Industrial designer Adam Cornish and graphic designer Marcus Piper have come together to create the Easel Project. Eight leading creatives were invited to create an original work of art, to push outside of their comfort zone and challenge the typical palette of materials utilised within their practice.
The list of internationally acclaimed artists draws from a diverse range of creative disciplines including painters, industrial designers, collage artists and graphic designers. The line up for the Easel Project Collection One includes Jaime Hayon, Adam Cornish, Adam Goodrum, Belynda Henry, Ham Darroch, Louise Olsen, Marcus Piper and Rachel Derum.
Each creative worked with surface specialists Axolotl to develop their concept. The range of materials and processes experimented with was extremely diverse – from fused plate glass, marble with brass inlay, etching, 3D printing, printed marble to heat tempered stainless steel.
“As an Industrial designer we are often asked to create using industrial processes and materials, this restriction often makes for the most surprising results. Each artist or designer has chosen a material / process aiming to discombobulate their normal process and encourage experimentation.” says co-founder, Adam Cornish.
The finished artworks, available in a limited edition of eight, rest on a timber easel which displays the work and can be rotated creating a functional coffee table surface. The Easel table design is intended to celebrate the diversity of the practitioners with the traditional Easel representing artists throughout history, and the transformation into a table representing the functional aspect of the design discipline. The Easel base, designed by Adam Cornish, was proudly manufactured by Forest Furniture and the tops were manufactured by Axolotl with a percentage of each sale going to the Authentic Design Alliance.
Easel Collection One will be shown for the first time in the central walkway of DENFAIR, Melbourne, 20-23 June – highlighting the events commitment to independent, Australian design at an international level.
Photography: Tim Robinson