The popularity of collaborations has seen a dramatic increase in recent years as artists, designers, and companies have become more aware of the positive outcomes derived from combining their individual skills with other complementary practices.

This has certainly been the case for Sydney based designer Christel Hadiwibawa – founder of ChristelH, and industrial designers Joel Savage and James Groom from Savage Design. The designers recently partnered together to create a vernacular themed seating project that would cater for both residential and commercial settings.

“The decision to collaborate came from seeing the different but complementary skill sets that our practices conveyed and realising we could combine these strengths to create something really unique,” says Hadiwibawa. “We mainly work with timber and bamboo whereas the team from Savage Design are metal specialists. It has been an exciting experience working and learning the process of how they operate.”

When asked about what contributed to the success of the collaboration, Savage highlighted the importance of having the same vision as well as enjoying the process, “We have similar goals for where we want to take our companies and comparable takes on the design industry as a whole. We also genuinely get on at a personal level. So working with ChristelH seemed more like of a bunch of friends having some fun then serious work. That’s not to say that we haven’t taken this work seriously. We have pushed some boundaries when it comes to the ability of material.” Savage states.

The three designers are strong advocates for collaboration projects, all believing that it leads to a stronger industry. “I think collaborations are an important part of the industry, not just for designers with designers, but for designers and manufacturing and designers with distributors/retailers. It helps create a community that fosters stronger networks, and stronger networks lead to a stronger industry.” Groom concludes.

The official unveiling of their product will be launched at Melbourne Indesign in August. Following the event, their piece will also be showcased in a group exhibition opening in late October featuring collaborative projects by 7 Sydney based designers.

Christel H
christelh.com

Savage Design
savagedesign.com.au