Australian made: Meet the emerging creatives leading the way in design

From sculptural ceramicists to furniture design with a modernist gaze, the emerging designer space is never short of wonderment and originality.

We spoke to five Australian creative trailblazers who bring loads of personality and charm to their designs.

Many have kept busy doing lockdown by throwing themselves into their creative processes, because the demand for Made in Australia and the desire to fill our homes with locally made products is a real thing.

Cassie Hansen

Ceramicist

Cassie Hansen is a part-time editor of Artichoke magazine who has taken to the pottery wheel all in the name of chasing her own creative aspirations.

Hansen has found her voice as a ceramicist, and it makes for the perfect distraction from the editorial demands she knew too well in a once-full-time capacity. You can’t scroll or answer the phone when you’re deep in clay; it requires 100 per cent concentration.

“I was burnt out by the deadlines and was seeing so much design and people’s creativity land on my desk, it made me feel I wanted to do something too,” says Hansen.

She’s all about geometric shapes, lines and shadows evident in her collection of jugs, vases and other vessels.

“I put an architectural language into the making of spout or handle,” she says of her artistic approach.

Whether it’s theatrical circular handles or spouts that ooze architectural verve, she’s found a happy medium between function and form. She’s also been shortlisted for the Emerging Designer Award category in this year’s The Design Files + Laminex Design Awards to be held in early November.

Hansen is working with black clay right now – think lots of windows and shutters for a modernist rising.

“There’s some mid-century handles with arches coming through,” she says.

“I have been researching different windows and making handles that are a round window with shutters added to them. Others are more abstract, it’s been lots of fun.”

James Howe

Furniture designer

Former journalist-turned-furniture designer James Howe accidentally fell into design after his pregnant wife asked him to make some nursery furniture several years ago.

He won an international design award for it too, and if you’re wondering they now have five kids in the family.

Howe makes modern furniture that’s minimal and sculptural.

“I love the sense of order, simplicity and beauty of the materials,” he says of his approach.

His furniture piece dubbed the J7 Day Bed is shortlisted for a Design Files Award this year. This is where architectural curiosity and Danish inspiration is woven together for a functional piece of sustainable art within the home.

“When I designed the J7 day bed, I was imagining the material palette I had seen in the house designed by Danish modernist Borge Mogensen. His restrained use of colour appealed to me and I wanted to pull those dimensions together in my work,” says Howe.

“It’s all about creating a deep emotional response in my furniture and proof that minimal design can counteract the chaos of life.”

FOMU Design

Furniture designers

Creative couple Andrew Beveridge and Gabrielle Beswick create simple, stylish and timeless furniture with a sustainable heartbeat. The couple moved from Tasmania to Melbourne 10 years ago to pursue furniture and fashion design respectively, and launched their business three years ago.

“Our furniture is filled with minimalist and modernist ideals, but we mostly try to bring personality to minimalism,” says Beveridge.

Fomu Design borrows from mid-century French style, takes a cue from the Surrealists and earths its ethos into all that is sustainable too. You can’t go past their gorgeous L’Art Lounge Chair in all its tactile glory.

“We wanted to create playfulness with upholstery and by using boucle fabric, it’s a way to exaggerate the product and tease out a lot of personality,” says Beswick of the chair design and finishes.

They work from a studio in Brunswick and have seen an increase in demand for locally made furniture due to the pandemic.

“We work on a lot of custom pieces, which is great for us,” says Beswick. “People are now looking to furniture designers like us because they want Australian-made and don’t know if they can get pieces from overseas due to so many constraints with shipping.”

Tantri Mustika

Ceramic artist

Tantri Mustika is a former Melbourne hairdresser-turned-ceramicist who’s has truly found her calling.

“It started as a hobby and I love it because it’s very hands-on like hairdressing,” says the Preston-based maker.

Mustika is known for her terrazzo-inspired ceramics; she creates pastel quartz colours within the pieces.

Her work is all about earthed natural stone colours and relies on an abstract modernist patterning in her finished products.

“I’m attempting to modernise an ancient approach to ceramics; I love sharp angles and I would only make pieces that I’d want in my home for myself,” she says.

Her small business is quickly growing, enlisting her mother (who has a BA in fine art) to help run the show too.

But it’s her love for terrazzo that has become her visual marker for her vases, dishes and wall vases. She’s best known for her mountain vessels; they’re her biggest hit so far.

“I love mish-mashing colours and over time I’ve become more considered in my approach.”