Guest contributor and graduate of architecture Nikita Bhopti writes about Partu, an exhibition at Gallery Sally Dan-Cuthbert in Sydney that is the result of a collaboration between Indigenous leather saddler Johnny Nargoodah and Sydney-based designer Trent Jansen.
An experimental collaboration between saddler Johnny Nargoodah and object designer Trent Jansen has resulted in Partu. Avant-garde object maker Jansen has a history in storytelling and narrative-driven design, capturing cultural identity and history within his works. Nyikina man Nargoodah brings a different skill set to the collaboration, centred around his experience-based techniques with leather, as well as a rich history and connection to place.
The pair come together with what seems like an incongruent set of skills, experiences and cultures. However, what is interesting about the objects in Partu is how the unique combination of both makers’ skills are harnessed. When looking at these objects, we can see a unique narrative embodied in them, reflecting Nargoodah and Jansen’s experiences, values and histories, both apart and together.
Translating to ‘skin’, Partu comprises two collections in one. Ngumu Jangka Warnti, translating to ‘all made from rubbish’, includes four pieces of furniture – a low back chair, high back chair, a bench and an armchair. In this collection, the methodology of ‘design by making’ is embraced by the makers.
The collection’s concept is based off experiments that the pair carried out together on aluminium substrates found at scrap metal yards. “Digging a hole and throwing a big lump of concrete at the mesh over the hole” was the beginning of shaping the concept for the chair’s form, says Jansen. The resulting mesh form in the void informed the way the pair used hammers and pliers to form mesh into the pieces of furniture. With both Jansen and Nargoodah actively making at the same time, the object’s core form becomes a manifestation of the makers’ combined decisions and actions.
Nargoodah’s distinctive skills in leather-working were then utilised to further develop the objects in this collection. A history in mending saddles and working with leather in the Kimberley region gives Johnny a unique understanding on the capabilities and qualities of leather. As a material, leather has various sensory components. Being particularly familiar to Nargoodah, the smell of the leather triggers sensory memories of mending saddles in his Noonkanbah Shed.
Jansen described his initial response to the idea of skinning metal with leather during an ‘In Conversation’ talk at Gallery Sally Dan-Cuthbert. “I really thought it was a terrible idea,” he confesses, but then says he had to “eat my words”. In the Ngumu Jangka Warnti collection, the base mesh’s jagged crumpled edges are skinned with leather, resulting in a softened, more refined form. Sharp edges are offset, and are made smooth and refined. Jansen speaks of the many late nights spent hand cutting “fractions of a millimetre” with a very sharp knife to achieve the perfect edges – working with a material that Nargoodah had brought to the collaboration and learning a lot about it.
As a storyteller, Jansen is often inspired by history when designing objects – whether it be a time, place or a memory. The use of leather in both of Partu’s collections embeds the history of Fitzroy Crossing and Nargoodah’s saddle station into the objects that the pair make together.
Partu’s second collection, Saddle, is what Jansen refers to as “an experimentation of another kind” – made by stretching leather over more solid forms. The collection is an exploration into the in-between forms of the materials.
The ‘making’ process for the Saddle collection leans heavily on an 18 month sketch exchange between the two makers. Relying on equal input from its formative stages, the resulting concept for this collection captures an evolution of ideas exchanged between Nargoodah and Jansen. The process of exchange creates opportunities to eliminate elements that have little meaning, and allow for more deliberate and considered inclusion. The resulting objects in Saddle represent a true equilibrium of both makers’ individual skillsets and values.
Partu exhibits the combination of two makers’ skill sets and values manifested into a series of objects, which are more than form and materiality. They are embedded with stories, whether that’s the process of making shared between the makers, memories of a place or time, or one of Nargoodah’s stories about country. Through adopting unique techniques in leatherwork and incorporating stories of place and time, the objects in Partu could only have been made by the unique collaboration between Trent Jansen and Johnny Nargoodah.
Partu was exhibited at Gallery Sally Dan-Cuthbert between 1 June and 26 July 2020. Visit the gallery from Tuesday to Friday 10am – 6pm and Saturday to Sunday 12pm – 4pm or by appointment to see and purchase works from Partu.
More on Trent Jansen
Beautifully sensual outcomes with its enigmatic forms on top of a richly embedded narrative… a fine example of celebrating our Indigenous roots in the contemporary context! A very inspiring read – would love to see more of these unique collaborations in the Australian design scene.