Dangerous Designs 2018
Above: Conus lighting range in Tasmanian oak by Geoffrey Cameron Marshall, winner of 2017 Dangerous Designs Grand Prize.
Dangerous Designs is an online competition created to promote the use of wood and wood products in sustainable design. It seeks to build bridges between designers, manufacturers and marketers to facilitate the commercial production of new designs. There are student and open categories and there is no fee to enter. Entry for 2018 is now open.
The competition is sponsored by WoodSolutions, an initiative of Forest and Wood Products Australia Ltd and supported by a wide range of professional organisations, including the Australasian Furnishings Association, the Australian Institute of Architects and Planet Ark.
Dangerous Designs is judged by a panel chosen from leaders in a range of design-related fields, including architecture, exhibition curation, design and publication. Judges include Dylan Brady, Decibel Architecture; Kate St James, editor-in-chief of Universal Publications; Peter Maddison (Maddison Architects); Brian Parkes, CEO and Artistic director of JamFactory Adelaide and Australian Wood Review print and online editor Linda Nathan.
Entries are evaluated according to set criteria. These include innovation/originality in design, use of wood and wood products (elegance, craft of design) and sustainability (recyclability, carbon footprint, energy replacement). The main awards will be announced at the annual Timber Design Awards presentation function in Melbourne, October, 2018. A wrap-up of last year's prize winners follows.
A building design student at Melbourne’s Box Hill Institute, Paul Morgan won an award for Laevo Cross-laminated Timber Apartments. His detailed plan was intended tobe a functional solution to a real- world problem – sustainable and lower cost housing. With free-moving floor plates and balcony linings, and a ‘generous personality’, it was the competition’s first round winner.
Cameron Shelton’s Three Floor Lamp made from bendy ply has a high gloss white interior and matt black exterior. The monochromatic colour scheme and pared back elements portray a distilled, quiet and elegant design solution.
Daniel Tucker was looking to revive a handmade tradition with his crafted and customisable Walking Sticks. The aim was also to create a desirable and stylish object. ‘Lots of elderly people do themselves harm by not adopting a walking stick or frame. By doing so they can prolong their independence and move about more safely’, Daniel said.
Bryan Micallef’s Warp & Weft stools provide seating that is comfortable and yet challenges the viewer. ‘I really wanted to pursue whether timber could look like fabric, especially solid timber’, said Bryan. The ‘woven’ solid or veneer legs and connectors are modular and can be flat packed.
Jeff Thornton won Popular Choice award, as determined on social media. A TAS high school teacher, in 2017Jeff decided to depthen his training by undertaking the one year course in furniture design and technology at North Coast TAFE, Coffs Harbour.
His curvaceous Gaijin chair was made from a single sheet of Flexiply with the aid of an elaborate but effective bending jig. Glossy red rubberised automotive paint was used to achieve a ‘bright and fun’ finish that was also inspired by Japanese lacquerware.
Tasmanian designer maker Geoffrey Cameron Marshall was awarded the Grand Prize for his captivating Conus Lighting Range. Named after the predatory cone snail, a mollusc with a rather beautiful shell that is both spiral and conical, the Conus range is visually and structurally elegant and offers pendant, desk and floor lamp variants.
Digital design and fabrication techniques for a component based system allow efficiencies of material use and assembly time. The translucent qualities of Tasmanian oak and other specialty species are highlighted in the radial pattern which is supported by powder coated mild steel, copper, acrylics.
Announced at the Australian Timber Design Awards, the Dangerous Designs Annual Prize of $5,000 cash will be awarded to the judges’ selection from the winning bi-monthly entries submitted in year to September 30, 2018.
Enter the competition at www.dangerousdesigns.com.au