Jon Goulder and Fiona Lyda have teamed up to tell Australian stories through furniture

A special collaboration was born when renowned designer Jon Goulder teamed up with Fiona Lyda, founder of Surry Hills’ beloved Spence & Lyda showroom.

The pair have just released Innate – or, more specifically, Innate Night, the first of two parts in a furniture collection that has been two years in the making. 

Innate’s materials tell a quintessentially Australian story, utilising leather to Tasmanian oak and blackwood, in total harmony.

Meeting of minds

Lyda says the pair hit it off when they first met and before long the idea for the Innate collaboration arose. 

“We didn’t know each other prior to Jon walking into the showroom two years ago,” she says, having asked to meet Goulder in the hopes of hosting one of his pieces. “But from that moment there was a very good synergy.

“Jon suggested collaboration and frankly I jumped at the idea.”

Although the opportunity was golden for Spence & Lyda, presenting the chance to design a collection that fitted their showroom perfectly, Lyda was more focused on what she and Goulder wanted to express artistically. 

They wanted to create something deeply Australian, to bring to life a furniture collection that both reacted to and expressed their home.  

• Related: Behind Hugh Altschwager’s love of limestone
• Related: The “experiment” that’s championing local design
• Related: The architects turning to furniture design

“Those elements that make us who we are as a people, the influences that shape our national character, [informed] our design choices.”

An Australian voice

The value of Australian design is something Lyda fiercely champions. 

“Once we remove ourselves from the Euro-centric vision as the only place where ‘design’ comes from, we start to express our innate Australian aesthetic.”

Using Australian materials was therefore a logical choice. Stone, leather and, of course, steel feature prominently in Innate Night, but it’s arguably the use of Australia’s world-class hardwoods that are the most captivating. 

Part of what makes these timbers unusual is the pickling effect with which they’ve been treated. Simple household vinegar has been used to change their hue and, according to Lyda, the effects will typically stand the test of time far better than an application of common paint. 

Quiet achiever 

While there is an obvious allure to Innate Night, in the cabinetry’s delicate ribbon-like handles and the sultry slope of its steel-and-leather armchair, nothing about the range screams for attention. 

“That is not to say the pieces aren’t beautiful,” says Lyda. “They are, very much so. It’s more that they are what ‘the little black dress’ is to fashion, perfect in every occasion or setting.”

So what are Lyda’s takeaways from her debut collaboration with Goulder, after a two-year journey that still hasn’t reached its end?

“Letting the process take its course. You can’t push it – that took discipline.”