Arlon Easy Apply High-tac plus matching matte laminate to wrap the doors and Corney adds: “We used a removable easy-dot print over the top of the original wrap layer to hide the primary artwork design, which we then un-wrapped on ‘judgement day’ to reveal this beautifully under-stated, original and authentic Aboriginal design and not the giant selfie as the final, tasteful roller-door artwork.”
The contestants managed to keep the entire project ‘under wraps’ (pun intended) and the final reveal took place in front of the other contestants and Channel 9 cameras, fittingly as the last reveal of The Block 2025 season.
Corney concludes: “One great side outcome for Grafico is that we have been wanting to collaborate with an Aboriginal art group for years now but it hasn't eventuated, so collaborating with Dumawul was personally very rewarding and I enjoyed spending many hours with their artists up in Bendigo. We are now creating a large 'collection' of Aboriginal artworks to be released as custom print wallpapers for customers to be able to purchase online and install in their own homes or commercial spaces.
Some of these new Aboriginal artworks have already been released through Grafico Group’s online store, which took off during the COVID-19 pandemic and has grown to become a key part of its business. Fans of The Block are able to purchase the exact designs featured on the show, shipped directly to their doors, whether in Australia, New Zealand or anywhere in the world.
