Karen McCartney shares her take on the featured designers and their work...



LOVING LEVE
Created by Sydney designer Gary Galego  'Leve' is a manufactured product with a handcrafted appeal. It is therefore no surprise that set designer Sam Rickard has chosen this chair as one of the key pieces in the apartment of Wonderland's lead character. It has all the credentials to appeal to designer lovers – beautiful proportions, and a light and refined feel - but it is by no means form over function; this is a seriously comfortable chair. Leve is finished using steam bent arms and legs with a moulded plywood seat and back.



MODERN MOVES
Designer Matthew Sheargold describes his practice as 'multi-disciplinary', which to some degree reveals his reluctance to be pinned down. His fit out for Red Bull in Sydney was acknowledged as one of the 25 most inspirational offices and his furniture and product designs reflect the same playful, yet considered, aesthetic.

His 'Zip' range of versatile stools and benches allows for a mix and match feel – not only in the shapes and sizes but in the cleverness of the fabric combinations playing with florals, plains, contrasts and one, solid colour option – all using the zip device as a decorative defining element.  'Eeni Meeni Myni Mo' is a range of coffee tables and occasional chairs, which mix timber-topped tables with contemporary easy chairs.  What's not to like?



MEET LULU
I have always been a fan of Norman + Quaine's (Katherine Norman & Caroline Quaine) designs, as they seem to reflect the best of Australian modern style. For 20 years they have been providing residential and commercial projects with quality furniture that draws on local craftsmanship and minimises its carbon footprint. These occasional tables, called Lulu, feature a simple graphic design reinterpreting the Fifties modernist aesthetic. The two complementary sizes, with laminated surface on marine ply and a powder-coated rod base, work well as a pair but can also survive stylistically on their own.



AMELIA & FAMILY
"I am fascinated by the creative process, particularly the process of trying to capture and refine what I see in my head', says furniture designer Keith Melbourne. Hailing from Yorkshire in the UK he is a relative newcomer to the industry, but he has made up for lost time, winning several awards and developing a strong sense of production values and processes. His training in engineering, for aerospace and subsequently for the automotive industry, will have stood him in good stead.  A good example is Amelia – a refined and versatile chair that is also curvaceous and comfortable. "I was interested in how an old world name might sit with a contemporary piece', he says. And who are the family? Other complementary furniture pieces called Ella, Lucy, Rose and Cecelia – all equally stylish siblings.



BOULDER AND BEAUTIFUL 
Charles Wilson is a well-regarded Sydney-based designer with great deal of experience in the world of furniture design – often informed by his broader design output in civic design, display, point of sale and domestic products.  He is a designer who sees inspiration in unusual places; for example his Boulder lounge is a form generated by his appreciation of a grinding stone used for pounding grain during his childhood. "It had a slender, tapering form, blunted and smoothed by years of use', says Charles. This stretched form has a wonderful embracing quality achieved through using moulded foam. The ottoman is sculptural and a perfect counterpoint to the sofa. If you have one you really do need the other!