Melbourne design week is an annual showcase of the best collectible contemporary design in Australia. It is the event for Australia’s leading designers to exhibit their work. Jon Goulder and Henry Williams chose Cusp CLT to design a minimalist table to showcase a collection of ceramics and tableware. Source: Timberbiz
Williams and Goulder met while both working for Snohetta Australasia. Henry was senior architect and Jon senior designer/maker.
Mr Goulder says Henry’s considered and careful approach compliments his more reckless free-form style creating a great design combination.
“We knew that most of the other designers would take the opportunity to do something crazy and flamboyant at Melbourne design week, as designers do. I’m kind of a little bit past that I think,” said Mr Goulder.”
“There’s too much design. It’s overly saturated through social media. Everyone’s just basically designing Instagram moments. That’s how we see the world of design. So, our self-portrait was almost anti-that. We wanted to be the grownups in the room.
“So, we decided we’d do something completely different and design the most calm and grownup response in amongst all this noise. The design needed to be minimalist, almost utilitarian, a necessity.”
Goulder and Williams thought about the activities that are necessities for daily human life and settled on eating and food as a theme. They designed a collection of ceramics and tableware, which led to a need to create a platform for that to sit on, which gave birth to the Cusp table.
The designers wanted a material that isn’t traditionally used for fine furniture. They explored building products and settled on CLT (Cross laminated timber) and ultimately Cusp.
“We wanted to interrogate the use of timber and ask the question, what is a good use of timber, a sustainable use of timber?
“The body of work that we developed talks about a maturity in design. It talks a lot about proportion and considered design that has longevity as opposed to throw away Instagram style moments,” said Mr Gouder.
Sustainability is also about careful consideration of materials, and according to Mr Goulder it is the responsibility of every designer now and certainly moving forward to source sustainable materials.
New generations are really going to take on the responsibility of climate change and that will change the market dramatically. So, products like what cusp will truly be valuable in the future.
“As designers, we must have a considered response to the environment and to sustainability. That’s our job,” he said.
“It’s beautiful, and it’s a natural material that talks about nature. More and more people want to bring natural beauty into their house and into their work environment.
“It’s also good to work with. It’s very straight and with the structure being cross laminated it’s incredibly stable. You can do anything with it. We’re excited to explore what the possibilities are with this material.
Mr Goulder made the table in just three hours from start to finish from receiving timber. The timber turned up in its pre-cut sizes, so he just had to put it together.
“It was simple process,” he says. “Because it’s logical, we used the material for its strength. The fact that we can span huge lengths with CLT. That’s what it’s made for. So, we just used the material for its inherent qualities.
“I love the proportion. It’s all proportion. And that’s Henry. It just sings. The first time we put [the table] together and stood back we thought, that’s it. Henry brings quite a deft understanding of space and proportion.”
Mr Goulder says the response to the table has been overwhelming.
“People want to know where they can buy it, but at this stage it’s a one off. After this experience though, we’re interested in developing other products with Cusp.”
Now that he has worked with Cusp CLT Goulder says there are far more applications for this material in the design space.
