|

Crafting the Future: A Documentary on Design Excellence (Documentary)

Known for his distinct Australian style and ability to combine functionality with unique design aesthetics, Adam Goodrum crafts furniture, products and collectibles from his Sydney studio.

Adam feels most creative in this Waterloo-based space. “I bought the property ten years ago and did it up over time. I love the neighbourhood – it’s colourful, gritty and open-minded,” says Adam. Here, he works both independently and on his other practice, Adam&Arthur, alongside French marquetry artist Arthur Seigneur. “We share a vision to do things a little differently … we create pieces with flamboyance, patterns and colours that you wouldn’t normally see.”

Most of Adam’s designs are high-end objects in the realm of furniture and homewares. Each collection he produces involves a transformative process where wood and other materials are recast in a way to create not just a piece of furniture or a beautiful object, but an artwork in itself.

When it comes to Adam’s inspiration to create, he reflects on the nuanced ways design makes our lives better. “Design can be functional and problem-solving, but at the other end, it can also provoke emotion or a thought.” Adam’s intuitive love for making was nurtured during his high school years thanks to a fortuitous pairing of teacher and student. “I always had a love for making and drawing. In high school I had a wonderful art teacher,” says Adam. “Off the back of her just being amazing, I realised I wanted to head in a fine arts direction. It wasn’t until I completed year 12 and found I enjoyed mathematics and that kind of thing that I discovered this thing called industrial design, which seemed to be a nice combination of art and math.”

With each brief Adam Goodrum receives, whether it is commercial or more creative, he tries to understand as much as he can about what it is he is trying to achieve. “In the beginning I do a lot of thinking, trying to come up with the idea.” For commercial projects, this involves investigating how to keep costs low, while for artistic projects it’s about trying to come up with an interesting idea in terms of form and materiality. “I start drawing … then I start making sculptures and modelling, and then I go into CAD, which is where it will be presented as an idea to the client,” says Adam. Once it’s approved, Adam begins resolving the idea for production before working with makers to see what’s possible to build – creating different versions of prototypes until it’s fully resolved.

One of the more significant moments in Adam’s career so far has been his work for Judith Neilson, an Australian businesswoman and philanthropist with a passion for design. He has designed various pieces for her home and offices that harmoniously combine innovation and function. Key pieces include a boardroom table, a 16-seater square dining table and a mirror and set of drawers for Judith’s bedroom.

Grounded in an unexpected merging of mathematics and art, Adam Goodrum’s designs are highly considered and innovative. “I love it when people have an emotional response to seeing something for the first time,” he says. Striving to elicit that response at every opportunity, the intention behind each design is twofold – practical and beautiful.

00:00 – Introduction to the Documentary on Design Excellence
00:59 – A Love for Making and Drawing
02:30 – The Start to Finish Design Process
03:22 – Working on a Special Projects
06:44 – Evoking Emotion Through Design

For more from The Local Project:

Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/thelocalproject/
Website – https://thelocalproject.com.au/
Print publication – https://thelocalproject.com.au/publication/
Hardcover book – https://thelocalproject.com.au/book/
The Local Project Marketplace – https://thelocalproject.com.au/marketplace/

For more from The Local Production:
Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/thelocalproduction_/
Website – https://thelocalproduction.com.au/
LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/company/thelocalproduction/

To subscribe to The Local Project’s tri-annual print publication see here – https://thelocalproject.com.au/subscribe/

Photography by Paul Pavlou, Jos Purnell, Sean Fennessy, Haydn Cattach and Fiona Susanto.
Furniture Design and Artwork by Adam Goodrum.
Filmed by The Local Project.
Edited by HN Media.
Production by The Local Project.

Location: Waterloo, New South Wales, Australia

The Local Project acknowledges the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the Traditional Owners of the land in Australia. We recognise the importance of Indigenous peoples in the identity of our country and continuing connections to Country and community. We pay our respect to Elders, past and present and extend that respect to all Indigenous people of these lands.

#Design #Maker #Documentary

Similar Posts

  • Maullin Lodge

    This lodge is a 120m2 house located in a rural scene in a southern region of Chile. The brief was to design a house with two bedrooms and two bathrooms with a main shared space, interpreting an old small traditional southern Chilean dwelling. The challenge of the proposal was to get that traditional southern look, which implies very opaque facades, but with a full translucent side where the landscape and light can get inside the building, creating its own private world. The house is placed between a forest of native trees, giving its back to the main street. So, the house is oriented to the north and west to get the most of sunlight, which this south down is much appreciated. The concept of the design is organized based on 3 contrast between old and new:
    1- Removing non-structural walls and floors: the main structural shape and volume are maintained the same as the old traditional house, but the interior is liberated from any non-structural dividing element, which helped to create a clean and continuous space.
    2- Concentrating the apertures: The main source of light is the north façade, keeping the other free opaque as a traditional southern house would have, so the proportion of void and mass was not lost.
    3- Material contrast: Big floor to ceiling windows in contrast to recycled traditional timber shingles, an evident contrast between old and new. The distribution of the house is developed in an almost square plan, divided into three volumes:
    The main one has the public areas of the house: kitchen, dining room, sitting room and mezzanine.
    The east one, the widest, has sleeping rooms and bathrooms with the main access of the house.
    And the west one is 1.5m wide acting as a corridor and informal dining room adjacent to the public areas of the main volume. The mezzanine is an opportunity to use the roof space, with a lot of light and natural heating, having control over the main space.

  • World of Textural Charm: Aging Single-Family Home Extension in Spain

    A town just north of Barcelona and renowned for its old world charm and timeless buildings spread all across the beautiful town, Sant Cugat del Vallès is where you would find the gorgeous Casa EP15340 designed by Ambit. The classic home was reinvented and renovated completely to suit the more modern lifestyle of its homeowners. […]

    You’re reading World of Textural Charm: Aging Single-Family Home Extension in Spain, originally posted on Decoist. If you enjoyed this post, be sure to follow Decoist on Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest.