Background

Jeremyville is a Sydney-born, New York-based artist, designer and sculptor. He trained in architecture and began his career as an illustrator at the Sydney Morning Herald, and he co-founded Studio Jeremyville with creative director Megan Mair. Inflatables have been part of his practice from the start. In 1995 he self-produced his first mass-produced 3D inflatable designer toy, and in 2003 he wrote “Vinyl Will Kill”, a book on designer toys. His studio has since worked with brands such as Lacoste, Apple, Google and Hugo Boss, and his work has been shown at institutions including the Brooklyn Museum and the Cooper Hewitt.

Surf + Sound is a new festival at Manly Wharf, presented by Defender and Felons. Its first edition ran across three weekends in October and November 2026, with live music, food and a free public art trail. Jeremyville was appointed the festival’s first art curator.

Challenge

As art curator, Jeremyville drew an illustrated map of the festival precinct, filled with his characters. The aim was to bring those characters off the page and into Manly itself, at a scale that would read from across the wharf forecourt and the harbour.

Staying faithful to the artist’s work was the central requirement. Jeremyville’s characters are defined by precise proportions, flat blocks of colour and simple graphic faces, and audiences familiar with his work would notice any departure. The inflatable art replicas had to be recognisable as his, not as an interpretation of his work, while still working as inflated structures outdoors.

There were three settings. Three characters would sit on rooftops around Manly Wharf, above the crowds. Two would float in Manly Cove, in salt water, for the full three weeks. The sixth piece, a wave, would stand on the wharf forecourt at street level, where visitors could walk through the artwork rather than view it from a distance. Wind off the water, limited rooftop access and the need to hold position on open water all had to be managed within a short installation window. The pieces were also to be built for reuse after the festival.

Design and Fabrication

Giant Inflatables modelled each character in 3D from Jeremyville’s artwork, working from his original versions to keep their proportions, posture and expressions intact. Renders were supplied with a human figure for scale, together with dimensions and colour references, so the artist could check each piece against his own work before production. Where a shape needed adjusting to hold its form when inflated, the change was kept to a minimum and reviewed with the artist. Each character was scaled to match the original, and the five characters range in height from 2.5 to 4.5 metres.

The three rooftop characters were made as constant-air inflatables. They were stitched from PVC tarpaulin and kept inflated by a blower connected through an inflation tube at the rear. Jethro holds a flower in one hand and sits on the roof above Stanley at Manly Wharf. Flower Man, the tallest of the five, sits on the edge of the Felons Brewery roof with his legs hanging over the entrance. Freedom stands on a timber platform above the Manly Wharf lettering. Guy ropes secured all three to their structures.

Tubular, the sixth piece, brought visitors inside the art trail. Shaped as a curling wave, it stood on the Manly Wharf forecourt as a walk-through tunnel. Families, prams and passers-by could step beneath the barrel and through the artwork itself. Like the rooftop characters, it was a constant-air inflatable stitched from PVC tarpaulin, and weights along its base held it in place. The Surf + Sound logo was printed across its outer face.

Raymundo and Valentino, the two floating characters, were made as sealed units. They were welded from PVC so they would stay airtight without a blower. Each was tethered to a 3-metre inflatable floating platform, also made by Giant Inflatables, and the platforms were anchored in the cove.

The Result

All six pieces were custom printed in solid Pantone colours matched to Jeremyville’s palette, so the flat colour fields that define his style carried through at full scale. Because the inflatable art replicas deflate and pack down, they can be stored and installed again at future events.