Four emerging creatives reveal their design process and ethical ethos

Functional, stylish and authentic, Australian design is instilled with all the characteristics that make us unique as a country. We speak to four emerging creatives who invest as much into sustainability and their ethical ethos as they do designing and creating their products.

Amy Pierce and Nat Widera

Pierce Widera, interior design

Named winner of Emerging Interior Design Practice 2019 by the Australian Interior Design Awards, Pierce Widera are on the up-and-up with numerous Melbourne hot spots under their belt, including Peaches on Swanston Street and Shinbashi in Carlton.

What are you working on now?

NW: Our first residential project as a firm, a new office fit-out, house renovation and coffee bar.

What is your dream project?

NW: An art gallery because it’s a space that needs to be exciting enough to attract people but also give the art enough space to shine. And we’d love a shot at an Aesop store. Their investment in creativity is so exciting.

What excites or frustrates you?

NW: In every project we have the opportunity to push boundaries and pull together a series of elements in a way that feels new. The downside is that the design process, the time-consuming “thinking” part, is not always valued.

What role does your creativity have in society?

NW: Art is one of the essential aspects of life. Creativity gives life meaning. It is quintessentially important.

Tamara Dean

Photography, installation and moving image 

Lauded for her installation, Stream of Consciousness, Tamara Dean’s work is exhibited in public and private collections, including Parliament House, Art Gallery of South Australia and the Francis J. Greenburger Collection in New York City.

What do you do?

Using photography, I create bodies of work largely concerned with our relationship to the environment. My installation and moving images touch on the rituals and rites of passage young people make for themselves in nature.

What role does your creativity play in society?

It aims to reframe the way we look at the world and to expand on our understanding of our place in it. It’s a symbolic reminder that we are not separate nor superior to nature and is intended to add to the broader conversation about climate change, humanity and our environment.

What are you working on?

I am shooting a photographic series in response to my concerns about the climate crisis.

Elliot and Louise Gorham

Apparentt, furniture design 

Known for their innovative furniture created for residential and commercial interiors, Apparentt’s Esteem chair is feted for its seamless flowing backrest crafted from a single piece of steam-bent timber.

How do you work?

LG: We both have strengths that we bring to the partnership. Timber is a strong part of our identity and we like to play with detail like exposed joinery, small accents of metals, colour and upholstery to contrast, diversify and soften where necessary.

Which of your creations is your favourite?

LG: When we are designing, we focus on creating something beautiful and functional while addressing its commercial viability. Sometimes we throw caution to the wind and develop something purely creative, like the Bank Credenza. It’s decorated with a relief pattern derived from architectural forms, geometric shapes and an abstract narrative. Its intricate panels are carefully curated, using modern technology in cutting and layering to reveal complex detail. It’s a talking piece that blurs the line between art and design.

What is your primary design principle?

LG: Each product is carefully considered, designed with restraint and produced locally using the highest quality materials with credible methods of construction.

Where do you turn for inspiration?

LG: Our style is influenced by unique and clever processes in timber, like Japanese joinery, which is highly regarded for its ingenuity and incredibly complex and attractive woodworking joints. It clearly demonstrates a “maker’s hand” and consequently, uncompromising quality. We work to instil these qualities in our own designs.

What memorable responses have you had to your work?

LG: An award-winning furniture designer at the Denfair said our Esteem chair was the best piece at the event. He’d admire and sit on it every time he walked past. After three years of perfecting this piece, it was incredibly positive feedback.

Zachary Hanna

Objects and lighting

2019 was an important year for Zachary Hanna. He took home the award for Lighting Design at The Design Files Awards and exhibited at the Salone Del Mobile, the prestigious furniture fair in Milan.

How do you work?

I establish what the aim and constraints of a project are, and then get to sketching. I am not an amazing drawer, so I take designs into 3D on the computer and come back to pen and paper to work out any mechanical or functional aspects.

What is your primary design principle?

I don’t follow a singular principle, but the architectural “parti”, which is the guiding idea or concept of a project, helps inform every decision, from overall form to the smallest details.

What is your most rewarding project?

Showing my lighting piece Trapeze at Salone Del Mobile last year with Local Design. It was great to be part of a solid show of Australian design on the world stage.

How do you address sustainability?

Sustainability varies depending on the project, but often from a design point of view it comes down to the right materials and using them wisely.

I think the discussion about sustainability needs to be wider than just around consumer behaviour and how we use what we have. It isn’t as simple as plastic being bad and recycling being good. Sometimes it’s better to have a product that never needs to be discarded than one that can be recycled.