Designwork 02

7 - 22 March, 2018

Richmond, VIC, Australia

Part of Melbourne Design Week, Designwork 02 is a solo exhibition by Dale Hardiman (Common Resources) and Elliat Rich (Other Places), each indivisually known for their intellectually rigorous conceptual design.

Hardiman’s theoretical enquiry into design explores the localisation of the production of object and is manifested in his chosen material and overall practice. In Common Resource, Hardiman uses discarded objects to create new, fully functional objects to create new, fully functional objects. Rich’s Other Places moves intuitively between experience, visions and materials. It is what the designer has observed, and imagined; furniture that evokes and/or embodies the landscapes of Australia. As a collection it off-sets a conceptual underpinning with a sense of curiosity and joy. It encapsulates accumulated observations, imagined myths, reminders of present wonders and desired futures, these are other places.

Whilst camping in a dry river, Rich collected a small pile of discarded leaves. They were yellow and pink with gradients of purple and teal. Distinct colours with the texture of sun bleached bones that appeared again on the horizon at dusk, against the silhouette of the ranges. The land has a presence; prehistoric, weathered, strong, alive. From the grandeur of the geology to the hand-held details the drawers took form. They came out of the supple lines of the Ghost gums, the figure walking in the heat, the rocky outcrops. They became entities of their own, traversing country, moving places.

That distinct haze of the distant ranges present only from a great distance, a unique combination of eucalyptus gas, dust, light and whatever other magical elements lies between it and you. Rich has spent years trying to name that colour – part emerald, part magenta – to capture that quality, but it shifts from morning to dusk, from north to south. Mirrors is a musing on these observations. They catch and bend the light, the colours blend, reflect, merge. They are part illusion, a solid gas, the shadow of a mountain, part thing, a space for reflection.

This is a free event at the Sophie Gannon Gallery; 2 Albert Street, Richmond, VIC, Australia – bookings not required.