Design Anthology AU

from the editor

It would be an understatement to say the last 12 months have been a rollercoaster. This time last year, I was writing my letter for the very first issue of Design Anthology Australia, and since then much of Australia has been ravaged by bushfires and the entire world has gone into a tailspin brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, many of us have spent an inordinate amount of time in our homes over the past few months, in varying levels of isolation. If we are to look to a sage for guidance or solace in these unprecedented times, then who better than one I admire greatly, Alain de Botton. The Swiss-born philosopher and founder of The School of Life wrote in his book The Architecture of Happiness, ‘We…

news

Fashion & Lifestyle Personal pieces and products for summer Home & Decor This season’s objects of desire Bábbarra Women’s Centre × Kip&Co Two female-led organisations have collaborated on a landmark collection of bedding textiles. Kip&Co founders Alex McCabe, Kate Heppell and Hayley Pannekoecke collaborated with artists from the Bábbarra Women’s Centre in Maningrida, Arnhem Land — one of the most remote textile-producing arts centres in Australia — to create seven artworks that will be reproduced on bed linen. Jessica Phillips, the centre’s first local Indigenous manager, says, ‘This project was the idea of the Bábbarra women, who have long wanted to have their designs featured on a bed linen range.’ The Australian Copyright Agency was engaged to assist with establishing a framework to protect the integrity of the designs and the intellectual property rights…

a twist on tradition

Award-winning Australian tapware brand Phoenix has recently launched a new product range designed by its own in-house creative team. The Axia collection, instantly recognisable by its ultra-thin, crisp lines and unique detailing, has been two years in the making and has already received multiple international awards. The unconventional profile of the basin mixer, a highlight of the collection, was inspired by folded sheet metal, and its challenging execution is an achievement for Phoenix’s design team. ‘Our challenge was achieving a 6.5-millimetre-high, super lean outlet through a one-piece casting. This results in a strong signature with a precision-controlled aesthetic,’ explains Ban Liu, an RMITtrained senior designer at Phoenix Tapware. Other standout pieces in the collection include a unique lever-less handle on the conventional mixer cartridge for basin and vessel mixers, which allows for…

a spirit of generosity

‘I ’m reactionary,’says designer Dale Hardiman. ‘I’m always responding to circumstances… it’s probably the strongest thing I have going for me.’ Involved in multiple streams of creative practice, Hardiman is perhaps best known as the co-founder of furniture company Dowel Jones and has carved out a broad and reputable position in the design industry for work that spans furniture, lighting and accessory design, event and exhibition design, curation, art direction and branding. After his applications to study graphic design and fine art were rejected, Hardiman — a self-confessed ‘terrible student’ — hit his stride studying furniture design at RMIT. ‘I used furniture as a guise for working in sculpture,’ says Hardiman, who went on to study industrial design for two years. It was at RMIT that Hardiman met fellow designer Adam…

team spirit

MORNING Each day starts early for Skeehan and his partner Rachel, with their two-year-old son Fletcher pulling back the curtains at the crack of dawn and yelling, ‘It’s the morning!’ What follows is standard family chaos before Skeehan either drives or cycles from their home to his studio in the Canberra suburb of Mitchell. En route, he’ll stop at one of his favourite local roasters and grab an espresso or long black. ‘I usually plan my diary during this coffee stop and map out any critical tasks for the team,’ he says. ‘It’s a big part of my morning ritual and gives me a clear idea of the day ahead.’ MID-MORNING Skeehan established his furniture design studio soon after graduating with an industrial design degree from the University of Canberra. The small five-member firm…

a sense of home

After a somewhat nomadic childhood, New Zealand interior designer Katie Lockhart has become an expert in creating a sense of home. Her father’s work took their family around the globe, and Lockhart absorbed influences from Poland to Seattle, while her parents’ interest in antiques and architecture instilled in her an appreciation for craft. She describes going to antique shops with her parents on weekends and watching the process as her father restored a new find that would then live with them. After graduating with a degree in textile design from the Victoria University of Wellington, Lockhart landed her first job with renowned fashion designer Karen Walker, who hired the young graduate as her first design assistant. But even now, it’s evident that Lockhart’s memories of the time are wrapped around spaces,…