Features on design and ideas

Articles on design and philosophy, writing, thinking, ideas and the world.

Design for good: Wildlife conservation with Egg Picnic

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By Penny Craswell

Egg Picnic is a Sydney-based design duo devoted to wildlife conservation. A mutual love of both design and the natural world was the starting point of the partnership which began when Chilean graphic designer and illustrator Camila De Gregorio met Australian industrial designer Christopher Macaluso in Milan in 2009. They found inspiration in each other’s work, collaborating across 2D and 3D to create illustrations, characters, prints, objects and art toys – at first in Milan, then in Santiago.

Galah by Egg Picnic. Image: supplied


Now based in Sydney, the pair sell illustrations, art toys and objects depicting birds and wild animals, using simple lines and shapes to create characters that tread a fine line between art, design and cartoon, but also exude a serene stateliness that is utterly contemporary. Prints of individual species include the Hooded Plover, Australian Magpie, Galah and Spotted Eagle Ray (to name just a few), while larger prints such as Marsupials of Australia or Birds of Australia feature a line up of creatures. All prints are signed and include information about the species with the purchase. Read more →

Review: Connect(us) light installation by Warren Langley

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By Penny Craswell

A ribbon of light twists and turns above a pedestrian street in Perth’s latest urban renewal project, Kings Square, this is Connect(us), the latest light installation by Sydney-based artist Warren Langley.

Connect(us) by Warren Langley, Perth, by night. Photo: Trent Baker
Connect(us) by Warren Langley, Perth, by night. Photo: Trent Baker


Warren has been working with the medium of light and glass for over 30 years, creating individual light installations for the Shanghai World Expo in 2011, as well as more permanent lighting displays and public artworks such as a tower made of glass and light at the Canberra Glassworks and Aspire, a forest of sculptural trees in light under the underpass in Sydney’s Pyrmont, as well as major project for Parliament House Canberra, the Maison de la Opera, Amiens, France and the Centre for Contemporary Art, Tacoma, USA.  Read more →

Studio profile: Industrial designer Andrew Simpson of Vert

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By Penny Craswell

Visiting his studio in Sydney, Andrew Simpson’s approach to design is instantly made clear. His studio and design house, called Vert, is packed full of prototypes, design objects and machines. As well as being a place where the design team gets on with their computer-based design work, the space is full of objects at every stage of making.

The VM Case being hand finished by Andrew Simpson of Vert. Photo: supplied
The VM Case being hand finished by Andrew Simpson of Vert. Photo: supplied

This is emblematic of Andrew’s approach to design. He wants to know how things are made, and to improve on that process himself by making something new, by “experimenting at the process edge of making” as he phrases it. Read more →

Object stories: Hoshi lounge by Tom Skeehan

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By Penny Craswell

The new Hoshi range, including lounge, armchair and bench, is the latest work by emerging Canberra-based designer Tom Skeehan, working with furniture supplier Stylecraft. Loosely translating as “star” in Japanese, Hoshi is inspired by the designer’s travels in Japan: “I have personally experienced their deep attraction to materials and process, combined with a rich understanding of how an object is made and the purpose / life cycle of the work.”

Hoshi lounge designed by Tom Skeehan for Stylecraft. Image: supplied
Hoshi lounge designed by Tom Skeehan for Stylecraft. Image: supplied

“Aesthetically, I admire the restraint and often minimal approach to many aspects of Japanese culture,  placing a strong emphasis on the overall process and individual daily ritual,” he adds. Read more →

Review: Green Ladder pavilion by Vo Trong Nghia

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By Penny Craswell

The latest Fugitive Structures pavilion to be commissioned by the Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation (SCAF) is a bamboo structure called “Green Ladder” designed by architect du jour Vo Trong Nghia whose mission is to bring back greenery into the city via architecture, especially in his home country of Vietnam.

Green Ladder designed by Vo Trong Nghia Architects for the Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation. Photo: Dianna Snape
Green Ladder designed by Vo Trong Nghia Architects for the Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation. Photo: Dianna Snape


In my role as media consultant of the Fugitive Structures architecture pavilion series for SCAF, I was able to meet Nghia and also speak to him about the structure, as well as hear some behind-the-scenes details of the bamboo treatment process used on the installation. Read more →

Review: The Old Clare Hotel interiors

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By Penny Craswell

The Old Clare Hotel is part of a wider development happening in Kensington Street, Chippendale and across the old Carlton Brewery site which now features several new apartment buildings, the most famous of which are the Jean Nouvel Central Park apartment buildings with vertical green facades by Patrick Blanc. In Kensington Street itself, several of the existing buildings – some of them heritage – have been retained, providing a layering effect of old and new, bringing the area a richness in texture, typology and a variety of form that is a pleasure to inhabit. The incredible Spice Alley – a Shanghai-style eating laneway designed by Tonkin Zulaikha Greer – is part of the charm of the precinct but I will save that project for another post.

The Old Clare Hotel lobby glass structure designed by Tonkin Zulaikha Greer. Photo: supplied


Sydney-based architects Tonkin Zulaikha Greer are also behind the design of The Old Clare Hotel, transforming what was a run-down, if charming, old pub and the Carlton and United Breweries Administration Building into a boutique hotel and bar. The character of these existing heritage buildings has been retained and additional architectural elements are distinctive but unintrusive. For example, the glass structure that links the two buildings touch the buildings lightly, instead allowing the existing brick facades to dominate the space, while the glass forms an uneven grid-like geometry that ties in with the layering of the surrounds. Read more →

Perth house, with sculptural brick extension

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By Penny Craswell

In the Perth suburb of Mt Lawley, a sculptural form pops out above the houses, an irregular tower made of red clay shingles that seems to wrap in on itself in an unusual architectural shape that is also strangely familiar. This is the Camino House, a Perth house extension designed by Bosske and inspired by the shape of a kiln or oast (a traditional building where hops is dried as part of the brewing process).

View from the street, Camino House, designed by Bosske. Photo: Peter Bennetts
View from the street, Camino House, designed by Bosske. Photo: Peter Bennetts


“We initially envisaged the extension as a distinct object, as different to the existing house,” explains Caroline Hickey of Bosske. “It could be something which might ‘sit’ behind it, lean against it, looming above it from the street view, creating a casual relationship between these two elements.” Read more →

Design and waste: ethically-sourced materials

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By Penny Craswell

As a designer there are many ways to be ethical (or unethical) in daily practice. A growing number of designers are experimenting with waste, using often complex industrial methods to transform garbage and industrial by-products into new materials to be used in products and objects. This has a two-pronged benefit, not only reducing landfill and pollution, but also providing an alternative to mining or producing new materials that might be harmful to the environment.

In Australia, a number of designers have turned to this task over the years. The first names that spring to mind include Brisbane designer Marc Harrison who created the Husque bowls out of macadamia shells and Melbourne designer Simone LeAmon who created the Bowling Arm jewellery out of discarded cricket ball leather off-cuts. In Sydney, Liane Rossler and Sarah K created Supercyclers, working in collaboration with other designers to reuse all sorts of materials, including plastic bags, drinking straws and plastic ocean debris, into functional design pieces. One of the most recent examples from Supercyclers is the Bento Box by Sarah K and Andrew Simpson which is made of ocean plastic bakelite.

Bento Box by Andrew Simpson with Supercyclers is made from recycled marine debris bakelite.
Bento Box by Sarah K and Andrew Simpson is made from recycled marine debris bakelite.


Other more recent examples of Australians using recycled materials include Sydney-born, Tasmanian-trained designer and now Jam Factory Associate Matt Pearson of MJP Designed Objects who has designed a pendant light out of fly ash resin composite, a waste material that is generated by coal combustion and is a major by-product of the coal industry.

His Fly Light is made of 50% fly ash in combination with resin, forming a material that allows a strong but thin light shade. For designers like Matt, the process of transforming a waste material into a completely new material is difficult, time consuming and requires patience as well as technical knowledge.  Read more →

Exploring small living with the Moonlight Cabin

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By Penny Craswell

Unlike other parts of Australia, the South West coast of Victoria does not get very hot – summer maximum averages are around 23º (73ºF) while winter minimum averages are around 6º (42ºF). Architecture firm Jackson Clements Burrows have designed a small holiday cabin along the coast here as an experiment in small living as well as a way to test the best architecture to suit the climate.

Small footprint living at the Moonlight Cabin by JCB. Photo: Jeremy Weihrauch of Gollings Studio
Small footprint living at the Moonlight Cabin by JCB. Photo: Jeremy Weihrauch of Gollings Studio

Called Moonlight Cabin, the structure has a small footprint at only 60sqm (645sqft), an intentional choice to challenge what size is necessary for a holiday house. Inside, the cabin is one large space, with the kitchen, bathroom and utilities clustered in a central “pod”. Read more →

Object stories: Illusory ceramics by Jin Eui Kim

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By Penny Craswell

South Korean-born, Cardiff-based ceramicist Jin Eui Kim has created a series of ceramics using a layering technique that results in patterns with an optical illusion effect. I discovered his work at the Contemporary Ceramics Centre in London and was immediately impressed by the precision of the pieces, and balance of form and patternation.

OPject Instability no.9, D: 30.8 cm × H: 6.7 cm, 2015, Jin Eui Kim
OPject Instability no.9, D: 30.8 cm × H: 6.7 cm, 2015, Jin Eui Kim

Jin throws the pots on the wheel and then applies paint in 18 tonal bands from black through to grey and white to create a distinct stripe that deceives the eye, playing with concave and convex shapes. The occasional red or pink band serves as a highlight, while the finish is matte rather than gloss, providing a muted effect that is subtle and beautiful. Read more →