28 January 2011

David Caon

Indesign catches up with a Sydney-based industrial designer making his mark in Australia and overseas.

Following stints in Paris and Milan working with design greats George Sowden, Jerzy Seymour and Marc Newson, David Caon now has his own studio in Sydney’s Surry Hills.

Although very much independent, Caon’s cornerstone projects have arisen out of interesting collaborations with other designers and companies.

Last year’s collaboration with commercial interior designers Juicy Design led to the creation of what Caon calls a ‘soundscape sofa.’

Built for Japanese electronics brand Audio Technica, Caon and Juicy Design's Tom Williams used layer upon layer of Echo Panel – 60% recycled PET in sheet form – to create a cross between a sofa and a listening station for testing sound equipment in-store.

To create the form, Caon mapped out a 3-dimensional layered shape – “imagine a topographical map that you can slice horizontally,” he explains – and was then faced with the task of recreating each shape with the chosen material, layer by layer.

“I pared it back to as little as possible – and that’s when it became really complicated,” says Caon of the painstaking process involved.

“When you do something like this, you don’t know what the problems are until you come up against them.”

Caon also works with Qantas on a range for the airline’s business class lounges, combining his passion for furniture design with the strong relationship he has developed with the global airline.

“Design is very much a part of who they are as a business,” says Caon. “It makes them easy to work with. It’s hard to find clients like that.”

This year is sure to see some more exciting projects for Caon, as he develops furniture pieces both for the big brands and for himself, experimenting with new materials and finding new outlets and collaborators.