The City of Ballarat engaged Fold Theory to produce a large-scale centrepiece and exhibition furniture for the 2026 festival hub of its annual Ballarat Heritage Festival. The approximately half-scale recreation of a 1901 Chinese Arch — an artistic interpretation more than a replica — was still an enormous 4.15-metre span for a 100% cardboard structure, and required load testing and structural engineering certification. The rest of the exhibition was told through interpretive cardboard walls, printed with the Hidden Histories of Ballarat, with artefacts supported by load-bearing cardboard plinths. The exhibition ran for four days, with all the cardboard recycled afterwards.
When conducting my own research into the 1901 Chinese Arch, I came across a photograph that captured something remarkable – how the arch had actually been constructed. The image revealed the arch as a timber scaffold clad in silk. Light coming from behind made the cloth appear translucent, and the bones of the structure were revealed in a tantalising silhouette. My proposal leapt from this inspiration. Translucent paper stands in for silk, the whole upper section glowing like a paper lantern, with a colourful dragon perched on top.
Client: Ballarat Heritage Festival by City of Ballarat
Location: Ballarat Mining Exchange
Date: 2026
Photography: Mira Kim of Meda Design
With thanks: The project was made possible by a large team of people. Tamara Vermeend, City of Ballarat, steered both aspects of Fold Theory’s input – the arch and the exhibition furniture – and Steuart Orchard, Katash printed and fabricated all the cardboard, with CPC Print’s Rod Johns printing the paper facade. Felicity Martin, CACHE Curating, commissioned the exhibition walls and plinths, drawing on research and storytelling from Dr David Waldron and artefacts and imagery from Sovereign Hill’s Australian Centre for Gold Rush Collections, courtesy of Tina Lee, collections manager, and Lauren Bourke, head of collections and curatorial – including the Chinese banners and silk imagery used on the arch itself – with graphic design by Van Sanders, City of Ballarat. A large team of installers, too numerous to name, helped build every element – with particular thanks to Danny, Sami, Ashley and Michael, and to my partner Holly, my sister Lucinda, her partner Jary, and my mother Heather.
The arch was created for Ballarat’s Chinese community, and Charles Zhang, president of the Chinese Australian Cultural Society Ballarat, was a generous advisor throughout. Philip Malmgren animated the banners, Tom Cashman signed off the engineering testing, and archival imagery was courtesy of Michael Backman, London.