Recently, indesignlive took the time to visit one of Sydney’s quirkier designers at his Redfern studio.
November 1st, 2008
Sam Whiteman jumps confidently, in one leap, onto his dark-brown paper-mâché table, despite our trepidation that the material couldn’t possibly be strong enough.
The table – part of Whiteman’s ‘lowlife’ range – with its textured surface and long span, sits powerfully beneath the far windows of his third floor studio and belies its construction.
When asked how he could possibly make paper-mâché so strong he replies – like any good designer should – “If I told you, I would have to kill you.”
Born and bred in Sydney, but trained at RMIT in Melbourne, Whiteman works with stainless steel, leather, animal skin, paper-mâché, resin, glass and countless other materials – a leather man’s harness chandelier hangs in his window downstairs.
He has a fondness for lowering all his furniture pieces, “a bit like a Tarana”, giving his designs a relaxed, natural feel. All his pieces are custom-made and have an unpretentious, tactile nature.
Two works-in-progress when we visit are a flat-pack beach-chair-style seat and dark wood cabinet (both, naturally, lowered), while about 10 or so larger pieces from his ‘lowlife’ and ‘natureboy’ collections take up the remainder of the beautifully unrestored studio space.
While some of Whiteman’s designs, like the animal skin throws, might not be everyone’s cup of tea, they take obvious inspiration from the natural world while alluding to the grittiness of the city beyond his Redfern studio.
Whiteman’s products can be viewed online or Cnr Darley St and Clarksons Hill Way, Darlinghurst. You might also be able to catch a look at Sam himself! (Unfortunately no portrait photo was available at time of writing)
Whiteman’s Advertising and Design Agency also did a great job of catching our attention with his A2 sized promotional magazine, worth picking one up if you’re in the area, if not for the awesome pictures at least for the novelty.
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!
Bidding farewell to mundane and uninspired office spaces, colour has transformed our workplaces into layered and engaging environments. So we sit down with Karina Simpson, Hot Black’s Workplace Lead, to talk about the influence colour has on the workspace landscape through the prism of Herman Miller’s progressive colour philosophy.
Australia’s leading producer of solid-engineered oak flooring has recently launched a new suite of innovative resources to support creativity and ambition in the architecture and design community.
The workplace has changed – and it will continue to evolve. With dynamism at the heart of clients’ requirements, architects and designers at leading practices such as Elenberg Fraser are using and recommending Herman Miller’s OE1 products for the future workplace.
With a form that implies a level of movement, this natural solid oak dining table with tempered glass table top is modern, clean and dynamic.
German and Australian architects compare notes on culture, climate and architecture in Berlin and Melbourne
The internet never sleeps! Here's the stuff you might have missed
The recent signing of free-trade deals in the UK and Australia signals major shakeups for design, architecture, engineering and construction in two hemispheres. Is this a positive sign for local creative sectors or global reputations?
From hybrid that works, to hybrid that doesn’t, AI futures, buzz words explained, the roadmap to ROI plus more: Here are five workplace learnings from Worktech Melbourne 2023.