It was a brisk Melbourne morning as the media gathered at Revival Projects in Collingwood for the launch of Melbourne Design Week 2024 and the announcement of the Melbourne Design Week Award presented by Mercedes Benz.
A huge pile of logs at the entrance declared the site as a working recycle yard, while Revival Project’s Robbie Neville’s exhibition 100 Circles declared thinking was afoot. Inside, racks of used timber on its way to new homes, plus some seriously good coffee and pastries made it clear that this is Melbourne doing what Melbourne does so well.
Gathered together were many of Revival’s collaborators including Tony Ellwood AM, Director of the NGV, Bradford Gorman from Grimshaw, Timothy Moore from Sibling Architecture, plus representatives from Sustainability Victoria, Mercedes Benz, Local Government and so many more. Revival Projects’ position in the design and architectural community can-not be underestimated with new initiatives finding voice on a constant basis, thanks to this community-based collaborative style of studio.
Related: Revival Project’s Robbie Neville’s exhibition 100 Circles
The big moment of the morning however, was the Melbourne Design Week Award presentation with the Mercedes Benz representative doing a fabulous job of keeping the speech short and getting on with the announcement. A&A, aka Adam and Arthur, aka Adam Goodrum and Arthur Seigneur, took out the prize for their absolutely extraordinary Kissing Cabinet on display at Tolarno Galleries as part of Melbourne Design Week. Astonishing does not even begin to acknowledge the incredible mastery that pairs Goodrum’s spatial design finesse with Seigneur’s impeccable craftsmanship and artistry with straw parquetry.
To see the cabinet is impressive, but to see it turned out with the interior’s elaborate convolutions of sculptural geometric form, is akin to the magical. Small drawers slide out of the geometric patterns to completely push the concept of cabinetry over the edge of all expectation. Simultaneously, Seigneur’s parquetry plays across a spectrum of colours that dance between complimentary contrasts and gentle fades. Add to this his unique understanding of his material’s reflective qualities and the surface of each component is revealed as a shifting shimmering expanse that catches and absorbs light as he directs.
As The Kissing Cabinet opens, each ivory-gold curve seemingly widens, transforming from a blue grey cabinet into a mesmerising interior made exterior comprising six half-cones, three of which are positive, while the remaining three are negative, topped with dark blue.
“It’s striking how different the piece can look depending on where you’re standing,” says Adam, and at some points it is near impossible to determine which of the cones are positive and which are negative.
Working together for the past six years, the A&A collective has never equivocated in its delivery of excellence with some of their first work as impressive (well nearly) as the Kissing Cabinet. Bloom / Cabinet, (Oak, White Maple, Dyed Rye Straw) for example, was launched at Melbourne Design Week 2018 and acquired for the permanent collection of the National Gallery of Victoria in the same year.
This was quickly followed by The Talleo / Tallboy (Custom dyed rye straw, brass) and Archant / Console (Custom dyed rye straw, brass). Both of 2019, the pieces are singularly impressive in their combined exploration of furniture as sculpture and the contemporary use of straw parquetry. This series was added to in 2020 with the Longbow / Credenza (Custom dyed rye straw, brass) all of which were acquired for a private collection in 2020.
Cocotte en Paille / Cabinet (Custom dyed rye straw, Maple wood, brass) was created by invitation, for the Louis Vuitton LV200 project – 200 Trunks, 200 Visionaries Exhibition of 2021. This extraordinary piece was auctioned at Sotheby’s in December 2022, with all proceeds funding a scholarship program to bridge inequality gaps in access to artistic studies.
Awarded Furniture Design of the Year at the 2022 Dezeen Awards, (they were finalists in 2020). A&A also took out Best Collection at the 2020 Créateur Design Awards in New York and won the furniture category at the 2020 Design Files Awards. Their work can be found in the collections of the National Gallery of Australia, the National Gallery of Victoria, arts philanthropist Judith Neilson and private collections in Australia and Europe.
The Kissing Cabinet will be on display at Tolarno Galleries until June 1.
Adam and Arthur
adamandarthur.com
Tolarno Galleries
tolarnogalleries.com
Melbourne Design Week 2024
designweek/melbourne.com
The Kissing Cabinet, designers Adam Goodrum and Arthur Seignur presented by Tolarno Galleries on display from 25 May – 1 June at Melbourne Design Week 2024, photography by Andrew Curtis.
Melbourne Design Week poses the question: What MATTERS to you?