Spotlight on Australian Designers | Anaesthetic
So once again, my spotlight shines brightly on a successful lighting design company. The talented duo of Ben and Kiri Wahrlich (actually Kiwi's but that has never stopped us claiming people before), can't be labelled 'emerging' talent any more - they are definitely design fixtures (pardon the pun) with their beautiful range of lighting, furniture and homewares products as Anaesthetic. My own home (currently in planning stage - I dropped the plans off this morning and now am holding my breath for limited council changes) sported several of their lighting products in different stages of concept, from the kitchen to the entry to the dining room. I've shown both their Hide leather pendants and Kasa concrete homewares work here before, here and here back in 2013 & 2014. My current faves however are their Constellation pendants - I'd love to have the Southern Cross above my head as I enter home or sit down to dinner in a darkened room.
I could go on about their design and engineering credentials, their accolades and their awards, but I think their products are best to soak up visually. Hopefully the photos suffice, for now.
{Constellation Lights 'Southern Cross' by Anaesthetic in beautiful polished brass}
{Constellation Lights by Anaesthetic in luxurious polished brass}
{Bezel pendant lights by Anaesthetic with its spun aluminium powder-coated top with piano-inspired polished brass 'bezel'}
{Bezel pendant light by Anaesthetic with its spun aluminium top powder-coated white with piano-inspired polished aluminium 'bezel'}
{Bala pendant light by Anaesthetic in black}
{Bala pendant light by Anaesthetic in precision machined polished brass}
{Hide pendant lights by Anaesthetic with individually cut leather shades}
{Mariner stools by Anaesthetic made from American White Oak with navy or white braided rope foot rests sourced from sailing yachts, hence the name}
{Jack concrete bluetooth speaker}
{Totem stackable stools from recyclable LPDE}
Anaesthetic will be exhibiting at the Sydney Indesign event from August 13-15, so get along to soak up some of the talent. Wish I could be there!
xo Romona
Sustainable House Day 2014
By partaking in Sustainable House Day you can tap into local knowledge to learn how to successfully integrate renewable energy, recycling, and other sustainable practices into your home and lifestyle. This unique event is a valuable resource for anyone looking for inspiration, ideas and the key to sustainable living.
Homeowners, sponsors and local sustainable groups look forward to sharing their knowledge with you, plus I'll be volunteering at the Harrisdale home in WA for the day. There are homes and gardens open to the public throughout Australia. You can find more information about each house and its features on the webpage. This is a national event, but since I'm volunteering here in Perth, I've just highlighted a few WA ones below.
{Carla and Ben’s House, 128A Roseberry St, Bedford WA}
Perth's Got Talent 2
Here are just a few more examples of amazing WA talent from Decor + Design Melbourne 2014.
{Holiday table by Callum Campbell}
Spotlight on Australian Designers | Lab De Stu
Made up of Melburnians Adam Lynch, Dale Hardiman and André Hnatojko, these guys have kicked arse on the national and international design award scene since 2011. DQ calls them 'Industry Giants', and being in their very early 20's that is saying something!
Although I could have added every image from the website, I'll leave this pretty little teaser for you and let you explore their simple but beautiful website yourself. I'm sure I will have more to add later, once I've seen their wares at D+D this week.
{The Up Up pendant is a collaboration between Dale Hardiman from Lab De Stu and artist / jewellery designer Emily Green. Emily's signature polymer clay beads combine with Dale's lighting design prowess to present a beautiful collection of pendants. Picking this image from the colour range was quite difficult. I changed my mind several times}
Geek Chic
{For a little randomness with your relativity, Progetti Rnd Lab Fun Time Random Clock at Top3}
Gravity Light
The GravityLight was the result of wanting to help solve the unreliable and unsafe lighting issue for the poverty-stricken 21% (more than 1.5 billion!) of the world's population. Deciwatt's mission is to provide affordable, sustainable and reliable light, anytime, that enables people to break free from the economic, health and environmental hazards of kerosene lamps.
The GravityLight is an innovative way of generating light and low levels of power from gravity. It takes only 3 seconds to lift the weight that powers GravityLight, creating 25 minutes of light on its descent. Can be used over and over again, anytime without the need for sunshine or batteries, therefore having no running costs and being extremely long lasting.
{The human-powered, Gravity-run LED GravityLight by Deciwatt. Image source}
DesignEX 13
The Hives exhibition was the stand-out for me with its gorgeous collaborative pieces. “When designers, interdisciplinary practitioners and leading industrial enterprises put their heads together, the results can be exciting, unexpected and intriguing. Curator Anne Maree-Sargeant returns the popular Hives exhibit to designEX 2013 with a highly considered display of products that bring together covetable objects from visionaries and brands under the themes of Innovation and Collaboration”.
My favourite for years has been the WebLight by Design By Them (along with everything else they do!). I fell in love with the gentle image of the aptly-named wispy-looking light set amongst a bright green forrest on their webpage years ago. “WebLight is the result of an exploration into the potential possibilities of reusing plastic bags. Made from recycled content, each WebLight is individually hand made and features an intricate pattern of texture and holes that are the direct result of its unique forming process.”
{Weblight by Design By Them}
Another creation I was looking forward to seeing in person was the precise Hoshigame by Artemide. Developed with Japanese fashion designer, Issey Miyake, the sustainably designed, foldable lampshade explores the intersection of creativity and mathematics. Made from fabric derived from recycled PET bottles, “Miyake's unique folding technology allows a single piece of fabric in a flat 2D shape to be unfolded into a 3D shade of statuesque form. The structure of the recycled material, together with an additional surface treatment allows 'Hoshigame' to perfectly keep its shape without the need for an internal frame, and to be stored flat when not in use and then re-shaped when needed.” Although smaller than I expected, it was still a thing of beauty.
{Hoshigame by Artemide + Issey Miyake}
Here are a few other highlights from the Hives exhibition and lots more from the show.
Lamp revamp
Sexy and Smart - LED Tech
LIFX is a WiFi enabled, multi-colour, energy efficient LED light bulb that you control with your smart phone. Developer’s boast “LIFX gives you unprecedented control of your lights, reduces your energy costs, lasts up to 25 years and delivers an amazing range of experiences we think you’ll love". They couldn't be more right - the response has been phenomenal. The innovative use of energy-efficient LED technology, combined with responsive smart phone tech that is so ingrained in our lifestyles now is irresistible, as evident by the amount of money raised, in such a small amount of time, from people wanting to get a hand on this new and exciting product.
Simply switch out your existing light globes and pop in these innovative new globes. Set your colour to any shade via your iPhone, to suit your mood or decor. Endless fun could be had with this feature - think of the parties, romantic evenings or even just for relaxing. With this, you are able to turn your lights on and off without getting up, or even being home - a plus when travelling. You can program the lights to a time schedule, as a wakey-wakey in the morning or to fade out slowly after an unnerving night of horror movies. I do also love the idea of a fading night light for the kiddies. An added brag, it has been designed, developed and manufactured right here in Melbourne, Australia!
I’m very impressed by the colour versatility, the programmable dimming and lighting up, not to mention being able to receive all your social media alerts with a flicker or colour change of the lights - say hello to the future! I'll take my drink in the VR room thanks, robomaid!
Unfortunately, the future doesn’t arrive until 2013 - and possibly a bit longer for those of us not lucky enough to have got in the early bidding. Maybe, with its popularity, the price can come down somewhat and it could be in stores next year.
{Image via Kickstarter}
For a full explanation, and some cool demonstrations, watch the clip below or for more info see the LIFX or Kickstarter websites. Enjoy.
xo Romona
Perth's Got Talent
I've tried not to be too limiting of my selection of designs that I found at the conference, so if you notice that your design is not here, just know that I was so overwhelmed by the talent, I may have forgotten to grab a card or scribble a note. For now, enjoy all this sunny WA talent and I'm sure I'll have another post soon with more.
{Aerial Chair by Megan Devenish-Krauth, industrial designer at Megmeg. I want this!}