Inside DENFAIR 2017
In June, Melbourne will see a host of architects, interior designers, stylists and other design-centred creatives descend upon the metropolitan city for DENFAIR 2017.
It will be the third edition of DENFAIR, a three-day design event to be held in June 2017. The scope and diversity of DENFAIR is vast: textile and soft furnishings, lighting, contemporary furniture and design, home product design and homewares are all on the agenda. Although the event brings together talent from local and international names, it maintains a strong focus on Australian emerging and established brands.
For a second consecutive year, we are proud media partners of the event and will be bringing you exclusive content, industry insights and on-ground coverage from the event.
It all starts here. Read on for an exclusive insight into the work of a range of creatives, handpicked from DENFAIR 2017 including Daniel-Emma, Adam Goodrum and Ross Gardam.
DANIEL-EMMA
Daniel To and Emma Aiston take a simple approach to their work. For the Adelaide-based design team, they want their projects to be one thing: “just nice”.
“From the beginning, we never wanted to complicate what we said about our work,” they say. “Personally, we want people to look, touch and use our works and for that to simply be it. Therefore, if someone saw/used our work and said, ‘Oh, that’s nice’, that would be a perfect reaction!”
Daniel-Emma’s approach to design is one of “quiet simplicity”, with their projects seeming to value understated aesthetic pleasure above all else – their geometric, minimalist Cherry pendant lamp, to give one example. They’ve produced their work at both the small-batch and industrially-produced levels, with highlights including commissioned stationery, furniture and installations for Hay, Field, Tait and Petite Friture and other internationally recognised brands, as well as self-initiated pieces.
To and Aiston founded their studio in 2008 in London after they graduated from the University of South Australia in Adelaide, where they both met. Since then, the team has been met with critical acclaim, winning the Bombay Sapphire Design Discovery Award in 2010.
Since they launched their studio, the pair make a habit of exploring new avenues for design.
“We are always looking to do and try new things,” they say. “This is something that most creative people are addicted to: the new and the unknown. That’s why we wanted to start our own practice, so that we could decide on what we wanted to design/make. We are constantly trying to evolve our style, as well as the mediums/objects that we work on.”
ADAM GOODRUM
Sydney-based designer Adam Goodrum’s archive includes an extensive run of works for Australian brands Cult and Tait, as well as projects commissioned for international brands such as Normal Copenhagen, Alessi and Cappellini.
Goodrum’s work runs the gamut from functional to esoteric. He has designed a wide variety of chairs, coffee tables, beds and other pieces for Cult. But he has also delved into projects that are a bit more obscure: a bespoke, multi-coloured felt shoe for design magazine Wallpaper*, or a collection of translucent miniature houses built for the National Gallery of Victoria. The houses, built under his Unfolding project, netted Goodrum the Rigg Design Prize in 2015.
From commercial collections to one-off conceptual pieces, Goodrum’s portfolio is a statement in flexibility. This variety, he says, requires a mode of thinking that draws from art, math and design, one that integrates both the concrete and the abstract.
“This, however, is where I see the value of industrial design as a whole,” he says. “We get to approach projects artistically, bringing about (hopefully) conceptually interesting work, but then needing skills in making and engineering to allow those concepts to become a reality.”
For Goodrum, his concepts come from his interactions within the world around him, be they mundane or extraordinary.
“I don’t see my influences as being specific objects or designers, but rather more so a lifetime of experiences,” he says. “I try to constantly look for inspiration outside the realm of furniture design – whether that be a clever mechanical connection, or in seeing something unique in the way two people converse. For me, it is a continual process and is a matter of whatever may spark a thought or stimulate the growth of an idea.”
At DENFAIR 2017, Goodrum will be launching two collections: an outdoor modular sofa system for Tait, as well as Bilgola, a timber-framed sofa collection for Cult.
MICHELLE PATERSON FROM .M CONTEMPORARY
As founder of Sydney gallery space .M Contemporary, Michelle Paterson says that she has a role in shaping how people interact with the world around them.
“I would like to change the way people see the world and I believe that the role of an artist is to reflect the world back to us,” says the South African-born art collector. “Therefore, by selecting artists that make you contemplate and inspire conversation, in a small way I feel I can help make a change.
Paterson opened .M Contemporary in 2013 after involving herself in a series of art-centred talks, pop-up exhibitions, seminars and panel discussions. Since then, the studio has made its name with its focus on cross-cultural immersion, profiling both established and up-and-coming artists from Australia and further afield.
Art curation has nearly been a life-long endeavour for Paterson, who says that she began collecting drawings, prints and photographs at the age of 17. Her first apartment was black and white, and she limited herself to art pieces that fit that theme.
Now, she says she provides parameters to art collectors she advises, telling them to stick to certain budgets, mediums, artists or colours, for example. “The frameworks help you focus and, in a way, when work is collected within a framework it can be more valuable as a whole.”
PORCELAIN BEAR
Porcelain Bair, a Melbourne-based design duo composed of Gregory Bonasera and Anthony Raymond, have a unique element to their design: a centuries-old ceramic production method.
Their acclaimed use of ceramic – as well as their incorporation of 3D technology – have led to a line of modern, yet timeless, pieces of lighting, furniture and assorted objects. The Metro furniture series, for example, includes a coffee table, dining table, and several multi-purpose porcelain-tiled columns.
Paying homage to the past, they explain, is central to their ethos.
“We acknowledge tradition in our work,” they say. “We play with the decorative styles of traditional Chinese and Dutch cobalt blue decoration, bringing it boldly into the truly contemporary Porcelain Bear aesthetic.
“Tradition and history are at our disposal to learn from and to build on, to understand the traditions in the world of porcelain gives a classical training in our medium, a little like a contemporary musician basing their work on the solid foundation of classical musical training.”
The studio’s love of porcelain began in 1975, when Bonasera’s parents swapped his plastic toy potter’s wheel for a real one. In 1988, Bonasera graduated from Monash University with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Ceramic Design. His final year portfolio, appropriately enough, consisted of toy robots made from porcelain and decked with steel, cast glass and automotive and machine paints.
Bonasera and Raymond say that DENFAIR – which they also attended last year – is a unique opportunity to mingle with the best of the design industry.
“DENFAIR is a curated trade show,” they say. “It’s boutique and exclusive, for us this means an excellent fit and good brand alignment for Porcelain Bear.”
ROSS GARDAM
The Melbourne-based Ross Gardam design studio knows the meaning of local, with all of their materials sourced from Melbourne itself.
“Collaboration with manufacturers is vital to the way the studio works,” they say. “We are predominately a design studio, so we are constantly working with our partners to ensure our products are the best they can be and new product development is moving along at a good pace. Everything we do is made in Melbourne and I like the connection we have with the makers around us.”
Since Ross Gardam opened his studio in 2007, his team has established itself for its understated approach to handcrafted furniture and lighting. Their “Oak Standard” pendant light and “Asymmetry Tall” tables are just two of the many pieces of modern design that have given the studio its high-profile name.
The studio says that DENFAIR 2017 – which they call “an amazing forum to share ideas and meet new people” – will see the premier of two new Ross Gardam pieces: an innovative line of wall lights and design lamps, both under the “Polar” collection.
MR.FRÄG
Frag Woodall claims that his design incorporates elements of poetry, wit and humour – not to mention functionality and material integrity. Woodall says that his projects – as well as any well-designed piece of furniture – say something bigger about their place in humanity.
“Design represents a conversation between our culture, aspirations and technology, it holds in balance these values reflects like a mirror back to society who we are and who we want to be,” explains Woodall, founder of MR.FRÄG. “In part it goes to the question of…Why do we need another chair? And maybe it’s because who we are as a people are always changing; design like many other mediums is representative of us.”
The Sydney-based designer’s work includes the “Dowel” family of utilitarian brass and wood stools, as well as the “Matisse” line of adjustable chairs, which incorporate a soft, unassuming construction.
In addition to creating furniture, lighting and homewares, Woodall has experience as an industrial designer for the likes of Cult, as well as years of experience in antique restoration and reproduction.
While interior and industrial design have their differences, Woodall says that they share a similar mission of creating a human connection.
“Some of the major themes that carry through both disciplines is that of creating a coherent language and emotive connection with either the space or the object,” he says. “Ultimately, it is about creating connections with people and nudging them to feel a certain way.”
DENFAIR 2017 will be taking place from Thursday 8 – Saturday 10 June 2017 at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre, Melbourne, Australia.
