The Design Writer

By Penny Craswell

Are you planning a plastic-free festive season this year? Or looking for other ways to reduce your carbon footprint at the time of year when many of us spend the most and waste the most? Or do you want to buy gifts that support charities? Then look no further than this gift guide, which has some bright ideas for how to be festive without the cost to planet or humans.

Instead of buying from multinational companies this year, consider buying from a small business or a maker. Handmade gifts can be found at these galleries and shops: Australian Design Centre, Craft Victoria, Craft ACT, Design Tasmania, JamFactory and Artisan.

You might also want to consider the option of gifting an invisible gift, like a subscription to a streaming service, or a ticket to a class or experience. Food is another great way to gift without waste.

1. Fjällraven is known for their stylish, quality backpacks and their latest offering, called Tree Kånken, is made from wood. This bio-material, called Pine Weave, is made from certified Swedish trees grown close to Fjällräven’s hometown of Örnsköldsvik and is part of the company’s efforts to find innovative new alternatives to fossil fuels. fjallraven.com.au

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By Penny Craswell

White Rabbit House is a renovation of a 1970s Neo-Georgian terrace house in London’s Islington by local architecture firm Gundry + Ducker. The house underwent a total overhaul, keeping only the roof and external brick walls, while the 1970s interiors were removed to make way for a completely new interior and a new extension was added at the back.

A simple box shape in pale brick and a mottled white terrazzo lend the back extension a contemporary feel, in contrast to the brown brick of the rest of the building. Arched windows here and arched doors inside are a nod to the Neo-Georgian style of the building, while also being (again) completely contemporary. Green steel-framed glass doors open out directly to the outside.

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By Penny Craswell

Known for his Cracked Light Log, Tasmanian furniture and lighting designer Duncan Meerding combines light with wood again in his latest design, a whiskey cabinet called ‘Light from Shadows’.

Duncan Meerding’s unique approach to design originates from his eyesight: “I am ‘legally blind’ with less than 5% vision, concentrated around the periphery. My vision showcases over all forms and light dispersing around the outside of objects and forms,” he says. “If you look at a lot of my work, it is reflective of this.”

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By Penny Craswell

Sydney-based furniture maker Nick Pedulla made this record cabinet from Black Oak with a contrasting Natural Oak with brass grilles for a couple who wanted a cabinet with custom measurements to house their record player, speakers and record collection.

The couple found Pedulla via a google search for Sydney custom furniture makers, and, as well as having specific measurements in mind, they also asked that the record cabinet be designed for ventilation. “The most important detail was having enough space for record storage as well as making it a piece to enhance the space, to provide a comfortable area while listening to music,” says Pedulla.

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By Penny Craswell

The Milan Furniture Fair (or Salone del Mobile) may have been cancelled last year, and in 2021 been moved to September from its usual April spot on the calendar, but there’s plenty of new designs on show, from the latest product releases to experimental objects, exhibitions, installations and more. Here’s some that caught my eye from afar.

The latest products from Hermés Home including textiles, ceramics, leather and more are this year displayed in an installation incorporating scenography and sound design with patterns painted on architectural elements in an array of colours. The shapes and colours echo the brand’s furniture centrepiece this year, the ‘Organic Curves’ Chair designed by Studio Mumbai, a wide-seated wooden chair coated in a cellulose material that gives the chair a slightly uneven finish, then hand painted in bold red stripes.

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By Penny Craswell

‘Future Remains’ is an exhibition at Craft Victoria in Melbourne that presents the work of seven female designer/makers whose principle material is wood. Works include furniture, sculpture and jewellery, each made with a different timber and technique.

Melbourne-based artist Makiko Ryujin draws on her Japanese heritage in the sculptural work LOOP, a series of wood-turned objects inspired by Tōrō; traditional Japanese lanterns found in Buddhist temples. The timber is blackened by fire, a reference to the Japanese cultural burning ritual ‘Otakiage’.

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By Penny Craswell

The Melt series of furniture and objects by Japanese designer Oki Sato from Nendo has been extended with a new green edition for Venice Glass Week 2021. The Glass to Glass exhibition at Fondazione Berengo’s Art Space in Murano also includes a chandelier-like installation made of the Melt pieces as part of the show, which is presented by WonderGlass and Berengo Studio.

Nendo’s series Melt, launched in 2019, originally included an armchair, a chaise longue, a dining table, a side table, a partition and a vase, all in clear glass and all with curved shapes created by forming molten glass over a pipe or mould. The idea was to let gravity do the work of stretching the glass to its final design.

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By Penny Craswell

This 40 square metre home in Hobart designed by Josh FitzGerald, Director of architecture studio Archier for himself and his wife Millie was always meant to be moveable.

Casa Acton was only made possible thanks to Millie’s father, who suggested that the couple design a small home on some land he owned, with a view to moving the house to new land owned by Josh and Millie when they were ready.

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We asked Anna Grassham from Melbourne auction house Leonard Joel for her take on design at auction in Australia.

Over the last 10 years I have seen significant growth in all areas of mid-century design across Australian auction houses. In the early days, collectors and dealers were able to pick up bargains at auction, and flip items on to secondhand stores or ebay and make a good profit.

It was evident around the early 2000s when the Scandinavian wave took over, all things 1960s just went nuts. Prices at auction were doubling and tripling for teak sideboards, chests of drawers, sofas and armchairs. Australian brands that produced 1960s furniture such as Parker and Fler started becoming expensive and collectable.

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By Penny Craswell

This new interior by design studio Sans-Arc has transformed an old tram shed on the Karrawirra Parri (River Torrens) in Adelaide’s Thebarton into a relaxed cafe space with natural materials and a rustic flavour. Bloom Cafe offers a contemporary fusion menu and also makes use of its riverside location for functions and outdoor dining.

Even though the clients took on a 10 year lease, Sans-Arc wanted to take a light approach, preserving the shell of the building so it can be transformed again for future tenants. “In a world of venues being demolished and re-fit regularly, we dream of coming into spaces where our process is simplified by the existing building, a beautiful envelope, where a few simple moves inside create a space perfect for the offering,” says the design statement.

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