Form From by Studio Flek.

6 conscious Ausatralian designs at Melbourne Design Week 2021. Form From by Studio Flek.

Design – A furniture collection crafted by extracting precious timbers from cheap antiques, bar stools made from the by-product of beer production and puddle Australian mirrors are among our favourite designs on show at Melbourne Design Week 2021.

Upcycling cheap antiques

Broached Recall by Broached Commissions - Photo by Paul Barbera

Broached Recall by Broached Commissions – Photo by Paul Barbera.

Broached Recall presented by Broached Commissions is a collection of furniture pieces crafted by extracting precious timbers from cheap antiques that are undesirable or no longer considered fashionable – a comment on the design industry’s enormous contribution to the economics of extraction and flagrant consumerism.

Shaped by the Tasman Sea tides

Drift by Tom Fereday - Photo by Kristoffer Paulsen.

Drift by Tom Fereday – Photo by Kristoffer Paulsen.

Sydney-based designer Tom Fereday presents Drift, a dramatic series of 100 unique cast quartz glass forms, exploring the notion of natural passive finishing. Each of the objects is patinated and uniquely finished by the tidal drift of the Tasman Sea. The natural abrasion of the ocean water and silica celebrates the beauty and unique variation of the natural finishing process, cycling back the origins of the glass itself to its ultimate presentation.

Algae-bioplastic dinner setting

Photo via IG @but_first_we_eat - Photo by @kittywurst

Photo via IG @but_first_we_eat – Photo by @kittywurst.

A Sea at The Table by Other Matter and Fluff Corp is an exhibition of an algae-bioplastic dinner setting and a retail store selling bioplastic pieces. In a concurrent series of ‘translucent dinners, ’ food will be conceptually centered around the sea and transparency, highlighting the urgency for a post-petrochemical world.

Made from beer brewing

Form From by Studio Flek.

Form From by Studio Flek.

Form From by Studio Flek features a series of bar stools made from the by-product of beer production, reintroducing the waste back into the space that created it. Working with Balter Brewing on the Gold Coast, spent hops and beer mash are dried out to be used as a substrate for Mycelium, the mushrooms’ root structure.

A cornucopia for times of scarcity

Demeter by Fatemeh Boroujeni @ FUTURE INHERITANCE - Photo by Lillie Thompson.

Demeter by Fatemeh Boroujeni @ FUTURE INHERITANCE – Photo by Lillie Thompson.

Artist and migrant from Iran Fatemeh Boroujeni presents Demeter, a dystopic cornucopia and container, but not a horn of plenty, conceived in the midst of apocalyptic bushfires, which was closely followed by the pandemic. The piece reflects diminished resources, a handful of seeds, and hope for generations to follow. Demeter is crafted according to ancient Persian techniques in metalwork.

Puddle Australian mirrors

Photo vias IG @cordonsalon.

Photo vias IG @cordonsalon.

Sophie Gannon Gallery presents Designwork 05: Cordon Salon, solo exhibition and collection of ‘puddle mirrors’ by Melbourne-based studio Cordon Salon’s previous experiments with traditional silvering methods. The body of work is inspired by aura photography and Kate Mitchell’s ‘All Auras Touch.’

Broached Recall - Courtesy of Melbourne Design Week 2021

Broached Recall – Courtesy of Melbourne Design Week 2021.