Tools of the Trade

Paint brushes

Courtesy Gary Kurzer

Scissor collection

Courtesy Edie Kurzer

Edie Kurzer, Australia, 2020

Object On display
Photograph by Egmont Contreras, ACMI.

Angled. Flat. Tapered. Striker. Brushes come in as many varieties as the tasks they perform on film and television sets. Whether that’s a buffer brush used to smooth the lines of an actor’s makeup, or a mop brush with a rounded edge for soft paint application on a drying prop, they are an essential, albeit overlooked, presence in moving image production. Scissors are another one of those integral items; from the different sized sewing shears used by costume cutters to the razor-sharp blades designed to cut anything from wires to duct tape, they’re an invaluable tool for crew members across every department.

Curator Notes

Edie Kurzer is a celebrated Australian designer. Twice she has won the AACTA Award, the most prestigious prize for costume design in Australia, for her work on the iconic 6 part TV series Picnic at Hanging Rock (Foxtel /FremantleMedia) and the highly lauded ABC mini-series Molly. With Picnic she also won the coveted Australian Production Design Guild’s prize and in 2019 won it once more for the feature film Judy & Punch.

Over the past twenty-five years in Australia Edie has made crucial contributions to major productions such as: the Gillian Armstrong-directed documentary feature film Women He’s Undressed (about Orry Kelly); the influential TV mini-series Secret River and Violent Earth; and the feature films South Solitary (starring Miranda Otto), Look Both Ways, Matching Jack, and Thank God He Met Lizzie (starring Cate Blanchett, Richard Roxburgh and Frances O’Connor). She also designed costumes for Josh Thomas on his ground-breaking television series Please Like Me (season 4).

Internationally, Edie has worked with director Bill Bennett on both In a Savage land and Tempted (starring Burt Reynolds and Saffron Burrows) and with the renowned British film and theatre director Mike Leigh on the Royal Stratford Theatre’s production of A Greek Tragedy (London/Edinburgh/Sydney).

Edie has also collaborated in vital cultural and educational projects in Indigenous communities in major cities and in remote regions of Australia.

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Collection

Not in ACMI's collection

On display until

16 February 2031

ACMI: Gallery 1

Collection metadata

ACMI Identifier

Curatorial section

The Story of the Moving Image → Foyer → Entry → FSF-02. Fed Sq Foyer Cabinets → FSF Cabinet 6

Object Types

3D Object

Diorama

Collected

460 times

Cite this work on Wikipedia

If you would like to cite this item, please use the following template: {{cite web |url=https://acmi.net.au/works/112016--tools-of-the-trade/ |title=Tools of the Trade |author=Australian Centre for the Moving Image |access-date=22 August 2026 |publisher=Australian Centre for the Moving Image}}