Innholdsfortegnelse for Issue 4 i Design Anthology, Australia Edition

A love for model making discovered during undergraduate studies saw Zoë Veness experimenting with acetate, drafting film and paper to investigate numerical systems including the Fibonacci sequence. Although she originally intended to translate these folded designs into metal, Veness found working with paper so intriguing that she began to produce brooches and necklaces, their humble materials and intricate forms challenging the preconceived notions of value associated with jewellery. Exploring the space between wearable and standalone objects led to the creation of looped and linked forms that ‘are still connected to the body through the language of jewellery’, but rest on plinths rather than skin. Veness relocated from Sydney to Hobart in 2016 to teach, finding the Tasmanian capital an ideal setting to refocus her practice after completing a PhD. In…

There is a fine line between minimalism and austerity, but the warmth of natural materials can carry a slick, sophisticated design into the realm of comfort and approachability. Seated in a rural settlement just outside of Christchurch, this house is a fine example of the approach, featuring a careful, constrained material palette and pared-back detailing that marries well with its location to create a warm home. The home is the result of a collaboration between architects O’Neil Architecture, interior designers Lume Design and the professional couple who were their clients. For architect Darren O’Neil, the aim was to create a home that felt as though it had some context on its rural acreage. ‘The clients were adamant that the finished home look like it belonged in the environment,’ says O’Neil.…

Just before leaving my home town of Wellington, New Zealand’s capital city, to move overseas, I took a walk to the Mount Victoria lookout. This was always my favourite Wellington walk for its wise old trees and abundance of flowers, but also because it shows the whole maze of the city, and it always reminded me how small the city is, despite how big it once felt. In Māori mythology, the North Island of New Zealand is a large fish, caught by the demigod Māui. Wellington Harbour and Lake Wairarapa are the fish’s eyes, and the Remutaka, Tararua and Ruahine mountains its spine. Even now, the region’s rugged geography has an untamed wildness to it. In the city itself, much of the street life falls around the thoroughfare streets and…

If the busyness of our lives before the pandemic planted the seed for slow travel, then the recent string of lockdowns has given it fertile ground to flourish. The mindful movement, which sees people reconnecting with themselves and the natural world in more intense and meaningful ways, is increasingly in line with the urge to explore destinations that have a premium on nature, wide open space, fresh air and local food. In north-eastern Victoria, Milawa Gourmet Region could be hailed as the perfect slow travel destination. The region’s fresh air is tinged with the aroma of fresh hay and eucalyptus. The Ovens and King rivers weave meandering khaki lines through the landscape, creating a home for lizards, kingfishers, cockatoos and echidnas. The horizon line extends to the distant blues of…

The crossovers between art and design have long been observed from both camps, and ceramics is one medium where the intersection is distinct. These five Australian contemporary artists use clay to express an understanding of space and place within the sculptural objects, exploring the links between ceramics and architecture, the 3D-modelling style lending itself well to both mediums. Kyneton-based Cassie Hansen’s professional background as a design editor influences her stylistic sensibilities.‘Design inevitably plays a big part in my ceramic practice,’ she says, ‘Not only in the aesthetics, which are heavily influenced by architecture, but also in the function.’ Aesthetically, her works take shape as odes to modernist and Bauhaus architectural styles, but also depict the shadows and compositions captured in architectural photography. Hansen hopes that this balance can serve and…

Buying a property off-plan can be a prescriptive experience, delivered as it often is in a firm design language that doesn’t permit much opportunity for change. So, it was a pleasant surprise that while the owners of this Melbourne residence purchased their house sight unseen, they were allowed a degree of malleability and flexibility that resulted in a deeply personal home. Designed by Wald Architects, the 300-square-metre residence was already in development when its new owners enlisted sisters Lauren and Amanda Martin of locally based architecture and interiors firm Studio Martin. The two came on board just before construction began and were able to lightly reconfigure the footprint before the slab was poured, adjusting the plumbing and enhancing the spatial arrangement to better accommodate the needs of their clients. ‘They…

The threat of bushfire has always been omnipresent in Australia, but there’s no denying that in recent years things have shifted up a gear, making bushfires a very real danger for up to six months of the year. Increasingly, discourse around bushfires — and climate change — is veering towards adaptation: how do we change our behaviours and lifestyle to accommodate this threat? One man working to answer this question is research architect Ian Weir, a founding member of the Bushfire Building Council of Australia, director of Ian Weir Architect and senior lecturer at the Queensland University of Technology. Weir advocates a shift in design sensibilities away from the timber-heavy housing popular in regional Australia and towards a style that is sympathetic to an environment where bushfire is an ongoing…

There can be no doubt that architect Robin Boyd left an indelible, enduring mark on Australia’s built landscape. An outspoken proponent of a new Australian modernism, Boyd was prolific in his relatively short career — as an architect, writer, critic, educator and activist — and saw a great deal of his designs realised. Boyd’s untimely passing in 1971, however, came before the completion of the winery and getaway destination in Nagambie, northern Victoria, that he designed for Melbourne hospitality entrepreneur Ross Shelmerdine (son-in-law of retail entrepreneur Sidney Myer). In Boyd’s deeply felt absence, Mitchelton Estate and its iconic tower, situated on more than 100 hectares of farmland on the banks of the Goulburn River, were completed by respected Australian architect Ted Ashton. Mitchelton — a name coined by Boyd after…

These days, the Great Aussie Dream is no longer a rose-coloured vision of turf-fronted houses sprawled across sleepy suburbia. In 2021, the potent combination of astronomical property prices and a growing attraction to small-footprint living has turned the tide towards quality compact housing. Increasingly, discerning generations of first-home buyers and empty-nest downsizers are making forever homes out of enviably located, design-led multi-residence properties. Thoughtfully refurbished by Blair Smith Architecture, this standard two-bedroom apartment in Melbourne’s inner-city South Yarra is a warm and inviting home for a couple approaching retirement. While the original brief only required a kitchen and lounge renovation, as plans were revealed, so too were the abundant opportunities to improve the clients’ enjoyment of their home.‘After drafting an initial layout that answered their brief, I threw in a…

For a designer, working on a historic property is a privilege that comes with its own set of challenges. ‘This property is part of a pair of symmetrical semi-detached Federation homes that are heritage listed in a conservation area,’ says Sarah Roach, founder and director of residential design studio Entrance Hall. ‘The design therefore had to be sympathetic not only to the streetscape, but also to the adjoining neighbour.’ The connection between Roach and her clients, a couple with a baby, was immediate, and helped foster the trust and confidence required for all the design choices made along the way. Located in lively Bondi, the house — with an original footprint of just over 90 square metres — was given new life with an addition that expands the total area…

In ten years, Greater Melbourne could be powered entirely by renewable energy, be water neutral and produce zero waste. A utopian pipedream? Not according to Ross Harding, principal at Finding Infinity. With collaborators in the government and built environment industries, the Melbourne-based consultancy works towards finding pragmatic solutions for a sustainable future. While the phrase ‘the new normal’ has now become inextricably associated with our pandemic reality, the project wasn’t developed in response to COVID-19. In fact, the groundwork for A New Normal was laid at Melbourne Design Week over two years ago, in a talk exploring what might be done to make the city sustainably self-sufficient. ‘The question was, what are the steps to ensure we make no negative environmental impact?’ says Harding. ‘How much space would we need,…