In this week’s architecture and design video round-up (above), Australia’s most beautiful places to wine and dine have been named by the 2020 Eat Drink Design Awards.
Western Australian brewing company Gage Roads has opened the doors to Atomic Beer Project. Designed by Sydney-based interiors firm YSG, this is the beer-maker’s first combined microbrewery and taproom on the east coast of Australia.
A chance meeting for David Caon and Henry Wilson has evolved into a bright new business venture. The duo have come together to co-found the design brand Laker; the Continental Shelf storage system is the label’s first joint-designed product.
And finally this week, Cameron Bruhn has compiled a 306-page monograph titled MMXX which surveys the last 20 years of Australian architecture.
For more information on each of these stories, see below.
- Eat Drink Design Awards 2020: From well-dressed watering holes to exquisite fine-diners, Australia’s most beautiful establishments have been named by the 2020 Eat Drink Design Awards. Read more.
- Atomic Beer Project by YSG: Designed by Sydney-based practice YSG, Atomic Beer Project in Redfern is inspired by the gritty locale and the 1982 sci-fi film Tron. Read more.
- David Caon x Henry Wilson: Henry Wilson and David Caon have co-founded Laker, a new label which manufactures the joint-designed Continental Shelf storage system. Read more.
- MMXX by Cameron Bruhn: Titled MMXX, Cameron Bruhn’s new monograph compiles 59 projects completed in the last 20 years by more than 100 leading Australian architects. Read more.
Ready your reservations for Australia’s most beautiful places to wine and dine.
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When David Caon and Henry Wilson first crossed paths about three years ago, at a design event in Sydney, the conversation quickly accelerated from general chit-chat to very specific commentary on store-bought vertical shelving hardware. Not an overly surprising topic for two of Australia’s finest design talents, whose collective creativity knows no bounds. David is perhaps best-known for his collaborations with Qantas airlines which inspired the Bloc series of module furniture. Henry’s experimentation with sand-cast bronze and aluminium pieces propelled him into the spotlight, as did his store fit-out and oil-burner design for beauty mecca Aesop.
Laker by David Caon and Henry Wilson
The two designers spoke of encasing ubiquitous metal shelving components in high-quality timber – more specifically, oak and walnut – and how this combination of materials could bring a sophisticated edge to a sensible, albeit unattractive system.
Their vision continued: By pairing the timber-clad strips with sleek joinery pieces, customers would be further armed with the desire to dismantle the storage unit and take it to their next address, rather than leave it behind to a fate unknown. “David and I were thinking that people often ditch the built-in joinery when they move home, leaving it to the next people as part of the permanent fixtures and fittings,” Henry says.
In that moment, a new product was born. As was a bright new business venture.
David and Henry joined forces to form the brand Laker. The wall-mounted Continental Shelf storage system – the fruit of their serendipitous meeting – is the label’s first jointly designed product. “We tend to complement each other. I come at things from more of an art practice, while David sees things from a more industrial design perspective,” says Henry who, like David, continues to operate his independent design studio while also developing Laker.
Continental Shelf sees vertical timber-clad strips partner with a seemingly endless array of shelf supports, shelves and pegboard panels. Stylish timber joinery pieces, again in oak or walnut, bring closed-door storage potential to the versatile system. An optional brass cocktail cabinet and writing desk lend the piece to countless uses, including residential applications as more people combine home-life with work and play during the Covid-19 pandemic.
“If things change, you just dismantle the desk and store it under your bed,” Henry explains. As for the cocktail cabinet, happy hour at home looks firmly placed on the calendar for years to come.
Continental Shelf joins Henry’s growing A-joint range which now also falls under the Laker brand, as does David’s ‘Rake’ stacking chair. Laker is available in Australia from Living Edge.
laker.studio; livingedge.com.au
We tend to complement each other. I come at things from more of an art practice, while David sees things from a more industrial design perspective.
