Winners: 2018 VIVID Awards Unearth Brilliant New Design Talent
Furniture, lighting and objets d'art design have been reinvented by Australian designers with bucketloads of vision
The VIVID design awards program, now in its 15th year, is dedicated to discovering and rewarding Australia’s emerging designers of homewares – furniture, lighting and accessories. As these winning designs reveal, the future looks bright indeed.
Founded in 2015, Thomas Yeend Design began with an interest in the potential of combining modern digital craft technologies with traditional blown and cast glass processes. Using these skills, the designer aims to produce high-quality, locally hand-crafted glass design work possessing a distinct signature aesthetic, fusing style with fun.
“I began designing and making furniture to combine traditional craft and contemporary digital techniques. I create pieces that are refined, with attention to detail, care in material choice and process. I have found that working with my hands has developed a connection between myself, the design and its materials.”
Winner: Concept Design
Fran White – VaryVases
The brief was to utilise digital tools to design a mass-customisable product; an object that combines the personalisation of custom-made products with the efficiencies of mass-production. VaryVases are custom designed using parametric modelling software. The digital model data is then translated into physically adjustable parameters on a rotational casting mould.
Fran White – VaryVases
The brief was to utilise digital tools to design a mass-customisable product; an object that combines the personalisation of custom-made products with the efficiencies of mass-production. VaryVases are custom designed using parametric modelling software. The digital model data is then translated into physically adjustable parameters on a rotational casting mould.
Fran White is a Graduate of Architecture from the University of Melbourne. She has a background in sculpture and undertook her architectural education specialising in digital technologies and making. Her work explores ideas about adaptability and variability, and she is interested in design that can ‘do more with less’.
Winner – VIVID Judges’ Choice Award
Dean Toepfer – Rebel Futurism Pendant
Aiming to be distinct beyond different, the Rebel Futurism Pendant was designed to capture attention and evoke intrigue. The pendant is counterweighted to be hung asymmetrically, with light only emitting from the outer perimeter to give the inside of the piece a hollow void.
Dean Toepfer – Rebel Futurism Pendant
Aiming to be distinct beyond different, the Rebel Futurism Pendant was designed to capture attention and evoke intrigue. The pendant is counterweighted to be hung asymmetrically, with light only emitting from the outer perimeter to give the inside of the piece a hollow void.
Joint Winner: People’s Choice Award (Sponsored by Houzz)
Shavendra Gehan Goonetilleke – The Infini-t-able
The Infini-t-able is a hand-sculpted, bent and laminated timber coffee table inspired by the notion of singularity and elegance. The concept pushes the boundaries of timber’s physicality by bending and twisting the material.
Shavendra Gehan Goonetilleke is a recent graduate of architecture. Passionate about architecture and fabrication, the furniture piece was explored in an experimental digital furniture design elective at the University of Melbourne in 2017.
Shavendra Gehan Goonetilleke – The Infini-t-able
The Infini-t-able is a hand-sculpted, bent and laminated timber coffee table inspired by the notion of singularity and elegance. The concept pushes the boundaries of timber’s physicality by bending and twisting the material.
Shavendra Gehan Goonetilleke is a recent graduate of architecture. Passionate about architecture and fabrication, the furniture piece was explored in an experimental digital furniture design elective at the University of Melbourne in 2017.
Joint Winner: People’s Choice Award (Sponsored by Houzz)
Noel Surti – Surpentile Table
Serpentile Table explores the agility of concrete with the forces of gravity. It emerged with a fabric formwork cast as a jointless piece of furniture. The fabric interacts with the concrete, leaving behind grainy, serpent-like texture and colour residues. The finish is subtle and true to its materiality.
An architect by profession and a designer by hobby, Noel Surti was recently invited by Melbourne Movement to showcase the Serpentile Table at the SaloneSatellite Awards 2018 held in Rho Fiera, Milan.
Noel Surti – Surpentile Table
Serpentile Table explores the agility of concrete with the forces of gravity. It emerged with a fabric formwork cast as a jointless piece of furniture. The fabric interacts with the concrete, leaving behind grainy, serpent-like texture and colour residues. The finish is subtle and true to its materiality.
An architect by profession and a designer by hobby, Noel Surti was recently invited by Melbourne Movement to showcase the Serpentile Table at the SaloneSatellite Awards 2018 held in Rho Fiera, Milan.
Winner: Furniture Design
Marinos Drakopoulos – James Chair
This is a sculptural dining chair made of solid timber. The design is light with refined structural elements, highlighted by delicate joinery details. The backrest is sculpted to run continuously with the legs of the chair, which provides a comfortable seating position. Fabrication is a mix of turning, hand sculpting and CNC fabrication.
Marinos Drakopoulos – James Chair
This is a sculptural dining chair made of solid timber. The design is light with refined structural elements, highlighted by delicate joinery details. The backrest is sculpted to run continuously with the legs of the chair, which provides a comfortable seating position. Fabrication is a mix of turning, hand sculpting and CNC fabrication.
Drakopoulos began designing and making furniture to combine traditional craft and contemporary digital techniques. “I create pieces that are refined, with attention to detail, care in material choice and process,” he says.
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Tell us
Which of these designs is your favourite? Tell us why in the Comments below. And if you enjoyed this story, don’t forget to like, share or save it and your favourite images. Join the conversation.
More
Find a furniture or home decor professional for your own custom project
Thomas Yeend – KILO Lamp
An ode to the distinctive form of vintage dumbbell weights, the KILO Lamp Collection is the debut lighting collection from Thomas Yeend Design. KILO features two hand-blown glass orbs that sleeve neatly together at their collars; beautifully sculptural when off, and colourfully radiant when illuminated.