When Melbourne artist Fleur Harris reached out to Foamex about our recycled foam earlier this year, the conversation wasn’t focused on products or specifications. It was about magical storytelling.
Fleur was in the early stages of reimagining Enid Blyton’s ‘The Magic Faraway Tree’ as a large-scale sculptural installation for a special Christmas window at the iconic David Jones Bourke Street store – a project that would be seen by over a million people throughout the festive season. Her vision: a giant storybook with wild toadstools growing from its cover, decorated with a whimsical forest scene inspired by Blyton’s iconic tales.
What followed was a creative collaboration that blended art, material science, sustainability, and a fun amount of experimentation and problem-solving.
Starting with curiosity (and lots of testing!)
Like many sculptors and set designers, Fleur initially gravitated toward XPS foam board as a base material. Extruded polystyrene (XPS) is commonly used in creative builds due to its strength and stability – and Foamex’s StyroTherm XPS sheets offered something rare in the global market: it is the only XPS manufactured in Australia and it can contain up to 90% recycled EPS packaging collected from local communities via StyroCycle and commercial recycling streams.
For Fleur, making sustainable material choices is a critical aspect of her creative practice..
Fleur shared much of her process behind the build with her instagram community online, valuing transparency around why specific materials were selected and how they were used throughout the build.
As with any ambitious creative project, testing quickly revealed realities. StyroTherm XPS is designed as a high-performance construction insulation material, built to withstand compressive loads and deliver long-term durability. That density, while ideal for building applications, made intricate hand-sculpting slow and with a deadline of only two months, it was impractical at the scale required for the installation.
Fleur and our Foamex team put their thinking caps on to workshop a new material choice and sculpting method that would allow her to deliver an exceptional sculpture in a short amount of time, and the pivot delivered incredible results!
Finding a Practical Way Forward
Rather than pushing forward with a material that wasn’t behaving as needed, the focus shifted to problem-solving: understanding why it wasn’t working, what alternatives were available, and how to keep the project on track without compromising the creative outcome or the installation timeline.
Foamex worked closely with Fleur to explore an alternative: recycled EPS blocks – expanded polystyrene blocks manufactured specifically for profiling and shaping. These blocks are made from recycled EPS packaging and are commonly used for geotechnical void fill (EPS void fill), signage, and custom forms
Using detailed CAD drawings supplied by Fleur, Foamex’s team produced profiled EPS foam blocks that formed the base shapes of the giant book, the toadstools and additional structural elements. These custom EPS blocks provided a practical base for Fleur to refine and finish by hand in her studio – where the real magic happened!
Back at the studio, she assembled, carved, painted, and textured the pieces by hand – transforming raw foam into organic, whimsical forms that were alive with craftsmanship and storytime nostalgia. The final result bore no resemblance to its technical origins – and Fleur’s fans on instagram were wowed by the transformation.
Creativity, Collaboration, and Circular Thinking
Behind the scenes, sustainability wasn’t treated as an add-on or a talking point – it was an important part of how the project was managed.
Materials were handled thoughtfully, with excess product and clean offcuts bagged and separated so they could be recycled where possible. Just as importantly, Fleur chose to share the process openly with her highly engaged audience, including the challenges, the testing, and the realities of being a solo artist building something at this scale.
That openness mattered. It showed that more responsible outcomes don’t come from perfect materials or ideal conditions, but from informed decisions, flexibility when things don’t go to plan, and a genuine effort to keep resources in use rather than discarded.
From Workshop to Window
As installation day approached, dozens of individual elements were transported and assembled inside the David Jones Bourke Street window – each piece designed to fit through doors, be assembled on site, and sit safely within a public display to be viewed by millions over the season.
The finished installation captured exactly what Fleur had envisioned: wonder, nostalgia, and imagination at scale.
For Foamex, it was a reminder that materials engineered for construction, insulation, and infrastructure can also play a role in cultural and creative spaces – and that is is particularly special when they are locally manufactured, responsibly sourced, and part of a broader circular economy.
Why This Collaboration Matters
Projects like this sit at the intersection of art, industry, and sustainability.
They challenge assumptions about materials like EPS and XPS, showing that when managed responsibly, recycled foam can be a resource, not a liability. They also highlight the high value of collaboration – between artists, manufacturers, and recyclers – in finding solutions that respect both creative ambition and environmental responsibility.
Most importantly, they allow us to explore the great things that happen when people come together from different sectors and think outside the box to bring a special kind of magic to the world.
‘The knowledge, encouragement and practical support that the Foamex team provided me with from the beginning of this project through to the end made this artwork installation an absolute joy to create. Their solution focused, outcome oriented approach was something that I truly appreciated – and they’re really lovely people!’ – Fleur Harris
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