Emerging Australian designers have been hand-picked to showcase their work at London Design Festival 2012. Ola Bednarczuk reports
September 26th, 2012
When in Australia last year to judge The Edge and VIVID design awards, writer, curator and designer Suzanne Trocmé was impressed with the talent she encountered. Years of doing the rounds at trade fairs in Milan, Cologne and the like had left Trocmé yearning for a breath of fresh design air.
“I’ve been a design journalist for a good couple of decades and after a while you get a bit jaded,” she admits.
Tryst Stool – Anson Smart
“What I look out for is what I call ’honest design’, which is design that doesn’t have any trickery or frippery.”
In Australia, in the likes of David Hardwick and (2012 Launch Pad finalist) Tate Anson, Trocmé found a host of “young emerging talents who are really considering the way they work.” Inspired by what she saw – and shocked by the reported statistic that only 20% of Australian design students remain in the profession – she set about selecting pieces that, to her, best represented the breadth of craftship in Australia’s young design scene.
Holiday Table – Callum Campbell
Trocmé’s curated collection, dubbed Common Wealth, was brought to London for the 2012 Design Festival with the help of the Victorian Government. Hosted by furniture design and retail brand Habitat at their Platform gallery space in Chelsea, the exhibition featured pieces including Andre Hnatejko’s Popper pendant lights, Tate Anson’s Tryst stool and Solaris timepiece and Adam Lynch’s utilitarian Thimble stools. Hnatejko, Anson, Lynch and designer Ashley Allen were also brought along to meet with visitors and share the stories behind the designs.
Sticks and Stones Stool – Ash Allen
“There’s obviously a bigger market here, and more scope for sales,” said Allen of the opportunity to show his Sticks and Stone stool and plywood desk to an international audience. “Most of us [at Common Wealth] are in a bit of a no-man’s land – we’ve got prototypes,” he explains, but full scale production is still a long way off. The extra publicity and networking opportunities offered by an international exhibition can be a crucial step forward.
Poppers Pendant Light – Andre Hnatojko
“Most of these pieces are marketable, and the whole point of bringing [them] here was to expose this talent, to get Australia out there,” Trocmé says, citing Bernhardt Design’s Jerry Helling, Design Museum director Deyan Sudjic and London Design Festival director Ben Evans as just some of the “design gurus” the exhibition succeeded in attracting.
Young Australian Designers in Residence
Trocmé is hopeful that “some of these pieces will become products manufactured in other countries, give these designers the reputation they need so they can go on to do more things , to give their names a boost and to show Australia that they have a very active, healthy design industry.” She is already planning to curate a second similar exhibition in 2013.
HERO IMAGE: Ida Table by Tubert Yule Design
London Design Festival
images © Tubert Yule Design, London Design Festival, Andrea Fam and Shameer Subratty
A searchable and comprehensive guide for specifying leading products and their suppliers
Keep up to date with the latest and greatest from our industry BFF's!
Sub-Zero and Wolf’s prestigious Kitchen Design Contest (KDC) has celebrated the very best in kitchen innovation and aesthetics for three decades now. Recognising premier kitchen design professionals from around the globe, the KDC facilitates innovation, style and functionality that pushes boundaries.
Channelling the enchanting ambience of the Caffè Greco in Rome, Budapest’s historic Gerbeaud, and Grossi Florentino in Melbourne, Ross Didier’s new collection evokes the designer’s affinity for café experience, while delivering refined seating for contemporary hospitality interiors.
Marylou Cafaro’s first trendjournal sparked a powerful, decades-long movement in joinery designs and finishes which eventually saw Australian design develop its independence and characteristic style. Now, polytec offers all-new insights into the future of Australian design.
In the pursuit of an uplifting synergy between the inner world and the surrounding environment, internationally acclaimed Interior Architect and Designer Lorena Gaxiola transform the vibration of the auspicious number ‘8’ into mesmerising artistry alongside the Feltex design team, brought to you by GH Commercial.
Futurespace has translated family values and culture into a collaborative and inclusive workplace environment for Richard Crookes Constructions.
It is with immense sadness that we report on the passing of Boris Tosic, founder of Élan. Boris was renowned for his irrepressible spirit, his drive and his big heart.
6 December 2009, 10am – 5pm The Melbourne Design Market is the place to come, see and buy some fun, unique and quirky new products that cannot be easily found anywhere else. From recognisable brands to new enterprises, the market is a great occasion to meet the designers while enjoying fine food and coffee, being […]
The internet never sleeps! Here's the stuff you might have missed
A south coast escape that redefines hospitality architecture.
Swiss home appliance designer and manufacturer V-ZUG’s first Sydney studio is a unified expression of the brand’s boutique, sustainable and design-led identity.