Product Design

Heidelberg West, VIC, Australia

Ross Didier

“Design is shaolin kung fu where art is bare-knuckle fist fighting. I mean, artists do whatever they want – liberation is the point of what they do. But design has disciplines and to ignore these misses the point of designing.” – Ross Didier In 2000, the fusion of these two intentions inspired Ross Didier to evolve his family’s long manufacturing history and establish a creative studio, with a unique approach to design. His products have been procured by Nintendo, Microsoft, Westpac, Hewlett Packard, Google, Belconnen Arts Centre, Nomad restaurant and the Australian Defence Force. Didier has Elfin stools in Times Square, Tiller chairs specified throughout the world, Obelisk sofas in the Denver Art Museum, Terra Firma tables and bespoke seating at Vue de Monde and Bombala lounge chairs outside the Sydney Opera House. Didier’s work is underpinned by a strong philosophy that manufacturing, ideas and design are interwoven – an approach to designing he refers to as engineered art. Heading a boutique studio, Ross’s designs span commercial high volume products through to small run custom design objects for specific projects. Didier’s versatility and maturity in design is guided by the founding principles that the products created must have character with quality, and be functional to the user and their environment. This approach has established Ross Didier as one of Australia’s most successful and original commercial designers.