LOCAL DESIGN presents at Milan Design Week

The third edition of LOCAL MILAN has been unveiled at this year’s Milan Design Week in District 5 Vie, the historic heart of Milan and centre of art and culture.

Presented by Emma Elizabeth and LOCAL DESIGN, LOCAL MILAN features 26 Australian designers and is the largest independent showcase of Australian design in Milan to date. With a vision to advance awareness and understanding of Australian design amongst a global audience, the exhibition of the designers’ work is currently being displayed in a setting of colour, scent and sound.

“It’s hard to describe Australian design as it draws from so many cultures and influences,” says Emma Elizabeth. “The objective of LOCAL MILAN was to present a collective of Australian design that will heighten the global perspective of our Australian aesthetic and style, encouraging and supporting local designers to continue raising the bar.”

Designers exhibiting this year include:

ANNA VARENDORFF / A.C.V Studio
Anna Varendorff showcases an extended brass vase collection, brass object wall installation and new table light. This builds on last year’s success at LOCAL DESIGN in which Wallpaper* magazine selected Anna’s brass vases in Best Drawing Room Objet d’Art.

ADAM GOODRUM x ARTHUR SEIGNEUR
The Bloom cabinet by industrial designer Adam Goodrum and marquetry artisan Arthur Seigneur is inspired by the form of a lotus in full bloom. This art piece is graphically bold – a kind of post-Pop mandala – and is made with individual stems of imported and hand-tinted French rye straw. More than 1400 sections are inlaid in timber to develop the pattern, texture and hue.

ADAM CORNISH
Adam Cornish exhibits two pieces produced for Australian brand NAU. The finish of Rev stool exaggerates its revolved silhouette, and Strand chair is simplistic in style but rich in technology and thought. Adam has also worked with international brand Alessi.

CHARLES WILSON
Charles Wilson launches a range of floor lamps in collaboration with King Furniture. Conceived to form clusters in a palm grove-like space, the lights have slender bronze stems of varying heights that morph into conical concrete bases. There are three iterations in the series each with distinctive blown glass heads.

CHRISTOPHER BOOTS
Melbourne atelier Christopher Boots presents a series of light fixtures finished in verdigris, like the surfaces of patinated and sea-weathered monuments. Christopher accelerates the aging process of living surfaces via experimental alchemy in his studio.

DANIEL EMMA
In a second interpretation of Bling Bling Dynasty, Daniel Emma shows a collection of objects full of colour and memories, inspired by travels to Hong Kong and Japan.

DOWEL JONES
Dowel Jones’ work titled Venena Arca (latin for Poisonous Cabinet) is inspired by sixteenth-century cabinets of curiosities. More than just storage, a cabinet can function as a vessel for curated experience, and each of the botanicals illustrated on the cabinet is a toxic native Australian plant.

EMMA ELIZABETH
Developing from the Natural Progressions collection with Designer Rugs, Emma Elizabeth’s hall runner is at the entrance of the exhibition. It is inspired by the colourful markings of the Peacock Chiclid and guides visitors into the palazzo.

FRED GANIM
Fred’s Plane Table has a mesmerising undulating form that reflects his background in sculpture. It made a strong impact in David Clark’s AT HOME exhibition at Old Government House in 2016 and will undoubtedly do so again at LOCAL MILAN.

HENRY WILSON
Henry Wilson’s new series of uplights and wall lights in bronze and stone further the designer’s aesthetic and product collection. They are strong and simplistic in form and sensibility and will be displayed along with Henry’s stone accessories collection.

JAMIE DURIE
Jamie Durie took inspiration from the Pandanus utilis tree and traditional Japanese wood-finishing techniques to create the Pandanus Table. Manufactured specifically for LOCAL MILAN by Riva1920, the table unites traditional and contemporary materials and manufacturing techniques.

JON GOULDER
Jon Goulder’s Innate collection is a range of furniture with an innately Australian design language: sparse and lean. Pieces are pared back to essential elements and made with materials unique to the Australian sensibility. The collection includes coffee and side tables, lounge chair, credenzas and console table/vanity/desk.

KATE BANAZI
Kate Banazi’s installation is a three-dimensional representation of a body of silkscreen work that plays with the interaction of light, transparency and colour. The installation encourages the viewer to adapt the work themselves, whether it be through the placement of the objects, the introduction of light sources and the angle from which the viewpoint is taken.

KORBAN/FLAUBERT
Janos Korban and Stefanie Flaubert’s design and sculptural practise explores metal and motion. At LOCAL MILAN they present Nude #6, a reinterpretation of the classical nude in large-scale raw black steel, which reveals the lyrical heat pattern of its production.

NICHOLAS FULLER
Nicholas Fuller is the recent recipient of the Emerging Designer Award for the Clarence Prize for Excellence and exhibits the adjustable woven sail-like forms of his work titled Voyage Partitions. Also on display, Nicholas’ streamlined pared-back floor lamp in steel, bronze and granite emulates early weighting instruments.

HAVA STUDIO
Patty Hava presents three new mirror designs that broaden the “Everything Is Golden Mirror” story. Industrial material is repurposed for decorative purposes, and gold and silver polished stainless steel and marble are used to create graphic statements.

ROSS GARDAM
LOCAL MILAN features elements of Ross Gardam’s Noon collection, including an armchair, table cluster and mirror, alongside a production version of his acclaimed Ora Desk Lamp. A modular armchair upholstered in a mixture of Kvadrat textiles and Maharam leathers is a striking combination of graphic material and curved forms.

SAGITINE
Two extensions from Tina Clark’s main collection will be showcased in collaboration with Andrew Simpson from Vert Design. Adding a limited edition re-imaging look to the Art Deco-inspired storage forms referencing vintage Louis Vuitton steamer trunks and celebrate a time when our worldly possessions were fewer but truly treasured. An antithesis to ‘fast fashion’ and designed for longevity, ‘The Sydney’ 30 box stand will be showcased in a gradient of Pantone colours along with her core 6 box stand The Santiago Luxe.

SP01
In collaboration with SP01, Tom Fereday will showcase for the first time the new upholstered Jeanette chair and barstool as part of the LOCAL MILAN terrace section of the exhibition. Encouraged to use and engage with the pieces, the Jeanette chairs will be presented alongside a new side table as part of the adjoining terrace. Each piece in the collection was developed in collaboration with SP01 and is made in Italy.

TOM SKEEHAN
The Canberra-based designer will show two new pieces including the NAVE chairs, whose slender external frame is an expression of nautical construction processes. The frame is refined to the essential structural elements, gently cradling the dominant upholstered forms. A material driven approach to design forms the chairs driving aesthetic, with tubular steel and tactile finishes complimented by unique upholstery details. Along with the new SO glass light, a hand-blown limited edition desk lamp. The minimal form focuses on the central glass diffuser, enveloped by a transparent outer form that allows for interchangeable glass elements to customise the colour and vibrancy.

TOM FEREDAY
Tom Fereday will present a limited edition forged metal series of the new SIA chair. Working with local artisans in Sydney the chairs have been hand made and forged from solid aluminium and bronze to reinterpret the minimal slender form. The SIA chair is contrasted by an elegant minimal metal frame which supports the sculptural hand polished cast elements. 1/5 solid forged aluminium chairs will be presented alongside 1/1 solid bronze chair.

WALTER BARDA
Influenced by the smooth lines of watercolour paintings, the Torso chair is made through the technique of steam bending woodworking where strips of wood are steam heated using a steam box. This seat plays a trick on the guest with the ability to be flipped two ways and has been custom stained for this show thanks to VELA Life.

JONATHAN ZAWADA
Artist Jonathan Zawada has put his twist on the furniture world, with his Piece of Pie Coffee table carefully built to a form of two combined quartz and onyx stones, with a unique slotting system and a third piece or stone sandwiched in the middle. Acting as a locking keystone, a true evolution of the principles of play evident in Zawada’s work. Jonathan has also worked with VELA Life and Kvadrat Maharam to continue his sense of play with a new soft furnishing piece.

VOLKER HAUG
Lighting studio Volker Haug shows new designs from three collections. Oddments is a practical solution to an architectural problem with a range of diameters and segment lengths to create an open or a closed system. The Anton sconce has an internally lit interior punctuated by the bulb, and the modular Step & Kick range combines structural lines with refined materials and craftsmanship.

SASKIA HAVEKES
In 1995 Saskia Havekes opened a small flower shop, Grandiflora, in Sydney’s Pott’s Point. Today, the shop still flourishes and its founder has an international reputation; not only as a florist, but as an author and now a creator of fragrances.

Accenting natural beauty, highlighting remarkable events or cleverly suggesting wilder ways to arrange flowers and foliage, each book reveals a rich insight into the Grandiflora vision. 2013 saw the Paris launch of her first two fragrances MAGNOLIA GRANDIFLORA SANDRINE and MAGNOLIA GRANDIFLORA MICHEL. 2015 MADAGASCAN JASMINE launched in the beautiful store Fenwick in London.

In 2016 QUEEN OF THE NIGHT was launched under a rare pink moon in the historic Roudnitska family garden, Cabris, France. 2017 sees the launch of her 5th fragrance, BORONIA, at Pitti Fragranze in Florence, Italy which will be showcased this year within LOCAL MILAN No.3.

ABOUT LOCAL DESIGN AND EMMA ELIZABETH
LOCAL DESIGN provides a platform, unified voice, marketplace and network for Australian designers. Cross-disciplinary designer Emma Elizabeth founded the LOCAL DESIGN platform, which includes a website, exhibitions and events that showcase local professionals’ talents with the mission of encouraging people to “think global and buy local.” LOCAL DESIGN connects creative talent and brands, supports Australian-designed production and export and actively promotes the growth of the design industry. Emma Elizabeth has a connection to Milan where she studied scenografia, a fusion course of interior design, industrial design and set design. After graduating she established Emma Elizabeth Designs and takes a cross-disciplinary approach to art direction, design, styling and creative conceptualisation.

localdesign.com.au