23 August 2011

Trent&Henry

Trent Jansen and Henry Wilson have set up shop in The Rocks for the Pop-Up Project.

Trent&Henry is a new retail, gallery and workshop space dedicated to showcasing Australian design.

Designers Trent Jansen and Henry Wilson have turned a 90sqm heritage-listed sandstone building at 47 George Street into a place to create their own work, display their favourite Australian products and bring the public into the design process.

Jansen

Wilson

"We wanted a space to use as a workshop and gallery, but most importantly we wanted to explore Australian design inspired by things that were Australian," says Jansen.

Products chosen for display in the gallery have to meet a few basic criteria.

First of all – "We both have to like it – which is hard!" Jansen says. "We both have to agree that it's good."

Secondly, each product has to be made and designed in Australia; and thirdly, the ethics of production must be a key consideration of each piece.

Among the pieces currently on display are vegetable-tanned leather trays from Stefan Lie and Rod Walden, made using the most ecologically sound methods possible; and an early prototype of Adam Goodrum's tsunami bowl, made of old chopsticks he found in Chinatown.

Wilson's own 'Replica Wassily Chair, Found in the street, Re-purposed' can be seen through the front window, a rescued and reimagined version of a discarded Marcel Breuer imitation that in turns becomes a new original.

The public are encouraged to come in and visit, take a look at the products on show and see the designers at work.

"It's about having that interaction between what's being made and what's there, so people can be part of that making and designing process," Jansen explains.

Both Jansen and Wilson have spent time in Berlin, where they were inspired by open studio spaces where the public could freely enter to see artisans – shoemakers or leather bag makers, for example – at work.

"We loved that access to process," Jansen says.

The shop is also set to become more of an event space, featuring a series of dinners with a special focus on ecology, locally grown produce and designed objects.

Possibilities for the use of the space are endless, but essentially it will always be "about being able to curate a space with work that we really believe in for its creativity and ecological aspect," Jansen says.

Trent&Henry is open from Wednesday to Friday 11am – 5pm and Saturday and Sunday 10am – 5pm. The space will stay open at least until the end of October, after which it will hopefully remain an ongoing project.

Trent&Henry
facebook.com/trenthenryco