As Dowel Jones celebrates ten years with events at Geelong Design Week, we get to know more about what makes this enigmatic and celebrated team tick.

Behind the Brand is about getting to know the real design enthusiasts who work across our industry. Dowel Jones – the Australian-made furniture, lighting and accessories company – are of course no strangers to the spotlight, but Behind the Brand provides an opportunity to find out a bit more about a design practice that as distinct from the typical architecture or interior design studio. Dale Hardiman and Adam Lynch take us through the Dowel Jones story to coincide with their two events at Geelong Design Week – Ten years of Dowel Jones  and Design Dialogues.

Timothy Alouani-Roby: Please tell us a bit about what you do and the history of your practice.

Dale Hardiman and Adam Lynch: Dowel Jones is an Australian design brand and manufacturer who design and produce furniture, lighting and accessories. Since 2014 we’ve been focused on increasing local production (with two factories in Geelong), working with interior designers and architects to develop unique and Australian made pieces. This year we celebrated our ten year anniversary with a major museum survey exhibition at the National Wool Museum called Ten Years of Dowel Jones, an exhibition that includes over 2,000 contributors to celebrate past, present and future collaborators and local communities.

How many people at DJ have formal design training, e.g. architecture?

Our team is a mixture of industrial, furniture and interior designers along with furniture- and cabinet-makers.

What are the crossovers between product design, architecture, interiors and art in your work?

We’ve always pitched our brand as one that thinks laterally, working across multiple disciplines. The majority of our outcomes focus on exploring local manufacturing – this directly relates to design, architecture, interiors and more broadly creative practice. We regularly try to work in collaboration with artists where possible.

Related: More on Geelong Design Week here

How important is it to participate in events such as Geelong Design Week?

Since founding in 2014 we’ve participated in design festivals across the world, from Milan Design Week to Maison&Objet. When Melbourne Design Week and Geelong Design Week were created we were able to focus on local festivals rather than looking abroad for platforms to present. Participating in local festivals helps cultivate and support the local creative community.

Future plans?

We regularly release new collections, with 2025 seeing partnerships with new manufacturers in Geelong. We’re currently working on a project that explores the life of a tree that was planted in the Geelong Botanical Gardens 100+ years ago and recently was blown over.

Dowel Jones
doweljones.com

Photography
Cricket Studio

Next up in Behind the Brand – Fisch Designs and ditto