current

• Travelling Scholarship Noosa Regional Gallery
  
  

24 July - 23 August

Noosa Regional Gallery

Pelican St, Tewantin

http://www.noosaregionalgallery.org/travellingscholarship/

recent

• Five Senses State Library of Queensland

• The Art of the Chair Noosa Regional Gallery, QLD

• Holzdesign Australien: Wissenschaft im Atelier. Mainz, Germany.

My research applies bending techniques to batch production in a contemporary designer-maker studio. These prototype pieces are inspired by the rich subtropical landscape that surrounds my studio. The steam bending used is particularly suited to small scale eco-regional design and production.

Pod light cabinet
(steam-bent and laminated silky oak, silver ash, stainless steel, glass, LED lighting system, mechanical fasteners)

This cabinet draws on the craft tradition of coopering, where timber is bent and laminated to make a compound curved form. The deconstructed barrel represents the hard outer shell of a seed pod. Within this pod, the silver ash cabinet holds a precious object. The gentle spill of light around the cabinet alludes to the potential of new life; its slender dynamic legs show its precariousness.


Bud table
(steam bent silky oak, silver ash, stainless steel, silky oak veneer on torsion box with recycled cardboard core, mechanical fasteners)

This occasional table uses a minimal structure developed using the “bend and split” technique to produce a poetic and dynamic form. Because open ended bent forms change radius in different climatic zones, mechanical hardware allows adjustment of the table surfaces.


Sprung #4 chair
(steam bent & laminated silky oak, kangaroo leather upholstery, silver ash, stainless steel)

The latest in a series of chairs that investigate the potential of bent timber for new structural forms, using the resilience and flexibility of wood to provide dynamic forms and innovative ergonomics.


These three forms encapsulate the related evolution of the natural world: the seed, when if survives in its pod, becomes the bud, and eventually blossoms into the ripe form of spring. The techniques used reflect the requirements of environmental sustainability, the forms of nature, and my own evolution as a fine furniture artisan.

• Studio Furniture 2008 Bungendore, NSW