Marmalade Issue 5, 2017

ISSUE NO 05 

CRAFT + DESIGN

CONTENTS 

Features 

12 / Adelaide Aesthetic 

An exploration of the changing face of Adelaide’s 

furniture design landscape. 

20 / JamFactory Icon: Catherine Truman 

JamFactory’s annual Icon series celebrates the achievements of 

South Australia’s most influential artists working in crafts media. 

24 / Collisions: Identity, Meaning and Politics in 

Contemporary Aboriginal Art and Design 

Dynamic and meaningful 

14 

engagement with Aboriginal 

and Torres Strait Islander design. 

30 / Studio Pottery 

The history of studio pottery in Australia and its current 

wave of popularity. 

38 / Past, Present and Future Tense 

A conversation between Jon Goulder, Lou Weis and John Warwicker. 

44 / ‘The job you didn’t know you always wanted’: 

the 2016 Australian Tapestry Workshop trainee program 

A new generation of tapestry weavers celebrate the Australian 

Tapestry workshop’s 40 year history. 

Regulars 

6 / Highlights 

22 

48 / Q&A: Rose-Ann and Michael Russell 

51 / Profile: Courtney Jackson 

26 

48 

ISSUE 05 / 1

Marmalade 

Editorial Team 

Margaret Hancock Davis 

Brian Parkes 

Design 

Sophie Guiney with 

template by Canvas Group 

Copy Editor 

Joan-Maree Hargreaves 

Feature Writers 

and Contributors 

Leanne Amodeo 

Timmah Ball 

Caitlin Eyre 


Prof. Kay Lawrence 

Lara Merrington 

Damon Moon 

Peta Mount 

Margot Osborne 

Brian Parkes 

Lou Weis 

Photographers 

Iain Bond 

Scottie Cameron 

Andre Castellucci 

Andrew Cohen 

Michael Corridore 

Anna Fenech Harris 

Rory Gardiner 

Josh Geelen 

Patrick Gingham-Hall 

Rhett Hammerton 

Grant Hancock 

Alex Harrison 

Sven Kovac 

Johnis Lyons-Reid 


Boaz Nothman 

Zen Pang 

Nat Rogers 

Tom Roschi 

Stephen Soeffky 

Mim Stirling 

Fiona Susanto 

Michelle Taylor 

Daniel To 

Jonathan van der Knaap 

Diego Vides Borrell 

Bo Wong 

All photography as indicated. 

Measurements throughout 

have been given in millimeters, 

height x width x depth. 

Printing 

Printed in Adelaide by 

Express Colour. 

Distribution Enquiries 

Emma Aiston 

emma.aiston@jamfactory.com.au 

Publisher 

JamFactory 

19 Morphett Street 

Adelaide SA 5000 

Office: (08) 8410 0727 

Email: contact@jamfactory.com.au 

Website: jamfactory.com.au 

Board of Directors 

Peter Vaughan (Chair) 

Jim Carreker 

Noelene Buddle 

Shane Flowers 

Prof. Kay Lawrence AM 

Dr. Jane Lomax-Smith AM 

Anne Moroney 

Elizabeth Raupach OAM 

Chief Executive Officer 

and Artistic Director 

Brian Parkes 

Administration 

General Manager 

Kate Cenko 

Finance Manager 

Carolyn Seelig 

Executive Assistant 

Claudine Fernandez 

Accounts Officer 

Tracy Peck 

Administration/Accounts Assistant 

Anna Fenech Harris 

Development Manager 

Nikki Hamdorf 

Marketing and Graphic Design 

Manager 

Sophie Guiney 

Marketing and Communications 

Coordinator 

Vanessa Heath 

Sales 

Creative Directors - 

Retail and Product 

Emma Aiston and Daniel To 

Retail and Gallery Manager 

Lucy Potter 

Retail Supervisor - Morphett Street 

Ali Carpenter 

Retail and Gallery Supervisor - 

Seppeltsfield 

Kristy Pyror 

Retail Sales Staff 

Connie Augoustinos 

Catherine Buddle 

Zoe Grigoris 

Juno Holbert 

Margot Holbert 

Bettina Smith 

Zarah Witzmann 

Exhibitions 

Senior Curator 


Assistant Curators 

Caitlin Eyre 


Exhibition Installation 

Peter Carroll 

Rhys Cooper 

Brenden Scott French 

Matt Pearson 

Dean Toepfer 

Daniel Tucker 

Ceramics Studio 

Creative Director 

Damon Moon 

Production Manager 

David Pedler 

Associates 

Connie Augoustinos 

Jordan Gower 

Ebony Heidenreich 

Ashlee Hopkins 

Kerryn Levy 

Madeline McDade 

Glass Studio 


Karen Cunningham 

Program Manager 

Kristel Britcher 


Liam Fleming 

Commissions Assistant 

Llewelyn Ash 

Technician 

Tim Edwards 

Assistant Technician 

Madeline Prowd 

Associates 

Aubrey Barnett 

Billy Crellin 

Cole Johnson 

Thomas Pearson 

Renato Perez 

Bastien Thomas 

Emma Young 

Furniture Studio 


Jon Goulder 


Nicholas Fuller 

Associates 

Andrew Carvolth 

James Howe 

Matt Potter 

Jake Rollins 

Pantea Roostaee 

Dean Toepfer 

Metal Design Studio 


Christian Hall 


Alice Potter 

Associates 

Danielle Barrie 

Antonia Field 

Danielle Lo 

Studio Tenants 

Zoe Grigoris 

Alan Tilsley 

Studio Tenants - Adelaide 

Studio 1 

Llewelyn Ash 

Tegan Empson 

Studio 2 

Lewis Batchelar 

Alice Mahoney 

Madeline Prowd 

Drew Spangenberg 

Studio 3 

Lilly Buttrose 

Matt Pearson 

Studio 4 

Snøhetta 

Studio 5 

Rhys Cooper 

Daniel Tucker 

Studio 6 

Nicholas Fuller 

Stephen Roy 

Studio 7 

Emma Field 

Courtney Jackson 

Sylvia Nevistic 

Kate Sutherland 

Studio 8 

Gus Clutterbuck 

Bruce Nuske 

Sophia Nuske 

Studio Tenants - Barossa 

Julie Fleming 

Brenden Scott French 

Barry Gardner 

Sue Garrard 

Sonya Moyle 

Rose-Anne and Michael Russell 

Angela Walford 

Development Committee 

Denise George 

Diana Jaquillard 

Helen Nash 

Patricia Roche Greville 

Barbara Tanner 

Cover 

Margaret Dhorrpuy with 

Yuta Badayala ‘Lighting Pendant’, 

2016, pandanus, bush string, 

powder-coated steel. 

Photographer: Rhett Hammerton. 

Left: Ceramics Studio. 

Photographer: Andre Castellucci. 

JamFactory supports and promotes outstanding craft and design through its widely acclaimed studios, galleries and shops. A unique not-for-profit organisation 

located in the Adelaide city centre and at Seppeltsfield in the Barossa, JamFactory is supported by the South Australian Government and recognised both nationally 

and internationally as a centre for excellence. JamFactory acknowledges the support and assistance of Arts South Australia and is assisted by The Visual Arts and 

Crafts Strategy, an initiative of the Australian, State and Territory Governments. JamFactory Exhibitions Program is assisted by the Australian Government through the 

Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body. 

ISSUE 05 / 3

Editorial 

WELCOME TO THE 

2017 ISSUE OF 

MARMALADE! 

As always, we hope you’ll enjoy reading 

MARMALADE, our annual hard-copy compilation 

of news and stories that provide insight into the 

people, projects, places and products that are 

inspiring us and informing our current activities. 

Over the past year JamFactory has continued to 

grow in reach and scale and I’m pleased that this 

growth has contributed to increased income for 

artists and designers through direct employment, 

artists fees, private commissions, sales of work, 

royalty payments and access to space and 

facilities that enable the production of great 

work. I firmly believe that creative vibrancy relies 

on the on-going viability of creative practice. 

Supporting much of this growth has been the 

increased public interest in crafts-based 

production, the hand-made and the bespoke. 

This reaction to globalised homogeneity is 

providing new (and rebooted) opportunities 

for local designers and makers. Architects are 

looking for locally designed and made furniture 

for commercial and residential projects, chefs 

are working with local potters to develop 

signature bespoke tableware and tourism 

operators are seeking authentic mementos made 

by local artisans to extend the narrative of place. 

There also seems to be a softening of the 

significant hierarchical divide (commercially and 

institutionally) between contemporary visual arts 

and what has traditionally been referred to as the 

decorative arts, evidenced by the increasing 

visibility of ceramic sculpture and collectable 

design in several leading commercial 

contemporary art galleries. 

In this issue of MARMALADE we have sought 

to highlight some of these emerging threads. 

Leanne Amodeo reveals key issues underpinning 

a buoyant and thriving furniture design scene in 

Adelaide (page 12) while Damon Moon reflects 

on how the national appetite for studio pottery 

has grown so rapidly in recent years (page 30). 

JamFactory and Stylecraft recently presented 

the second biennial Australian Furniture Design 

Award (AFDA). The $20,000 prize was won by 

Alice Springs-based designer Elliat Rich. Her 

award-winning piece featured on page 18 was 

fabricated by skilled Sydney-based maker Oscar 

Prieckaerts and has entered the collection of the 

Art Gallery of South Australia. It is a great example 

of the kind of collectable design that has built a 

significant following in Europe and North America 

over the past decade and is now emerging 

strongly in Australia. Elliat has a forthcoming 

solo exhibition at the prestigious Sophie Gannon 

Gallery in Melbourne and I expect there will be 

a positive critical and commercial response. 

The Creative Director of Broached Commissions, 

Lou Weis, has been one of the key protagonists 

for collectable design in the Australian context 

and we were pleased to have Lou run an intensive 

three-day workshop with JamFactory’s 

Associates in July this year. For MARMALADE 

Lou has given us an insight into how he 

approaches the field and his latest collaboration 

with Jon Goulder who heads up our own Furniture 

Studio. Ever keen to challenge convention, Lou 

proposed engaging internationally acclaimed 

graphic designer John Warwicker to lay out the 

pages of his article and I’m grateful to Lou and 

John for their thoughtful disruption (pages 38 

to 43). 

I’m enormously proud of what JamFactory 

achieves through its exhibition program and two 

of the feature articles in this issue celebrate key 

projects. Timmah Ball gets to the heart of what 

we’re trying to do in promoting Indigenous 

design as part of the TARNANTHI Festival of 

Contemporary Aboriginal and Torres Strait 

Islander Art (page 24) and Margaret Hancock 

Davis interviews our 2017 JamFactory Icon 

exhibitor Catherine Truman (page 20). 

If you do enjoy the content of MARMALADE, 

I encourage you to subscribe to our electronic 

newsletter or follow us on Instagram, Facebook 

or Twitter. With hundreds of artists and designers 

exhibiting in our galleries, working in our studios 

and represented in our shops, there are great new 

stories every single day. 

Enjoy! 

Brian Parkes 

CEO and Artistic Director 

JamFactory 

Left: JamFactory at Seppeltsfield. 


ISSUE 05 / 5

Highlights 

illumini X Aristologist 

The creative duo from illumini Glass, Mandi King and Creative 

Director of JamFactory’s Glass Studio, Karen Cunningham, 

were at the helm of a beautifully executed commission of 

glassware for The Summertown Aristologist, a restaurant and 

natural wine bar in the Adelaide Hills that opened its doors in 

early 2017. Illumini designed and made custom organic wine 

and crackle beer glasses, while King crafted the light shades 

from repurposed demijohns. The Aristologist’s motivation lies 

in supporting local community to recreate a conscious 

connection to our food, drink and surroundings. 

Photographer: Nat Rogers. 

Jon Goulder at 

Milan Design Week 

Furniture Studio Creative Director Jon Goulder was one of 

11 established Australian designers to showcase their work 

as part of LOCAL MILAN, a unique platform celebrating 

Australian design, at this year’s Salone del Mobile. Curated by 

Sydney-based designer, stylist and creative director Emma 

Elizabeth, the impressive showcase featured Goulder’s iconic 

Settlers Chair, 2016 and Congruent Series Side Tables, 2017, 

a collaboration with JamFactory-based glass artist Liam 

Fleming. Goulder’s designs were in good company alongside 

a selection of notable Australian designers including 

Adam Goodrum, Charles Wilson and Tom Fereday. 

Photographer: Fiona Susanto. 

Christian Hall at 

Design Shanghai 

Creative Director of JamFactory’s Jewellery and Metal Studio, 

Christian Hall, represented by San W Gallery, presented his 

work at Design Shanghai in March. The trip to Shanghai was 

a return for Hall, after he established a relationship with San 

W Gallery and was commissioned to design and set up their 

Jewellery Studio. Hall’s signature shelving, pendant lights 

and room dividers were exhibited alongside renowned South 

Australian jeweller and metal object maker Frank Bauer, 

Sydney-based object designer and maker, Kenny Son, South 

Australian contemporary jeweller, Jess Dare, and glass artist, 

Wendy Fairclough. 

Photographer: Tom Roschi. 

6 / ISSUE 05

Boisbuchet Scholarship 

This year JamFactory introduced a new scholarship in 

partnership with Domaine de Boisbuchet, Europe’s prime 

destination for workshops in design, architecture and art, to 

provide an outstanding opportunity for one of JamFactory’s 

second-year Furniture Studio Associates annually from 2017. 

This year’s inaugural recipient Jake Rollins had the career 

defining opportunity to experience an all-expenses paid, 

two-week intensive, to take part in Boisbuchet’s renowned 

summer workshops program, located in Lessac, France. 

Rollins participated in the ‘Raw and Refined’ workshop with 

Detroit-based designer Christopher Schanck and ‘Electro 

Nature’ with the Netherland-based design duo, Drift. The 

annual JamFactory-Boisbuchet Scholarship is kindly 

supported by William J.S. Boyle through JamFactory’s 

Medici Collective donor program. 

Photographer: Alex Harrison. 

Corning Museum of 

Glass Scholarship 

JamFactory first-year Glass Studio Associate, Bastien 

Thomas, received the highly sought after annual scholarship 

to attend New York’s Corning Museum of Glass. Thomas 

participated in the advanced-level glass blowing class 

‘Form + Color’ with internationally acclaimed US artists 

Boyd Sugiki and Lisa Zerkowitz, and took great advantage 

of Corning’s Rakow Research Library, the world’s foremost 

library on the art and history of glass and glassmaking. 

Photo courtesy of the artist. 

AGNSW X John Olsen: A 

JamFactory Collaboration 

In early 2017, JamFactory was approached by the Art Gallery 

of New South Wales to commission a series of hand thrown 

plates and platters as part of the merchandise for Australian 

artist John Olsen’s solo exhibition, John Olsen: The You Beaut 

Country. The plates, available in four different sizes, were 

individually wheel thrown and glazed in JamFactory’s 

Ceramics Studio and feature original illustrations by Olsen. 

The commission which was carried out over a period of six 

months, saw the studio make over 1,000 pieces. The project 

was managed by JamFactory’s Ceramics Studio Production 

Manager, David Pedler, and provided skills training for the 

studio’s Associates. 

Photographer: Mim Stirling. 

ISSUE 05 / 7

Highlights 

From JamFactory to 

Lime Factory 

JamFactory Glass Studio Technician, Tim Edwards travelled 

to Oaxaca, Mexico to assist JamFactory alumnus Diego Vides 

Borrell in setting up his own glass blowing studio. While 

there, Edwards worked on building and installing a glory 

hole and two annealers in the studio, established within the 

chimney space of an old lime factory. The old factory called 

La Calera now operates as a gallery and arts hub, as well as 

an Airbnb and function centre. The studio is a space for 

Vides Borrell to work on his own practice, which ranges 

from designing and making lighting and glass vessels to 

fulfilling restaurant commissions. 

Photo courtesy of Diego Vides Borrell. 

Australian Glass 

Represented In Berlin 

This July, JamFactory, alongside Canberra Glassworks, 

partnered with Berlin Glas to represent Australian glass 

art at Berlin’s Benhadj&Djilali Galerie fur Design, with an 

exhibition titled Made in Australia: Emerging Design from 

Canberra & Adelaide. The exhibition was presented 

within the framework of the Australia now Germany 2017 

initiative and supported by The Department of Foreign 

Affairs to showcase Australian culture in Germany through 

a multifaceted year long program. Associates and alumni 

that showcased their work included Emma Young, Renato 

Perez, Kristel Britcher, Liam Fleming (work pictured right) 

and Billy Crellin. 

Photographer: Anna Fenech Harris. 

Waringarri Aboriginal Arts 

Earlier in the year, JamFactory had the pleasure of hosting 

mother and daughter Peggy and Jan Griffiths, two artistsin-residence 

from Waringarri Aboriginal Arts, located in the 

Kimberley region of far northern Western Australia. The pair 

spent two weeks in JamFactory’s Ceramics Studio learning 

new sculpting practices and working on decorating large-form 

platters with techniques such as sgraffito. Both artists spent 

time working on their own sculptural pieces whilst experimenting 

with various clay types. Each piece was glazed and fired with 

several selected for exhibition in JamFactory’s Collect space 

during the TARNANTHI Festival of Contemporary Aboriginal and 

Torres Strait Islander Art. 

Photo courtesy of JamFactory. 

8 / ISSUE 05

JamFactory Front and 

Centre at Denfair 2017 

At the annual Denfair event in Melbourne this year, 

six Furniture Studio Associates and two recent 

alumni represented JamFactory as part of the 

inaugural Front/Centre initiative. The initiative, a new 

inclusion to Denfair’s program, provided an 

opportunity to promote emerging designers from 

Craft ACT, Artisan, QLD, Designed Objects Tasmania 

and Workshopped in association with Australian Design 

Centre, Sydney. JamFactory alumnus and Furniture 

Studio Production Manager, Nicholas Fuller won the 

Front/Centre Best Emerging Designer Award for 

his Cantilever, 2016 side tables (pictured left). 

Photographer: Johanis Lyons-Reid. 

Truly Honoured 

Longtime volunteer and supporter of JamFactory, 

Truus Daalder and her husband Joost, both passionate 

contemporary jewellery collectors, have generously gifted 

over 150 pieces of their extensive private contemporary 

jewellery collection to the Art Gallery of South Australia. The 

Daalder collection is the largest and most significant private 

collection of contemporary jewellery in Australia and features 

a vast array of prominent international and Australian artists 

from the early 20th century to now. Particular attention is 

shown to artists from New Zealand and South Australia 

including Adelaide-based artists Sarah Rothe, Julie Blyfield 

and Catherine Truman. The gift is a remarkable acquisition for 

the Art Gallery of South Australia and one that will see the 

Gallery’s holdings of contemporary jewellery increased to 

one of the largest and most significant in the country. 

Photo courtesy of the Art Gallery of South Australia. 

Ceramics at Ernabella 

First-year Ceramics Associate, Ashlee Hopkins, returned 

to Ernabella Arts in the Northern Territory this April thanks 

to Arts South Australia funding for the Pukatja Cuppatea 

Cup Carnival, a community outreach ceramics skill 

development project working with young people. 

Hopkins’s first visit in April 2016 was to undertake a 

month-long ceramics technician position. Returning a year 

later, the funding allowed Hopkins to spend two weeks 

holding a wheel throwing workshop for young female 

artists from Ernabella. The workshop focused specifically 

on teaching the women to throw cups which were then 

decorated by young men in the community as part of a 

weekly watiku (men’s) ‘Pots and Pizza’ night. The project 

was documented and turned in to a number of short 

bi-lingual educational films which will be shown at a 

community exhibition night and used to teach future 

Ernabella artists. 

Photo courtesy of Ernabella. 

ISSUE 05 / 9

Highlights 

Julie Blyfield Mentorship 

JamFactory’s Medici Program supported a 5-month 

mentorship for JamFactory’s Jewellery and Metal Studio 

Associates with renowned South Australian Jeweller, 

Julie Blyfield. The workshops held once a month allowed 

each Associate the ability to expand their creative practice 

through drawing and mixed media model making activities 

using materials other than metal, before finally looking at 

how these works can be interpreted by the body. Blyfield 

provided an indispensable wealth of knowledge and creative 

feedback, as well as professional development advice for 

grant writing and residency submissions. 


Myriam Mechita Residency 

Internationally acclaimed French contemporary artist 

Myriam Mechita undertook a residence in JamFactory’s 

Ceramics and Glass Studios to develop new work. 

Mechita lives and works in Berlin and Paris and works 

across painting, drawing, sculpture, ceramics and 

embroidery. Her exhibition, Roses don’t have hearts, 

but my eyes will find yours was shown at GAG Projects, 

Adelaide in September. Miriam’s residency was 

supported through the French Embassy in Australia. 


Think Like A Creative 

Director With Lou Weis 

JamFactory’s Associates were fortunate to spend 3 days in the 

company of Lou Weis, the creative force behind design studio, 

Broached Commissions. Lou conducted a comprehensive hands 

on workshop that pushed each Associate to think like a creative 

director, with a focus on building a business, articulating and 

defining a brand identity and how to affectively project and 

market their craft. This was a highly impactful workshop for 

the Associates that will see valuable outcomes for them in 

the years to come. 

Photo courtesy of Lou Weis. 

10 / ISSUE 05

Matt Potter 

Wins Vivid Award 

First year Furniture Studio Associate Matt Potter was the 

recent winner of the 2017 VIVID Design Colour Award 

with his ceramic pendant, Habere Light. Habere draws 

inspiration in equal parts from both organic form and 

the digitally engineered. Matt started with the 

exploration of a conceptual theme and employed 

process-driven research to create Habere. 

Photographer: Zen Pang. 

JamFactory Lifetime 

Honouree Dick Richards 

At an exclusive Members’ preview event of JamFactory 

Icon 2017 Catherine Truman: no surface holds, Dick 

Richards was recognised as JamFactory’s first ever 

Lifetime Honouree. Dick was instrumental in JamFactory’s 

early years undertaking a fact-finding mission, initiated by 

Don Dunstan, across Europe to build the case for its 

establishment. He then served on JamFactory’s Board for 

the first decade. Dick was also an avid advocator for the 

arts in South Australia with an outstanding 35-year career 

at the Art Gallery of South Australia, until his retirement 

in 2000. 


Festival Fit 

It’s been all hands on deck after a substantial grant was 

received from Arts South Australia for JamFactory’s 

Furniture Studio to design and produce the furniture for 

the foyer of the Adelaide Festival Centre redevelopment. 

Under the artistic leadership of the Creative Director of 

JamFactory’s Furniture Studio Jon Goulder, JamFactory’s 

Associates have been commissioned to produce 33 bench 

seats, 10 bespoke armchairs (designed by Jon Goulder, 

pictured left), and a series of bar, side and coffee tables 

amongst other pieces. JamFactory is working with Hassell 

Architects on the project which is due for completion by 

December 2017. 

Photographer: Bo Wong. 

ISSUE 05 / 11

Feature 

Adelaide 

Aesthetic 

Words by Leanne Amodeo 

Leanne is a content director, 

media consultant and educator.

There’s no denying Melbourne and Sydney are two of the 

country’s largest creative hubs, although that’s not to say 

they’re the only ones. The number of practitioners based 

outside Melbourne and Sydney has surged exponentially 

in the last few years and in places like Adelaide, a new 

crop of talent joins the industry’s more established players 

in reinvigorating the national design landscape. In the 

meantime, the suggestion furniture designers are producing 

good work despite hailing from the City of Churches has 

officially become an outdated narrative. 

As one of the country’s finest and most highly regarded, 

Khai Liew lives and works in Adelaide, after relocating 

from Malaysia when he was 18 years old. Geography 

certainly wasn’t a consideration when White Rabbit 

Gallery owner, Sydney-based art collector Judith Neilson 

recently commissioned him to fit out her new home, the 

award-winning Indigo Slam, in the inner-Sydney suburb 

of Chippendale (touted as the city’s answer to New York’s 

Chelsea district). Liew, who began his career as a furniture 

conservator and has no formal design training, was 

simply the only designer she trusted to furnish her entire 

Chippendale abode (designed by Smart Design Studio), 

and it took him and a team of skilled craftspeople two years 

to complete the arguably unprecedented, ambitious project. 

The result is a bespoke collection of exquisitely detailed 

furniture, lighting and rugs that perfectly complements 

the building’s impressive architecture. 

Adelaide has long had a reputation for producing wellcrafted 

furniture and JamFactory has in a large part been 

responsible for nurturing this tradition. Since the formal 

opening of a Furniture Studio within its Morphett Street 

facility in 1992, the organisation has trained over 50 furniture 

designers as part of its Associate Program. Under the 

tutelage of current Creative Director Jon Goulder, the studio 

has increased private commissions, regularly manufactures 

for JamFactory’s popular product range and has graduated 

a number of highly successful Associates, amongst them 

Rhys Cooper and Nicholas Fuller. 

Both of these designers have achieved much since 

completing their Associateship in 2015, including Cooper’s 

launch of three new products at Melbourne’s trade event 

Denfair 2017, where Fuller was also named Best Emerging 

Designer. Their highly refined pieces have that signature 

elegant form and overall clean, minimalist appearance 

characteristic of the ‘Adelaide Aesthetic’. 

Left: Franco Crea, custom tables for Antica Pizzeria e Cucina. 

Photographer: Iain Bond. 

ISSUE 05 / 13

Top: Lex Stobie, Omega Tall Boy. Photographer: Jonathan van der Knaap. 

Far right: Daniel Emma, Soft Chair. Photographer: Daniel To. 

It’s a timeless vernacular boasting crisp lines, confident 

curves and a pared-back yet sophisticated material palette, 

which eschews trendy gimmicks for a conceptual robustness 

informed by what’s gone before, as well as an awareness of 

its contemporaries. This is as evident in the work of the latest 

JamFactory Associates as it is in Liew’s Indigo Slam pieces, 

so it’s an expression borne of having something else in 

common other than the same schooling. More than likely 

it has something to do with being embedded in a city that 

has a rich manufacturing history, where designers like Cooper 

have worked closely with industry to produce meticulously 

finished works. Or, like Fuller, they fall into the designermaker 

category, highlighting the breadth of local 

artisanal craftsmanship. 

The idea of ‘Adelaide as an incubator of skilled craftspeople’ 

further strengthens its profile as a dynamic creative hub. ‘A 

healthy amount of isolation has allowed local practitioners to 

evolve a uniquely recognisable character,’ says Lex Stobie, 

the New Zealand born designer-maker, who shares his innerwest 

Adelaide studio with five other artisans. ‘In the past, our 

location and inability to access resources and services meant 

we might not have been as quick off the mark. But we’ve 

created our own solutions to address what was previously 

viewed as a disadvantage.’ 

Stobie’s own portfolio, including the stylish Omega Boy, 

2015 storage unit is an outstanding study of high-end timber 

furniture, with each handcrafted piece more work of art than 

product. His approach is decidedly hands-on and he values 

‘slow design’, taking his time to research and develop ideas 

and realising each concept as a maquette before crafting 

the real thing. 

14 / ISSUE 05

‘People are sick of 

throwaway items: 

they want to invest 

in a product they 

can be proud to 

have in their 

home or office.’ 

In mid-2017 Stobie travelled to Scandinavia to learn more 

about the region that consistently inspires his work. Visiting 

manufacturers such as JL Møller in Denmark benefitted his 

practice from both a creative and business angle. But what 

Stobie’s investment in research also reveals is the importance 

of knowledge-sharing. Forming connections and cultivating 

community at both a micro and macro level are especially 

crucial in a small, albeit bustling, creative hub like Adelaide. 

It’s a style of networking that promotes a culture of 

generosity, something Daniel To and Emma Aiston have 

engaged with since launching Daniel Emma in 2008. 

The design duo recently moved into a new studio space 

in JamFactory’s Morphett Street facility surrounded by 

likeminded creatives, including architects from Sweden’s 

Snøhetta, whose first Australian studio is also located 

at the premises. 

To and Aiston’s collaborations are many and varied and 

their strong visibility within an international marketplace 

has undoubtedly helped fuel a healthy interest in Adelaide 

as a design hub. Their new furniture collections, featuring 

Soft Chair, 2016, and the Pick n Mix Table, 2014, also serve to 

emphasise Adelaide’s diversity of practice. While the couple’s 

keen attention to detail is shared amongst their fellow peers 

working predominantly in timber, the boldly-coloured, 

Memphis-flavoured aesthetic of Daniel Emma’s pieces 

stands in stark contrast. Interestingly, To and Aiston have 

only recently expanded their practice to include furniture, 

which suggests the demand for Australian designed and 

manufactured product is on the rise. 

It’s a positive shift that designer Franco Crea has noticed 

too. As he explains, ‘People are sick of throwaway items: 

they want to invest in a product they can be proud to have in 

their home or office.’ The furniture designer had been solely 

operating out of his Adelaide CBD studio for three years, 

when in early 2017 he opened a second studio in Melbourne 

(where he’s now based) to meet growing demand. 

Crea acknowledges the disconnectedness between the 

design hubs of Adelaide and the eastern states is gradually 

diminishing and his joint studio operation is testament to 

this. However, there’s still more work to be done if design as 

an industry is to continue thriving in this country. ‘Education 

for the public is more important than ever in order to build 

awareness and spread the message of investing in local 

design, which needs to happen to increase opportunities for 

designers,’ he says. ‘And in turn, emerging designers need 

to be educated about what support networks and schemes 

are available to them, whether via government or an 

independent body.’ 

ISSUE 05 / 15

Tweny years ago, the mass exodus of young creatives 

from Adelaide to basically anywhere else in Australia 

was seemingly epidemic. But these days, there are many 

more opportunities and reasons to stay put. Adelaide’s 

design landscape has changed as a result of growth and 

development, and clients are now realising, especially in the 

commercial sector, that investing in good design adds value 

to their business. As a result, interior designers and architects 

such as Genesin Studio, Studio Gram and Sans-Arc Studio, 

are redefining the face of hospitality and retail in Adelaide. 

And these practices are specifying local furniture designs 

or collaborating with their clients to commission bespoke 

product from local designers. 

Genesin Studio’s fit-out for Antica’s new Morphett Street 

restaurant for example, features custom tables designed by 

Crea and manufactured locally. The client wanted a premium, 

quality product and the tables’ detailing and finish perfectly 

accent the interior’s precise, high-end material application. 

Like Crea, Sam Agostino and Gareth Brown have also 

found their Agostino & Brown products, which they design 

and manufacture in their workshop north of Adelaide, 

increasingly being specified for commercial fit-outs. ‘We 

believe it’s due to a spirit of optimism and to growth, 

especially in the CBD where projects like the Adelaide Oval 

Redevelopment and the new Royal Adelaide Hospital have 

energised business confidence,’ says Agostino. Both she 

and Brown are looking forward to future progress and the 

opportunities this brings – with the Adelaide Central Market 

upgrade and Riverbank Festival Theatre project just two of a 

number of new developments recently confirmed. 

While they’re currently producing furniture for workplaces 

in Sydney, Perth, ACT and Adelaide, the couple are also 

listening to consumer demand when it comes to adding new 

pieces to their portfolio. ‘Sam and I recently introduced the 

Major tool, 2016 to our collection after observing that local 

clients wanted a cost-effective stool made in Adelaide,’ 

Brown explains. ‘So we developed a product that could be 

easily assembled and maintained yet still features the core 

elements that make up our style – comfort, versatility 

and simplicity.’ 

The current breadth of furniture practice in Adelaide is 

helping to change national narratives on design. Discussions 

pitting Melbourne against Sydney and vice versa are old: it’s 

simply not about who can do what best anymore. Rather, 

who’s doing what well, what can we learn from them and 

how can we potentially work together for greater outcomes. 

Designers can thank social media for bringing the industry 

that much closer together, but it’s ultimately their individual 

quest for development and improvement that will see the 

design progress even more within this country. It’s exciting to 

see the contribution a creative hub like Adelaide continues to 

make, especially in these times of renewed conceptual rigour 

and aesthetic potency. 

16 / ISSUE 05

Top: Rhys Cooper, Spoke Pendant Light, Flute Side Table, Carve Dining Chair. Photographer: Andre Castellucci. 

Top left: Agostino and Brown Showroom. Photo courtesy of Agostino and Brown. 

Left: Agostino and Brown, Major Stool featured within the Pix Residence by Sans-Arc. Photographer: Jonathan van der Knaap. 

ISSUE 05 / 17

2017 Australian 

Furniture Design Award 

JamFactory and Stylecraft presented the second biennial 

Australian Furniture Design Award (AFDA) in July 2017. 

The $20,000 prize was won by Alice Springs-based 

designer Elliat Rich. 

Elliat Rich completed a Bachelor of Design with first class 

honours at the College of Fine Arts, University of New South 

Wales in Sydney in 2006. She works across a broad range 

of design projects for a diverse client base including 

cross-cultural resources, exhibition design and public art. 

Her portfolio includes furniture and product development for 

one-off exhibition or limited run. In 2014 Elliat and her partner 

James Young launched Elbowrkshp, a studio, retail space and 

workshop they share with other creative professionals. 

Elliat was chosen from the six finalists including Adam 

Markowitz, Damien Wright and Bonhula Yunupingu, 

Mitchell Eaton, Trent Jansen and James Howe, who were 

shortlisted from over 100 entrants. The finalists were flown 

to Adelaide to present their prototypes to the judging panel 

consisting of Jon Goulder, Creative Director of Furniture 

Studio, JamFactory; Tony Russell, Brand Director, Stylecraft; 

Rebecca Evans, Curator of Decorative Arts, Art Gallery of 

South Australia; Stephen Todd, Design Editor, Australian 

Financial Review Magazine and Susan Standring, Practice 

Director, Carr Design Group. Through the intensive process 

the judges were specifically looking for originality, innovation 

and evidence of the designer’s professional capability. 

Elliat’s winning work titled Place, could be described as a 

sculptural vanity – a kind of old-fashioned object evoking 

feminine ritual. The unit, which was fabricated for her by 

Oscar Prieckaerts in Sydney has a neatly concealed draw 

constructed from stacked and coloured dowel, a removable 

storage container and a velvet-covered pivoting mirror - all 

of which perch atop fine timber legs. The colours, textures 

and sense of foreground, middle ground and background 

in the piece have all been informed by her many journeys 

driving across the Central Australian landscape. 

As the winner of this important biennial award, Elliat 

receives $20,000 in cash and the opportunity to undertake 

a residency in JamFactory’s Furniture Studio to develop 

new work to a specific breif for commercial production and 

distribution through Stylecraft showrooms across Australia 

and Singapore. Rich will receive royalty income from the 

work developed for as long as it remains in production. 

In addition, Rich’s winning prototype Place, will be 

acquired by the Art Gallery of South Australia for its 

permanent collection. 

www.afda.com.au 

18 / ISSUE 05

Left: Elliat Rich, Place, 2017, Tasmanian oak, glass, velvet 

300L x 440W x 2520H mm. Photo courtesy of the artist. 

Clockwise from top left: James Howe, Rushcutters Bench, 2016 

Danish cord, powder coated steel, brass, 1800L x 400W x 450H mm. 


Damien Wright and Bonhula Yunupingu, Bala Ga Lili (Two Ways Learning), 2016 

Gadayka (Darwin stringy bark) copper wire, epoxy, ancient red gum, glass 


Mitchell Eaton, Brut Shelf, 2017, plywood, two-pack paint 


Trent Jansen, Pankalangu Arm Chair, 2017, Tasmanian wallaby pelt, copper, 

SC plywood, stainless steel, French bovine leather, PVC, polyurethane foam 


Adam Markowitz, Assegai Pendant, 2016, walnut, brass, polycarbonate 

diffuser, high output dimmable LEDs (Tridonic), black woven 

flex cable, 1150L x 400W x 500H mm. Photo courtesy of the artist. 

ISSUE 05 / 19

Feature 

JAMFACTORY ICON 

CATHERINE TRUMAN 

Words by Margaret Hancock Davis 

Margaret is Senior Curator at JamFactory and curator of 

JamFactory Icon 2017 Catherine Truman: no surface holds.

Launched in 2013, JamFactory’s 

annual icon series celebrates the 

achievements of South Australia’s 

most outstanding and influential 

artists working in crafts media. 

South Australia’s leading contemporary jeweller and artist 

Catherine Truman was selected as JamFactory’s 2017 

Icon. Her exhibition no surface holds presents an in-depth 

survey of the works produced over the last two decades, 

at the nexus of art and science. Through multiple sciencebased 

residencies, Truman has cultured many special and 

enduring relationships with anatomists, and histologists, 

neuroscientists and natural scientists, microscopists and 

ophthalmologists. These bonds of trust are at the heart of 

many of the works found in the exhibition. 

JamFactory’s Senior Curator, Margaret Hancock Davis, 

recently caught up with Truman at Gray Street Workshop 

to uncover some of the research and thinking behind the 

works in this exhibition. 

Catherine, your first foray into the science-based residencies 

was a broad-based interaction with the scientists and 

collection managers at the Museum and Art Gallery of the 

Northern Territory in 1997. How did this residency come 

about and what did you hope you would experience there? 

This was such an important residency and it was a complete 

surprise of the best kind. In 1995 Judy Kean, a curator from 

the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory offered 

a two-month residency where I was to have free reign, 

working with the resources of the museum, including the 

staff. When I arrived I remember feeling overwhelmed, not 

really having a clue where to begin. It was a complete tabula 

rasa – totally new territory, wonderful and awe-inspiring. 

I decided the best way in was to meet with as many people 

there as I could, and just simply observe, listen and learn. 

I do remember asking lots of questions. 

I found the scientists to be the most curious of beings, and 

spent two months gradually unravelling the amazing parallels 

between us. I felt completely at home in their laboratories 

learning the rigors of scientific rule. But actually it was the 

very human side, the nuanced self-expression I noticed 

seeping through the science that got me hooked. 

I have read that you are intrigued by the role of intuition, 

interpretation and practical human skill plays in the 

communication and expression of subject matter in both the 

artist studio and scientific research laboratory environments. 

Through your residencies you note that the processes of 

science and art are not so dissimilar, in what ways is this 

the case? 

To describe the colour of a shell as a flush of blush pink is 

quite evocative, yes? That’s the line I remember reading in a 

scientific publication written by one of the scientists I worked 

with in Darwin describing one of his favourite molluscs. It led 

me to question that if two scientists were describing the very 

same species and following all the rules of taxonomy, would 

those descriptions be exactly the same? Highly unlikely… 

We are all different. 

We each have a slightly different slant on the world and we 

bring a unique perspective and a unique library of skills to 

the ways we attempt to interpret life. I find that concept 

both logical and confronting, especially when it comes to 

how knowledge is generated about the human body – our 

anatomy. Ian Gibbins, neuroscientist, anatomist, poet and 

filmmaker, my collaborator of many years says: 

Somehow both scientists and artists have a level of self-belief 

that drives them to produce new work that they feel the rest 

of the world needs to know about. Yet, (good) scientists 

and artists alike are driven by self-doubt, uncertainty of 

the validity of their directions, having far too many ideas 

to effectively pursue at any point in time. In the end, what 

keeps both scientists and artists going is the excitement and 

challenge of being totally immersed in uncertainty, with just 

enough confidence that there is a way out to keep going… 

As part of your arts practice you spend time writing. One 

of your beautiful pieces of poetry is A Morning’s Anatomy. 

Written during the first anatomy class you attended in 2008 

with second-year medical anatomy students, the poem is 

in many ways a meditation on how you felt or how others 

around you may have been responding to your presence in 

the room. 

I do write a lot. The writing is a grounding strategy, no doubt. 

In this instance it was a way of absorbing the fine detail of 

the experience – writing this way, without filters is so direct. 

I often use this strategy as a way of drawing out an 

immediate response to something that seems unfathomable 

at first glance. Almost like bypassing the analysis so I can 

get to the crux of how I really feel. It’s incredibly personal 

and revealing. 

This piece of writing in particular helped me deal with the 

profound nature of the subject matter in that room that day. 

It also acted as a bridge between Ian and myself. I read it 

to him later and he said it was the first time he had had his 

teaching reflected in such a way. We based a lot of our future 

work on the seeds sown that day. 

I have been very interested by your observation that 

anatomical representations are not a passive representation 

of a subject rather they are imbued with the makers or artist 

hand, they are individualistic. 

I have been fascinated with the history of the representation 

of human anatomy for many years. Every representation of 

the human body by another human being, an image, a 

model, is filtered somehow by someone else’s experience. 

The images we carry of the body, of our bodies, are hand 

made by others. That thought alone will keep me amused 

for a very long time, especially as the technology for imaging 

the body develops into the future. We still only glimpse 

human anatomy and physiology. The subject is immense and 

no one person can claim conclusive knowledge of it, ever. 

In recent years you have collaborated with a number of 

artists on projects, in particular, the microscopy project 

presented at Flinders University Art Museum in 2014. Has 

working in a shared space i.e. Gray Street Workshop helped 

prepare you for such projects? 

ISSUE 05 / 21

Beginnings are especially important when working with 

others. How you unfold your stories to each other can 

underpin the collaboration. Gray Street has opened me up 

to being both a mentor and a mentee on a daily basis. But 

the workshop is home territory and a certain amount of 

comfort and ease comes with that. I do know that travelling 

out of my comfort zone is critical for my practice, my brain 

and my body. 

Working in scientific and medical environments can 

sometimes feel alienating and I’ve found it’s always the 

human connections that melt these barriers. Over time I’ve 

learned to step back a little and slow down the judgement 

that can get in the way of learning something new. 

You have collaborated with Ian Gibbins for many years 

now. What do you feel he has brought to your practice 

and can you comment on what you have possibly brought 

to his understanding of the body and seeing through 

your artworks? 

My practice has been enriched through working with Ian 

and his colleagues over the course of a decade. Ian has 

commented that he became more aware of his teaching 

methods because of our discussions. As a result he would 

utilise his own body as a primary living resource in his 

teaching and encourage his students to do the same. He 

asked them to consider the generic nature of the body 

they were learning in medical school: ‘Whose body are 

you learning about? Is it yours?’ 

Generally there’s never enough time during the courses 

to ask such philosophical questions like this about the 

subject matter. But these questions are crucial. So, yes, 

we have both been affected in really positive ways by 

working together. 

The title of the exhibition is no surface holds, expresses a 

slippage, an inability to create a solid, firm or definitive view 

or idea. Why is this expression so essential to your work? 

No surface holds is a line by the French feminist Luce 

Irigaray, from her book This Sex Which Is Not One written 

in 1977. Melinda Rackham used it as a chapter heading in 

her book on my practice. It’s a potent piece of writing to be 

sure. It’s about the dissolving of boundaries between two 

people. I’ve chosen it as an exhibition title and the title of an 

installation in the show. 

I think I’m illusionist at best and when I make an image or 

an object, the catalyst is usually a very transient impression, 

something fleeting, perhaps just a sensation. I become 

deliciously absorbed in the quest to make something 

tangible of that sensation and yet I know its actually 

impossible. I work with the notion that all knowledge is 

fluid and can be altered by something as simple as the 

shifting light. 

You are currently a visiting scholar at the Flinders Centre 

for Ophthalmology, Eye and Vision Research, School of 

Medicine, Flinders University, undertaking a project titled 

The nexus between vision, the eye and perception. The 

works of art you have produced in response to this include 

ocular plants, 2017 and ocular trees, 2017. What are the 

similarities you are expressing between plants and the way 

the eye works or looks? 

When I started this latest residency I had no idea how broad 

the subject of eyes, perception and vision could be and 

the diversity of disciplines involved. Over the past year I’ve 

watched many eye surgeries, pretended to be a patient in 

the waiting rooms, had my eyes imaged with every machine 

available at the clinic, and visited the research labs and there 

is still so much to investigate. 

This residency is proving to be a little different from my 

previous experiences at Flinders. I often describe my role 

in these environments as being a kind of thinking two-way 

mirror and that’s the way I’ve worked with Ian in the past. 

I observe broadly to begin with and ask questions, share 

my observations and over time we may generate questions 

together and that’s a really wonderful experience. 

The work that has evolved so far reflects a quite personal 

response to the structure of the eye and an inquiry into the 

sensation of sight. I’m beginning to understand that eyes 

are small miracles. 

I’m intrigued by the intricate networks, which connect 

the eye to the whole body. Also how we process light 

into thought; it seems light is a key ingredient for vision 

and perception. 

The collections called Ocular Plants and Ocular Trees in 

the exhibition have evolved organically from serendipitous 

connections. Recently I asked Angela Chappell, the 

ophthalmic photographer to take images of my retinas and 

we spent some time studying them on screen together. It 

was like gazing through a science fiction-like portal into what 

looked like a glowing planet covered with an arterial lattice 

of rivers and streams. 

Seeing is a great way for us to finish, as the works of art in 

this exhibition definitely reward those that take the time 

to engage. What would you hope people take away from 

this exhibition? 

I hope that people sense something of the engagement I 

experience when I research and reflect and make. There 

are some tricks of the eye and a smattering of humour in 

the work. I hope they become absorbed in wonder, feel a 

little puzzled occasionally and even have a good laugh or 

two along the way. Andy Warhol once said, ‘I don’t know 

where the real starts and the artificial stops’. Sometimes, 

uncertainty is delicious. 

JamFactory Icon 2017, Catherine Truman: no surface holds, 

opened in Adelaide as part of the South Australian Living 

Artists (SALA) Festival before touring to eight venues 

nationally. The exhibition tour has been assisted by the 

Australian Government’s Contemporary Touring Initiative, 

a program of the Australia Council for the Arts. 

Previous page: Ongoing Being (detail), 2010 - ongoing 

multi media, dimensions variable. Photographer: Grant Hancock. 

Top right: In Preparation for Seeing: SEM Glove, Installation – objects, 2015 

black cotton glove encrusted with black glass spheres, microscope slides, steel 

forceps, petri dishes, light pad, dimensions variable. Photographer: Grant Hancock. 

Right: no surface holds: Crab Claw Installation, 2015 - 17, found crab claws encrusted 

with glass spheres. Dimensions variable. Photographer: Grant Hancock. 

22 / ISSUE 05

ISSUE 05 / 23

Feature

COLLISIONS: IDENTITY, 

MEANING AND POLITICS IN 

CONTEMPORARY ABORIGINAL 

ART AND DESIGN 

Words by Timmah Ball 

Timmah Ball is an emerging writer, urban researcher 

and cultural producer of Ballardong Noongar descent. 

The rising popularity of Aboriginal art, culture and design has 

occasionally aroused suspicion. As Richard Bell stated in his 

dry sardonic way, ‘Aboriginal art—it’s a white thing ’1 . In 2015, 

I was working in urban design for a local council who were 

developing an Aboriginal community centre in a suburb with 

a growing Indigenous population. An Indigenous steering 

committee was established to ensure the centre became a 

culturally vibrant place for the local community. But the lead 

white architect oozed an almost caricatured hipness in his 

black velvet blazer, a ‘starchitect’ in the making. 

At the first community co-design workshop, a stifling sense 

of power permeated the room as he confidently flicked the 

switch on the projector, animating the wall with technical 

design sketches and bush imagery. His presentation ended 

on an image of a black hand holding a white hand, as if 

a twee photo could erase the ongoing racism Aboriginal 

people endure. An Aboriginal community centre was vital 

but as people gently started to share their ideas, the loudest 

voices were white. The impact of colonisation was ignored, 

but a white council worker self-assuredly explained to 

community why the design should reference the river. White 

voices drowned out Aboriginal people who sat silently by 

the end. The architect left smugly, muttering how he likes to 

explore Australia’s deep cultural dimension, another project 

to boast about bringing cultural ‘cred’ and status to his 

illustrious career. 

Nayuka Gorrie recently wrote that ‘there is material gain 

made from our culture that does not flow to us.’ 2 I felt this 

as the architect casually left, knowing he would have a new 

building to boast about generating more work, while no one 

could guarantee whether free services would be provided 

for those in need. But on reflection, one the most challenging 

aspects of the exchange were the clichéd ways white staff 

and project designers expected us to express our culture. 

A strong connection to the river was assumed but what 

about other influences? A particularly vocal staff member 

repetitively talked about ways to incorporate the Stolen 

Generation as if this was something we could ever forget or 

even want to be reminded of through architectural design. 

Given the restrictive way we are often viewed, how do we 

express ourselves through art and design that engages with 

our lived realities, culture, ancestors and global connectivity? 

ISSUE 05 / 25

Previous page: Yolngu Weaver of Elcho Island Arts Verity Burarrwanga. 

Photographer: Rhett Hammerton. 

Top: Nicole Monks, nyinajimanha (sitting together), 2016 

blackwood, gold plated steel. 

stool: 45cm x 40cm x 44cm table: 94cm x 94cm x 34cm, 

Nicole Monks, thalanara (rug) 2016, pelt kangaroo skin blanket 

Photographer: Boaz Nothman. 

Yorta Yorta curator Kimberley Moulton writes of the 

unsettling pull between identities and the demand to 

represent an ‘authentic’ Aboriginal self. Like the architecture 

and design sector, the arts industry also attempts to classify 

us from a set of presumed values. Moulton writes: 

“The concept of authenticity which has its roots deeply 

embedded in theories of racial purity seem to still dictate 

and be at the forefront of discussion and representation 

of Indigenous art and cultural material in museums and 

galleries. This expectation of authentic identity comes from 

many directions, that of the institution from the expectation 

of the viewer and from the Indigenous artists deconstructing 

and representing this concept themselves. There is still 

a game of tug of war between western anthropological 

museum practice and the contemporary curator of what is 

authentic enough to be Bla(c)k today in a museum.” 3 

Given these obstacles, how does the mixed race, 

light-skinned, city dwelling blackfella begin to express their 

layered identities and complex influences within the white 

curatorial gaze? These issues are impossible to separate 

when approaching Indigenous artwork but Aboriginal artists 

are increasingly finding ways to push through these barriers, 

creating dynamic work and unique partnerships which defy 

stereotypes. JamFactory’s exhibition Confluence as part of 

TARNANTHI Festival of Contemporary Aboriginal and Torres 

Strait Islander Art exemplifies this featuring two significant 

collections by Nicole Monks and Elcho Island Weavers in 

collaboration with Koskela. 

26 / ISSUE 05

‘The challenge to white 

Australia is to address 

a question. How does 

the nation move from 

a state of colonial 

anxiety that refuses 

genuine recognition and 

engagement to a concept 

of locating ‘Indigenous 

theories, methodologies, 

and methods at the centre, 

not the periphery’ of 

our society?’ 

The work of Monks, a Sydney-based Wajarri Yamatji woman 

with Indigenous, English and Dutch ancestry draws from her 

diverse heritage. Her furniture range creates a meeting point 

where Indigenous philosophies of sustainability, innovation 

and collaboration merge with contemporary art and design 

principles. The series marlu (kangaroo) from 2016 features 

wabarn-wabarn (bounce) chair with undardu (kangaroo 

skin blankets), walarnu (boomerang) chair and nyinajimanha 

(sitting together) stools and table and thalanara (rug). The 

powerful pieces use the recognizable language of furniture 

design yet seamlessly weave cultural narratives, which 

beguile and intrigue. Two worlds are colliding but nothing 

clashes or contradicts, instead unity is found and celebrated. 

In nyinajimanha (sitting together) a round table and chairs 

create a striking balance in polished blackwood echoing the 

sleek minimal furniture popular in industrial style cafes. But 

these choices are not just functional or aesthetic they are 

created to tell the story of people connecting and sharing 

knowledge. The chairs are positioned close to the ground 

to connect us to the Earth. At the centre of the table, a 

woven basket with both knitting needles and traditional 

weavings are in mid-flow, connecting both cultures through 

their similarities and craft. Monks is showing the viewer, or 

user, that Australia is a complex environment where wildly 

different lifestyles and races exist (not always in harmony) 

but it is possible to find connection and meaning in our 

plurality, which brings us closer together. 

For Monks, living in a city like Sydney is an opportunity to 

connect with her culture and respect the land of the Gadigal 

people in a multicultural landscape of many influences. 

The search for the ‘real Aboriginal’ is replaced by genuine 

meaning and understanding of history and our future. In 

her own acknowledgement to country she states: 

“We are all connected to this place as we live, work and 

play on Aboriginal Land. Today 228 years after the invasion 

I stand here as part of the design industry where we talk 

about sustainability and eco footprints influencing our 

design. But for the custodians of this land the philosophies 

of interconnectedness and respecting the Earth is a way of 

life, of being. As the designers, the creatives and the future 

makers, you have the ability to drive change. We are creating 

the history of now with the objects and spaces we create and 

the future we want to live in, for me this responsibility means 

taking lead from the custodians of this land and I thank them 

for imparting me with this knowledge.” 4 

Earlier this year I attended the Place, Politics and Privilege 

Conference at Victoria University. The keynote lecture 

by Professor Tony Birch talked about Aboriginal and 

white Australia’s differences but also stressed the need 

for collaboration if we are to resolve significant issues 

like climate change. His words soothed some of my own 

cynicism, recognising the power of working together and 

fusing knowledge which Monks’s furniture so beautifully 

illustrates. But as I have also witnessed in my own career 

these collaborations often eschew the Aboriginal voice. In an 

article Climate Change, Recognition and Social Place-Making 

Birch writes: 

“The challenge to white Australia is to address a question. 

How does the nation move from a state of colonial anxiety 

that refuses genuine recognition and engagement to a 

ISSUE 05 / 27

concept of locating ‘Indigenous theories, methodologies, 

and methods at the centre, not the periphery’ of our society? 

While such a shift could ultimately produce ‘an ecological 

philosophy of mutual benefit’, getting there will be a 

serious challenge.” 5 

Without doubt this is a challenge but already we are making 

small steps, evident in a range of new connections forming 

between Indigenous and non-Indigenous artists and 

designers. The weavers of Elcho Island Arts in collaboration 

with Koskela is an exciting example of cross-cultural 

relationship-building. Shelter, 2015 is a dynamic fusion where 

furniture collides with the intricate weavings of the Yolngu 

women. The project and partnership has evolved over time 

with the Sydney-based design company Koskela making 

regular trips to Echo Island to learn from and work with 

the women. The powerful work sees cultural techniques 

and natural materials traditionally used for ceremonies and 

carrying food, reinterpreted into furniture items such as 

lampshades and tables. 

For the Yolnugu women this is a vital opportunity to show 

the rest of Australia what can be done with local materials, 

flipping our capitalist hunger for the latest trend from New 

York or Paris. The collaboration and use of native materials 

also addresses the major crisis of our time – climate change. 

The collaboration platforms new levels of resilience and 

resourcefulness by switching from cheap mass-produced 

plastics and metals to what we have in our own back yard. 

When Sasha Titchkosky and Russel Koskela of Koskela first 

visited Elcho Island, Mavis Warrngilna Ganambarr, a senior 

weaver insisted on taking them shopping straightaway. 

Prompting curious looks and the question where are the 

shops? Their ignorance made the women laugh because 

for them the bush, the shrubs, the trees, the plants and 

the natural landscape were the shops. They get what they 

need from the land, it surrounds them and it’s free. These 

practices and ways of thinking not only generate incredible 

art and design but start to show Australia that there is 

a new way to progress which works in unison with the 

environment rather than contributing to its decline. As Birch 

states ‘a shift in mindset is required to produce meaningful 

and valuable interactions between Indigenous and non- 

Indigenous people.’ 6 Designs created by the Yolungu women 

in partnership Koskela highlights this. 

TARNANTHI Festival of Contemporary Aboriginal and Torres 

Strait Islander Art reflects a movement that is beginning to 

emerge across a range of disciplines – from climate change 

action to landscape design. Architects, designers, artists and 

urban planners are finding dynamic and meaningful ways 

to work alongside Aboriginal people and our culture, 

creating new ways of being in cities and our own homes. 

The festival comes at a time where we must rethink how we 

live alongside our environment – a theme which ties in with 

other collaborative practices in the design sector. 

landscape by reinserting our identity. In 2016 in partnership 

with SA Water, he created the Noarlunga Downs Wetland 

Sculptures, a series of steel and concrete sculptures in the 

stylised form of traditional bark canoes with fishing spears 

that were traditionally used as punting poles. A government 

water authority collides with the cultural practices of the 

Kaurna and Ramindjeri peoples and rigid government land 

management practices are stripped back. Aboriginal water 

management is honoured, transforming the area from a 

treated wastewater storage unit into a thriving wetland 

sanctuary marked by Herzich’s striking sculptures. 

These Indigenous design interventions can be seen in cities 

across the country, revitalising the cold uniformity we are 

often accustomed to in the built environment. In Perth, Edith 

Cowan University’s Ngoolark building embedded Noongar 

knowledge into the architectural design process, creating a 

physical experience which links the visitor to Noongar culture, 

reminding us it is still here and thriving. A range of projects 

have arisen across Melbourne – from Brook Andrews and 

Trent Walter’s arresting commemoration to the last Aboriginal 

men hung in Melbourne in Standing by Tunnerminnerwait and 

Maulboyheenner, 2016 to Megan Cope’s You Are, Here Now, 

2015 which combines Woiwrurung language with colonial 

maps on the façade of the Australian Catholic University. 

More and more Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians 

are creating innovative ways to bring our cultures together, 

ensuring that we no longer dilute, erase or tokenise the 

traditional custodians of this land. 

Nayuka Gorrie has a right to be concerned when she speaks 

of economic capital not always flowing onto us and I have 

certainly felt Richard Bell’s cynicism. But I also believe we 

have learnt and are continuing to create collaborations based 

on equity and grounded in the need to enrich who we are 

though cross-cultural exchange and solidarity. TARNANTHI 

Festival is another way to showcase our growth where artist/ 

designers like Nicole Monks and Elcho Island Arts weavers 

in collaboration with Koskela are creating new ways of being 

and a future, which resolves the pain of the past. 

Confluence: Contemporary Aboriginal Design exhibits at 

JamFactory from 29 September - 26 November as part 

of TARNANTHI Festival of Contemporary Aboriginal and 

Torres Strait Islander Art. 

1. http://www.kooriweb.org/foley/great/art/bell.html 

2. Gorrie, N. Cultural Appropriation and Power, The Saturday Paper, 27 May, 2017. 

https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/opinion/topic/2017/05/27/culturalappropriation-and-power/14958072004699. 

3. Moulton, K. Collecting My Thoughts-Authenticity, The Museum and 

Representation, Centre for Indigenous Stories, 2015. 

5. http://indigenousstory.com.au/works/128/collecting-my-thoughtsauthenticity-the-museum-and-representation/ 

4. Recorded in an interview with Sophie Monks. 

5. Birch, T. Climate Change, Recognition and Social Place-Making’, The Sydney 

Review of Books, 3 March, 2017. http://sydneyreviewofbooks.com/climatechange-recognition-and-caring-for-country/4 

ibid 

In Adelaide, Ngarrindjeri/Kaurna/German artist Paul Herzich 

works across landscape architecture and public art to create 

evocative cultural monuments that soothe the colonial

Top: Mavis Warrngilna Ganambarr with Elcho Island Arts Weavers. Photo courtesy of Koskela. 

ISSUE 05 / 29

Feature 

Studio Pottery 

Words by Damon Moon 

Damon Moon is Creative Director of the Ceramics Studio 

at JamFactory. 

Throughout most of history, pottery has 

been a collective affair that has availed 

itself of the level of industry, scale of 

production and techniques of manufacture 

appropriate to a particular time and place. 

The objects that resulted from these endeavours may have 

been rudely functional or highly decorative, with their 

workplace origins ranging from small rural concerns to 

industries encompassing entire cities, as in the group of 

six towns that comprised the district of Stoke-on-Trent in 

England or the city of Jingdezhen in China, which had a 

continuous history of porcelain manufacture and export for 

over a thousand years. 

In fact, it was only really in the late 19th century, as a 

result of the changing nature of art and the influence of 

philosophies towards handcrafts espoused by the Arts and 

Crafts movement, that a new approach to making came into 

being and a new practitioner appeared – the artist or ‘studio 

potter’, so named because their workplace resembled an 

artist’s studio and the results of their labour edged closer 

to the world of art whilst retreating from the practicalities 

of industry. 

Just when the term ‘studio pottery’ first appeared is unclear, 

but what it described went beyond a style of work to 

encompass an approach to making and a lifestyle that for 

many was – and still is – more vocation than occupation. 

That there was a certain element of nostalgia underpinning 

this trend is undeniable, however in every era, it seems that 

periods of social upheaval and a rapid growth of industry 

and technological advancement is augmented by a growth 

of interest in making on a small scale, or what may now be 

called ‘slow’ making or the ‘makers’ movement’. For every 

action there is a reaction. 

30 / ISSUE 05

In Australia, it was in the aftermath of the Second World 

War that all the components of what we think of as the 

modern Crafts Movement appeared and ceramics was at 

the forefront of this new approach to a very old craft. Small 

workshops flourished, courses began to appear and ceramics 

began to be seen in mainstream art galleries, often as the 

accompaniment to an exhibition of paintings but sometimes 

as the major feature, as in the ground-breaking work made 

by David and Hermia Boyd who had sell-out shows and 

achieved great notoriety through the exhibitions of their 

ceramics in the 1950s. 

This pattern increased throughout the 1960s (which 

interestingly was also a period of social change) and by the 

early seventies ceramics, and the Crafts in general, played a 

prominent part in Australian cultural life. 

Governments became increasingly involved in arts funding, 

with a dedicated federal crafts-funding body and state-based 

boards, and ceramics was a significant beneficiary of this 

largesse. Ceramics courses proliferated within art schools, 

TAFE and other adult education courses, ceramics was 

taught in schools and numerous practitioners established 

successful careers built on the back of a wide public interest 

in the field. This was the climate which allowed for the birth of 

JamFactory, a visionary organisation which can truly claim to 

be ‘innovative’ and is a model which has yet to be reproduced 

in this country, let alone bettered. 

Nonetheless, it’s true to say that throughout the eighties 

and nineties, away from nurturing environments such as 

that provided by JamFactory, something happened, and the 

interest in ceramics waned. Perhaps it was the extraordinary 

growth of digital technologies and a strong bias towards 

conceptualism in the art world (and particularly in art 

education) that made the manipulation of mud, no matter 

how skilful, seem somehow redundant, too ‘old school’. 

Institutions like JamFactory with its long commitment to 

ceramics, persisted, but there was a diminishment of teaching 

within the tertiary sector and Australia-wide the penetration 

of hand-crafted ceramics in the broader public sphere 

was lessened. 

It’s always hard to judge these things accurately, but in the 

late nineties and into the 2000s ceramics began to gather 

strength again: the impetus was coming from somewhere, 

but the question was where? 

My observation is that the trend towards ceramics’ newfound 

popularity had several points of reference and that 

these were fortuitously coincidental. 

One explanation was the unprecedented rise to fame of 

the Australian ceramic artist (I’m sure she would have been 

happier being called a potter), Gwyn Hanssen Pigott in the 

1980s. After a long career in both England and Australia as 

a maker of lovely, but rather underappreciated domestic 

wares, Hanssen Pigott created what amounted to a new way 

of looking at ceramics – a ‘still life’. At once the objects and 

their depiction, packaged in an exquisite, seemingly simple 

moment – they took the art world by storm. Hanssen Pigott 

became properly famous and her elevation of the humble, 

well-crafted, beautifully-realised pot provided a muchneeded 

shot in the arm for ceramics, proof that success was 

32 / ISSUE 05

attainable at a level that was previously the province of other, 

more mainstream visual arts practices. 

Once it became obvious that one person could do it, others 

followed, with many (some rather too closely) emulating her 

approach and others finding new ways to interpret age-old 

traditions, with the corollary being that ceramics once again 

began to gain much-needed traction. 

Other international artists found wide audiences through 

the medium of clay, with two, very different, English artists, 

Grayson Perry and Edmund de Waal, doing much to raise the 

profile of ceramics around the turn of the new century. 

However, the final ingredient (and I use that term very 

deliberately) was to be found in a place that was both 

unexpected and yet blindingly obvious: it was in food and the 

connection between the table and the plate, what the great 

Mexican writer Octavio Paz refers to when he wrote: 

In its perpetual movement back and forth between beauty 

and utility, pleasure and service, the work of craftsmanship 

teaches us lessons in sociability. 

My first contact with this phenomenon came about in 2002 

when the chef and writer Gay Bilson approached me to work 

on a culinary project for the Adelaide Festival of Arts. There 

were two components: one entailed making some plates 

for a conference of gastronomy, the other a few hundred 

small bowls which would be used to serve meals she had 

prepared to patients in a hospital, thus upending a long and 

proud health-care tradition of inedible food served up on 

unappealing crockery. 

Jacob’s Creek restaurant with tableware – and the demand 

just seems to increase each year. 

Away from JamFactory, many talented makers – Colin 

Hopkins and Illona Topolcsanyi from Cone11 pottery 

in Melbourne, Ben Richardson in Hobart and Malcolm 

Greenwood in New South Wales to name just a few – supply 

some of the best restaurants in the country, and the ‘trickle 

down’ effect has been profound. 

Finally, one cannot ignore the advent of online retailing, 

with its global reach and its ability to facilitate makers who 

are able to work at a scale and pace which they themselves 

control, with the inherent saving over more traditional ‘bricks 

and mortar’ outlets. 

What is fascinating is that none of these components seem 

to be at odds with each other: the greater the interest in the 

field the more makers seem to respond, and more makers 

means a greater public awareness of hand-made ceramics – 

and so it goes. 

In fact, ‘making’ in all its permutations is, as the current 

expression would have it, ‘a thing’. Ceramics, that age-old 

tradition, has reinvented itself, and it is a pleasure and an 

honour to observe this phenomenon close-up, and to be part 

of an organisation that has, since its very inception, helped 

lead the change. 

Previous page: Ilona Topolcsanyi at Cone 11 Pottery Studio. 

Photo courtesy of Cone 11. 

Left: Cone 11 Pottery Studio. Photo courtesy of Cone 11. 

Around the country, other chefs of equal standing had also 

begun to explore the aesthetic and functional possibilities 

of ‘bespoke’, hand-made crockery, and it’s true to say that 

the impetus for the infiltration of hand-made ceramics into 

restaurants has been almost entirely ‘top-down’, and now the 

list of restaurants using such work reads like a compendium 

from an antipodean equivalent of the 

Michelin guide. 

One of my very first calls when I began as Creative Director 

of the Ceramics Studio at JamFactory was to arrange 

a visit to Penfolds’s Magill Estate Restaurant, where the 

executive chefs, Scott Huggins and Emma McCaskill, 

commissioned a full setting for their degustation menu. 

Such is the relationship we built with Huggins and McCaskill 

that JamFactory Ceramics Studio Associates Jordan Gower, 

Ashlee Hopkins and Ebony Heidenreich now supply work to 

both Huggins at Magill Estate and McCaskill in her new role as 

head chef at The Pot restaurant. 

Another recent project undertaken by JamFactory Ceramics 

Associate Ashlee Hopkins was a commission to make 

tableware for Barossa Valley restaurant, Hentley Farm, for 

their Gourmet Traveller Top 50 event and the JamFactory 

studio has also supplied both Fino at Seppleltsfield and 

ISSUE 05 / 33

PILCHUCK GLASS SCHOOL

In 2017 JamFactory celebrates the 

15th year of its Pilchuck Glass School 

Partner Scholarship. Brokered by 

the Glass Department’s past Head 

of Studio and Mentor Nick Mount, 

and supported by JamFactory and 

Arts South Australia, the scholarship 

provides the opportunity for a first 

year Associate to attend one of the 

school’s summer sessions. 

This year Billy Crellin, a graduate of the Sydney College of 

the Arts, was awarded the opportunity and attended the 

school in July. 

‘I am proud to be this year’s recipient and grateful to benefit 

from the ongoing relationship between the JamFactory and 

Pilchuck. The scholarship offers a unique opportunity to learn 

from highly accomplished artists and I expect to prosper 

from the experience,’ says Crellin. 

Pilchuck boasts a reputation as the world’s most 

comprehensive centre for glass education. Located 80 

kilometres from Seattle in Stanwood, Washington, the school 

offers intensive residential instruction taught by worldrenowned 

artists, as well as residencies for both emerging 

and established practitioners in all media. The program 

comprises a series of sessions that run primarily from May 

through to September during which five concurrent courses 

are taught in a variety of glassworking processes for artists 

of all skill levels. 

Founded in 1971 by glass artist Daly Chihuly and patrons 

Anne Gould Hauberg and John H. Hauberg, the school began 

as an experimental summer workshop. Camping on site using 

makeshift equipment, the artists and students of the early 

years embraced experimentation and exploration. Today 

the campus has grown to include facilities for glassblowing, 

casting, coldworking, flameworking, fusing, neon, glass 

painting, stained glass and printmaking, as well as wood and 

metal studios. Yet, the school’s original core values endure: to 

inspire creativity, transform individuals and build community. 

The school’s unique setting, on a former tree farm in the 

foothills of the Cascade Mountains, supports this vision. 

Mount, who has been a member of the faculty both as a 

teaching assistant and instructor multiple times since 1985 

and in 2000 was appointed to the school’s International 

Council which he now co-chairs, describes it as a 

wonderland. Both staff and students live on campus for the 

duration of sessions, working long days, sharing meals in the 

communal kitchen/dining facilities and sleeping in log cabins. 

‘It’s a super-heated learning environment in which the energy 

and expectations are high, and everyone is fully invested in 

glass and the experience,’ says Mount. 

With a focus on fostering and educating a worldwide 

community, Pilchuck maintains partner scholarships with 

schools and universities around the world. These relationships 

extend Pilchuck’s outreach and ensure they engage an 

ever-expanding international community of artists. In turn, 

the students awarded these scholarships receive a unique 

learning experience and opportunity to connect with glass 

artists from around the world while acting as ambassadors 

for their home institution. 

Over its 15-year history, JamFactory’s scholarship has had 

long-term impacts on the Associates who receive them. 

Madeline Prowd, the Glass Studio’s Assistant Technician 

and recipient of the scholarship in 2010, remembers it as an 

incredible experience, which has been a catalyst for ongoing 

opportunities upon her return. In 2013 she assisted Ben 

Edols, the following year she assisted Brian Corr and received 

the School’s Saxe Award to attend a class in 2015, and this 

year she has been invited to return as a Craftsperson-in- 

Residence. Also known as a Gaffer, Pilchuck invites two 

accomplished artists with expertise in hot glassworking 

to execute the creative visions of the School’s Artists-In- 

Residence and instructors for each session. It is a significant 

opportunity and reflects Prowd’s technical skill and expertise. 

The scholarship’s value extends beyond the benefits it 

offers the Associates. Returning with new knowledge and 

international networks, the Associates share their experiences 

with the wider glass community. Karen Cunningham, the 

current Creative Director of JamFactory’s Glass Studio 

and recipient of the scholarship in 2006, describes being 

profoundly impacted by her experience attending a class 

taught by Seattle-based American glass artist, Boyd Sugiki. 

On her return she lobbied to get him and his wife, artist 

Lisa Zerkowitz, to Adelaide and in 2011 they taught a 

workshop at the JamFactory, sharing teaching notes that 

are still referred to today. 

Glass working is inherently collaborative and Pilchuck’s ability 

to grow from the idealism and imagination with which it 

began reflects the passion and good-will of those who work 

with the medium. Subsequently, the school’s commitment 

to supporting the community and fostering teamwork has 

almost certainly contributed to the culture of generosity and 

collaboration found within glass studios around the world. 

Words by Peta Mount 

Peta is a program manager and arts writer based in 

Adelaide, South Australia. She currently manages the 

studio of contemporary Australian artist Jason Sims and 

works in the role of Artist Services Manager at Guildhouse. 

Left: Glass Studio. Photographer: Andre Castellucci. 

ISSUE 05 / 35

STAYING CURIOUS. ALWAYS.

Star-gazing nets, stairways to heaven, 

a transformation of Times Square 

and a mission to solve some of the 

world’s biggest energy problems, 

re-imagination moguls’ Snøhetta 

are a Norwegian multi-disciplinary 

design firm shifting, not just the 

spaces in which we exist, but how 

we think about them..and they’re 

doing it right here, in Adelaide. 

Since their beginnings as a collaborative architectural 

and landscape workshop some 30 years ago, Snøhetta 

have grown to become an internationally renowned 

practice incorporating interior architecture and brand 

design. Their trans-disciplinary way of thinking has been 

applied to approximately 100 projects globally and seen 

them strategically place studios in Oslo, New York City, 

San Francisco, Innsbruck, Singapore and Adelaide. 1 

‘Although our firm is worldwide, we are not big,’ says 

Australasian Managing Director, Kaare Krokene. ‘We are 

nimble and open-minded with our growth strategies.’ 

Slowly growing, the relatively small team in South Australia 

is also supported by a pool of Australasia-dedicated staff in 

Norway. Based at JamFactory this chapter evolved off the 

back of a major project. Yet Krokene says setting up shop in 

seemingly obscure locations has become common and is in 

alignment with Snøhetta’s practice. 

Snøhetta’s first Australian project, the University of South 

Australia’s Pridham Hall (in partnership with Adelaide-based 

JPE Design Studio and JamFactory), paired with a bold 

mid-life career decision for Krokene, was how JamFactory 

eventually became home. After over 10 great years working 

in director roles for JPE, Krokene ‘felt the need to get back to 

his roots with the models and principles of Nordic design.’ 

Establishing Snøhetta at JamFactory was a considered 

decision. When the Founding Director of Snøhetta, Kjetil 

Thorsen, was led on a tour of JamFactory, he was blown 

away. A lot of what was happening at JamFactory aligned 

with what Snøhetta would like to do in terms of industrial 

design and tangible making. Krokene agrees: ‘You can 

smell the materials and see stuff actually happening 

around you here.’ 

One of Snøhetta’s main goals is to holistically integrate 

artwork in their architecture: ‘Preferring to allow for an 

open dialogue between artists, artisans and professionals 

with various approaches to important building elements.’ 2 

The roof of their Opera House in Oslo was officially registered 

as a piece of art – meaning certain safety measures did not 

need to be complied to so rigidly. ‘Those sloping surfaces 

into the water, they wanted to put handrails everywhere. 

But we won, and the building was able to maintain its artistic 

merit of natural and sculptural qualities,’ says Krokene. 

The Pridham Hall project could only have come together 

with the project consultation and collaboration of 

JamFactory’s CEO, Brian Parkes and Jon Goulder, Creative 

Director of JamFactory’s Furniture Studio. ‘They did a hell 

of a good job,’ says Krokene. Working especially in the 

integration of donor branding, Goulder, Parkes and the 

Snøhetta team worked through conceptual approaches and 

design-thinking workshops to look at not the most dominant, 

but most appropriate placement and detailed integration of 

donor names in the building. The skills of JamFactory makers 

and designers were utilised to create physical models and 

to make the visual planning process tangible. As a result, 

integral to the building is a cascading chandelier-style roof 

in the lobby space, engraved granite pool surrounds and 

detailing to the underside of the amphitheatre towards the 

Jeffery Smart building. 

Snøhetta stand strong on their missions globally. ‘People, 

Process, Project - and always in that order’ 3 is their mantra. 

They focus heavily on connectivity and embracing the theory 

that good design wins, not names or company status. Portal, 

2017, a seemingly never ending ladder, was a collaboration 

between Snøhetta, Brooklyn design studio Everything 

Elevated and Danish upholsterer Erik Jørgensen Møbelfabrik, 

which formed part of Wallpaper magazine’s Holy Handmade 

exhibition earlier this year. It is a great example of the 

imaginative and creative work Snøhetta get to do as a result 

of their approach to collaboration, which honours specialist 

knowledge in each area. 

One of Krokene’s biggest qualms with the design industry in 

Australia however is the way in which creative opportunities 

are procured. He describes that it is virtually impossible for 

someone to start up a design practice and gain opportunities 

for larger projects without relevant experience. ‘Those 

opportunities just don’t exist,’ he says. ‘There are a number 

of architects speaking especially to state government about 

how their procurement process is not offering enough 

creative opportunities.’ 

Accustomed to design competitions in Norway, Krokene 

says even at invited competitions, there is anonymity and 

a wild-card entry, which leads to a real democratisation of 

process. ‘Snøhetta started as a wild-card entry in the 1980s, 

winning the Alexandrina Library competition in Egypt. Then, 

there were no glossy tech programs, just sketches, it was a 

more even playing field.’ Luckily, that ground is being levelled 

again, with presentation programs becoming much more 

affordable and readily available to the much smaller studios. 

‘It’s not about being individual stars, but rather a 

constellation,’ says Krokene: ‘We are Snøhetta. We create 

architecture, landscapes, interiors and brand design’. 

Words by Lara Merrington 

Lara is Assistant Curator at JamFactory 

Left: Norwegian National Opera and Ballet, Oslo. 

Photo courtesy of Snøhetta. 

1. http://www.snohetta.com accessed June, 2017 

2. http://www.archdaily.com/440/oslo-opera-house-Snøhetta. 

Accessed 10 June 2017 



ISSUE 05 / 37

In 

space 

– 

2000 

– 

and 

, 

creating 

provide 

it 

work 

that 

was 

that 

digital 

already 

disrupted 

engagement 

clear 

the 

that 

that 

‘ 

people 

digital 

smooth 

are 

technologies 

experience 

so 

would 

’ 

addicted 

explode 

of 

to 

media 

the 

– 

into 

urban 

but 

every 

environment 

really 

Beginnings 

part 

of 

daily 

life 

. 

Although 

I 

had 

been 

trained 

as 

a 

script 

reader 

and 

film 

producer 

everything 

in 

my 

creative 

life 

was 

pointing 

towards 

Past, present & future tense – a conversation between Jon Goulder, Lou Weis and John Warwicker. 

that 

digital 

technologies 

now 

claim 

to 

offer 

. 

Now 

the 

value 

of 

the 

designed 

object 

is 

when 

it 

is 

tactile 

and 

intimate 

. 

That 

interventions 

in 

physical 

space 

. 

the 

object 

’ 

s 

greatest 

strength 

is 

in 

motivating 

a 

desire 

to 

touch 

it 

, 

in 

being 

corporeal 

. 

you 

can’t 

sit 

in 

a 

jpg 

. 

design 

it 

work 

may 

in 

photograph 

public 

well

Creative 

direction 

of 

applied 

arts 

objects 

and 

furniture 

requires 

the 

careful 

marrying 

of 

designers 

, 

artisans 

and 

a 

sense 

of 

what 

the 

market 

is 

interested 

in 

. 

This 

all 

needs 

to 

be 

bundled 

up 

into 

one 

larger 

narrative 

of 

a 

collection 

with 

a 

higher 

purpose 

, 

one 

that 

comes 

from 

the 

heart 

of 

my 

daily 

preoccupations 

. 

The 

purpose 

of 

collaboration 

is 

to 

secrete 

new 

knowledge 

into 

an 

entity 

requiring 

inspiration 

. 

Collaboration 

– 

by 

a 

civilian 

with 

a 

rebel 

force 

or 

between 

two 

creatives 

– 

usually 

serves 

one 

entity 

more 

than 

another 

, 

someone 

usually 

comes 

away 

the 

clear 

winner 

Mid-career 

Collaboration 

if 

the 

work 

is 

interesting 

and 

stimulates 

interest 

it 

creates 

it 

‘s 

own 

market 

. 

1 

+ 

1 

= 

3 

. 

the 

resonance 

of 

the 

collective 

. 

more 

than 

the 

sum 

of 

it 

‘ 

s 

parts 

. 

and 

generating 

.... 

between 

the 

designer 

and 

the 

someone 

else 

. 

Creative 

direction 

of 

applied 

arts 

objects 

and 

furniture 

requires 

the 

careful 

marrying 

of 

designers 

, 

artisans 

and 

a 

sense 

of 

what 

the 

market 

is 

interested 

in 

. 

This 

all 

needs 

to 

be 

bundled 

up 

into 

one 

larger 

narrative 

of 

a 

collection 

with 

a 

higher 

purpose 

, 

one 

that 

comes 

from 

the 

heart 

of 

my 

daily 

preoccupations 

. 

The 

purpose 

of 

collaboration 

is 

to 

secrete 

new 

knowledge 

into 

an 

entity 

requiring 

inspiration 

. 

Collaboration 

– 

by 

a 

civilian 

with 

a 

rebel 

force 

or 

between 

two 

creatives 

– 

usually 

serves 

one 

entity 

more 

than 

another 

, 

someone 

usually 

comes 

away 

the 

clear 

winner 

Mid-career 

Collaboration 

if 

the 

work 

is 

interesting 

and 

stimulates 

interest 

it 

creates 

it 

‘s 

own 

market 

. 

1 

+ 

1 

= 

3 

. 

the 

resonance 

of 

the 

collective 

. 

more 

than 

the 

sum 

of 

it 

‘ 

s 

parts 

. 

and 

generating 

.... 

between 

the 

designer 

and 

the 

someone 

else 

.

from 

successful 

collaboration 

. 

I 

see 

everything 

through 

the 

prism 

of 

filmmaking 

, 

which 

like 

furniture 

or 

property 

development 

, 

is 

an 

industrial 

process 

that 

requires 

a 

great 

many 

skilled 

creatives 

and 

technicians 

to 

realise 

the 

overall 

product 

. 

Collaboration 

is 

a 

popular 

word 

for 

an 

industrial 

process 

that 

requires 

a 

fluid 

dialogue 

to 

exist 

for 

work 

to 

be 

done 

efficiently 

. 

Ultimately 

, 

as 

creative 

director 

the 

collaboration 

ends 

when 

I 

determine 

if 

the 

project 

is 

proceeding 

or 

not 

. 

But 

once 

Broached 

say 

yes 

, 

it 

is 

extremely 

rare 

that 

the 

collaborative 

process 

is 

halted 

– 

we 

roll 

the 

dice 

and 

see 

what 

the 

outcome 

is 

. 

1 

+ 

1 

= 

3 

( 

again 

) 

every 

thing 

exists 

in 

time 

. 

or 

the 

work 

itself 

... 

. 

from 

successful 

collaboration 

. 

I 

see 

everything 

through 

the 

prism 

of 

filmmaking 

, 

which 

like 

furniture 

or 

property 

development 

, 

is 

an 

industrial 

process 

that 

requires 

a 

great 

many 

skilled 

creatives 

and 

technicians 

to 

realise 

the 

overall 

product 

. 

Collaboration 

is 

a 

popular 

word 

for 

an 

industrial 

process 

that 

requires 

a 

fluid 

dialogue 

to 

exist 

for 

work 

to 

be 

done 

efficiently 

. 

Ultimately 

, 

as 

creative 

director 

the 

collaboration 

ends 

when 

I 

determine 

if 

the 

project 

is 

proceeding 

or 

not 

. 

But 

once 

Broached 

say 

yes 

, 

it 

is 

extremely 

rare 

that 

the 

collaborative 

process 

is 

halted 

– 

we 

roll 

the 

dice 

and 

see 

what 

the 

outcome 

is 

. 

1 

+ 

1 

= 

3 

( 

again 

) 

every 

thing 

exists 

in 

time 

. 

or 

the 

work 

itself 

... 

.

e Goulder family were 

making furniture in the 1920 s , selling to lea 

ding department ores of the day. e move 

to Bowral, regional NSW, probably mirror 

ed the marginalisation of the indury our ci 

ty centres over the course of the second half 

century 

of the 20th . is move seems to mirror ho 

w few Auralian furniture companies have 

managed to achieve intergenerational succ 

ess from the perspeive of being at the cu 

tting edge of trends. Goulder has talked 

about his hatred of all the decorative yles 

that poured through the Goulder worksho 

p. His university degree in furniture design 

enshrined a new direion that kept him at 

tuned to trends of the contemporary intern 

ational marketplace for design. But, that is 

exaly what the Viorian designs were of 

their 

Australian design 

examples of an international yle being p 

ushed by the British Empire, which had the 

bigge trade routes in the world. Auralian 

design is always a refleion of the changin 

g nature of globalised trade. We do not init 

iate those changes but we inherit & adopt o 

ur own way of living to them. e Broached 

Goulder colleion will, in part, be a refle 

ion upon these sometimes quite personal & 

traumatic divorces between one period of 

design & another. In the end, it is individ 

uals who create design, & in the inance of 

Goulder it was the mo talented maker of 

the family deciding to take his talents into 

a new era of globalised design. Broached 

Goulder is about leaving home & going hom 

e again, as a mid-career praitioner, through 

the work. 

time;

Broached Colonial, Dream Lantern, designed by Chen Lu. Photograph by Scottie Cameron 

Broached MONSTERS, Pankalangu Side Table designed by Trent Jansen. Photograph by Michael Corridore 

John Goulder. Settlers Chair . Image Grant Hancock - Collected National Gallery of Victoria 2016 

John Goulder. Amore Mio Chair . Image Michelle Taylor - Collected National Gallery of Australia 2009

Only 

a 

few 

people 

consider 

themselves 

independent 

design 

curators 

or 

creative 

directors 

in 

Australia 

. 

That 

means 

often 

those 

people 

getting 

jobs 

results 

in 

a 

feeling 

of 

‘ 

your 

success 

is 

my 

loss 

’ 

. 

Generally 

, 

I 

am 

more 

generous 

and 

see 

the 

success 

of 

others 

in 

my 

field 

as 

ultimately 

broadening 

the 

market 

for 

everyone 

. 

My 

most 

creative 

state 

does 

not 

manifest 

in 

a 

creative 

context 

. 

My 

creativity 

piques 

when 

I 

am 

emotionally 

neutral 

and 

intellectually 

open 

– 

curiosity 

is 

fed 

by 

calm 

research 

. 

The 

creative 

response 

is 

best 

when 

it 

has 

shrugged 

off 

any 

fear 

of 

judgment 

. 

Competiveness 

hinders 

all 

of 

that. 

Friendly competition 

or 

emotionally 

open 

and 


neutral 

. 

Only 

a 

few 

people 

consider 

themselves 

independent 

design 

curators 

or 

creative 

directors 

in 

Australia 

. 

That 

means 

often 

those 

people 

getting 

jobs 

results 

in 

a 

feeling 

of 

‘ 

your 

success 

is 

my 

loss 

’ 

. 

Generally 

, 

I 

am 

more 

generous 

and 

see 

the 

success 

of 

others 

in 

my 

field 

as 

ultimately 

broadening 

the 

market 

for 

everyone 

. 

My 

most 

creative 

state 

does 

not 

manifest 

in 

a 

creative 

context 

. 

My 

creativity 

piques 

when 

I 

am 

emotionally 

neutral 

and 


open 

– 

curiosity 

is 

fed 

by 

calm 

research 

. 

The 

creative 

response 

is 

best 

when 

it 

has 

shrugged 

off 

any 

fear 

of 

judgment 

. 

Competiveness 

hinders 

all 

of 

that. 

Friendly competition 

or 

emotionally 

open 

and 


neutral 

.

Feature

‘The job you didn’t know 

you always wanted’: the 

2016 Australian tapestry 

workshop trainee program 

Words by Emeritus Professor Kay Lawrence 

Kay is the Head of the South Australian School of Art, 

University of South Australia. 

The 1970s in Australia was a buoyant decade for the visual 

arts, craft and design. South Australia and Victoria (at the 

time led by visionary premiers Don Dunstan and Rupert 

Hamer respectively) saw cultural development, especially the 

creation of craft and design based organisations, as bringing 

a distinctive character to each state as well as offering 

training and employment in the arts. They saw their role 

as being key to the development of an economically viable 

cultural sector. In South Australia this vision was realised with 

the establishment of the South Australian Craft Authority 

(later JamFactory) in 1973. The organisation was set up to 

provide professional training for crafts people, establish sales 

outlets for high-quality craft and design, and to promote 

the development of design-led mass-production in South 

Australia. Aware that Australian artists were increasingly 

commissioning European workshops to translate their 

paintings into woven tapestry, the Victorian government 

grasped the opportunity to create an Australian-based 

workshop to interpret the work of Australian artists into 

tapestry for public commission. To this end, in 1976 they 

established the Victorian Tapestry Workshop now the 

Australian Tapestry Workshop (ATW). 

The ancient practice of tapestry weaving was little known 

in Australia in the 1970s, although post-war migration in the 

1950s and 1960s had attracted a number of skilled weavers 

from Europe to set up professional practice in New South 

Wales. But the impetus for the blossoming of woven tapestry 

in Australia came from Archie Brennan, Director of the 

Edinburgh Tapestry Company (also known as the Dovecot), 

and Belinda Ramson who worked with Brennan at the 

Dovecot in the late 1960s. Brennan and Ramson conducted 

a series of tapestry workshops in Victoria, New South Wales 

and South Australia in the mid-1970s and in 1974 Brennan was 

appointed as advisor to the committee convened to establish 

the ATW. He suggested that an evolutionary philosophy 

be taken to the development of the workshop in order to 

develop a distinctly Australian outlook to the translation of 

artworks into tapestry. He recommended working with the 

most interesting and challenging contemporary artists and 

taking a collaborative approach to both interpretation and 

weaving. By recruiting a small group of trainees with art 

school qualifications, and offering them training in tapestry 

technique and time to develop their own tapestry language 

before undertaking commissions, the workshop would be 

able to develop its own ethos and ways of working. Belinda 

Ramson was employed for four intensive weekend workshops 

to pass on her own meticulous skills to a group of 13 art 

school graduates selected from 150 applicants from across 

Australia. Five of these participants became the foundation 

weavers of the ATW: Cresside Collette, Marie Cook, Merrill 

Dumbrell, Sara Lindsay and Liz Nettleton, joined six months 

later by Cheryl Thornton and apprentice Sue Batten (nee 

Hick) recruited straight from school. 

Forty years later 76 weavers have been trained and have 

worked at the ATW, many staying for 20 years or more while 

others developed their own professional practices in the 

medium. Their accumulated expertise can be recognised in 

the distinctive approach to tapestry weaving developed at 

the workshop. ATW tapestries are noted for their superlative 

technique, mastery of colour and tone, and an approach 

to interpretation that employs the particular characteristics 

of weaving to bring out the unique qualities of the 

original artwork. 

ISSUE 05 / 45

To mark the 40th Anniversary of the ATW in 2016 and 

enable this expertise to be passed on to a new generation of 

tapestry weavers, the organisation initiated a trainee weaver 

program that incorporated key elements of the original, 

refined through reference to the Associate Training Program 

developed by JamFactory. While tapestry weaving is the 

sole focus of the ATW and JamFactory offers training in 

four disciplines – ceramics, glass, furniture and metal design 

– the organisations have many similarities. Both provide 

opportunities for advanced skills development, mentorship 

by expert and experienced practitioners, and access to 

specialised knowledge and skills through collaborative work. 

Noting the benefits of JamFactory’s two-year Associate 

program and the opportunities for peer learning enabled 

by recruiting small groups rather than single trainees, the 

ATW decided to offer a two-year traineeship program to 

three trainee weavers. Funding was generously provided by 

donors contributing to the ATW Annual Appeal through the 

Tapestry Foundation of Australia and the Pratt Foundation. 

These funds were used to support a comprehensive 

program focused on developing each trainee’s technical and 

interpretive skills as well as their personal visual and woven 

language, together with their capacity to work collaboratively 

and learn the allied professional skills necessary to work as a 

production tapestry weaver. 

As opportunities to learn tapestry weaving in Australia are 

limited, especially with the contraction of specialist textile 

courses in higher education, applicants otherwise eminently 

suited for the trainee program could not be expected to 

have tapestry weaving skills. So a two-stage recruitment 

process was devised where the first stage focused on 

recruiting ‘highly motivated, enthusiastic visual arts or design 

graduates, with a ‘can-do’ attitude who wish to make a 

career in tapestry weaving’. Shortlisted applicants were then 

offered a five-day intensive workshop in tapestry weaving 

with Joy Smith, an experienced workshop weaver with her 

own professional practice, in order to gauge their enthusiasm 

and aptitude for the process. The workshop took place in the 

ATW premises in South Melbourne so participants could see 

the studio at work, engage in discussion with the weaving 

team and get a ‘feel’ for working collaboratively in such a 

specialised environment. 

The ATW was gratified and not a little surprised at the 

number and quality of applicants for the trainee positions. 

Eighty-one applications were received from Australasia and 

12 from applicants based in Europe, America and Asia. They 

came from a wide ranges of disciplines in the visual arts and 

design, most with a particular interest in textiles. Quite a few 

had postgraduate as well as undergraduate qualifications, an 

indication perhaps of the lack of employment opportunities 

for visual arts graduates, as well as the attraction of working 

in an organisation focused on making artworks like the 

ATW. Due to the generally high quality of the applications it 

was not easy to select 13 to attend the workshop and from 

these candidates, five for the final interview, but finally three 

trainees were selected to begin their traineeships in late 2016. 

Karlie Hawking, Leith Maguire and Sophie Moorhouse Morris 

took up their trainee positions with an already impressive 

range of creative making and drawing skills, experience as 

artists and museum professionals, and a passion for working 

with communities. Each brought with them huge enthusiasm 

for the medium of tapestry and collaborative work. They 

are (at the time of publication) 11 months into their two-year 

training program which provides technical and interpretive 

tapestry skill development and the experience of working 

collaboratively, as well as learning the skills required to 

conserve tapestries and cost tapestry production. They 

also participate in the daily life of the workshop; engage 

with artists in residence, attend specialist weaving classes, 

give presentations and visit art exhibitions. To give them 

an international perspective on the running of a tapestry 

workshop and to enhance their historical knowledge, in 

late 2017 the trainees will participate in a weaver exchange 

program with the Dovecot in Scotland and join Cresside 

Collette’s tour of historical tapestries in France. 

A key aspect of their education is provided by opportunities 

to observe the weaving team engaging with artists as they 

develop the interpretation of an artwork, to see how they 

set the parameters for each commission through weaving 

samples, deciding on the warp sett and approach, and how 

they monitor the progress of each tapestry to bring out 

artist’s vision, and finish on time and within budget. While 

the basic skills of tapestry weaving can be taught within a 

week, it can take years to develop the seemingly effortless 

fluency that characterises ATW tapestries and even longer to 

become a proficient production weaver able to create work 

of the highest quality within the constraints of time 

and money. 

When asked to nominate the most rewarding part of the 

training program to date the trainees unanimously identified 

the opportunity to learn from deeply experienced weavers 

and artists and to work collaboratively, especially with one 

another. As Hawking observed, ‘to be able to chat with 

Sophie and Leith and share so many ideas… we’re better 

as a team than as individuals’. Being able to spend every 

day exploring the creative possibilities of the medium has 

fast-tracked their weaving expertise. Moorhouse Morris 

noted with some surprise that ‘it’s amazing to be weaving all 

day, every day, it’s why we’ve progressed so quickly, being 

completely immersed in the process’. When reflecting on 

their first experience of sitting at the large loom weaving the 

hem of a commissioned work, Maguire commented, ‘It’s a 

different kind of experience to sit in a line weaving together, 

talking about what we’re doing. The physical and mental 

stimulus is something I’ve never experienced in the same way 

in my own practice… here we’re all working towards the same 

goal’. It’s this passion and sense of shared purpose that has 

underpinned the longevity of the ATW and the quality of the 

tapestries produced in its 40-year history. This new group 

of trainees is well positioned to take this ethos and expertise 

into the future. 

Previous page: Trainees in the workshop. 

Top right: Australian Tapestry Workshop, Melbourne. 

Right: Weave sample by Sophie Morris. 

All photos courtesy of the Australian Tapestry Workshop. 

46 / ISSUE 05

ISSUE 05 / 47

Q&A 

ROSE-ANN AND MICHAEL RUSSELL

After 35 years of 

collaboration, 

Rose-Anne ‘Rosie’ 

Russell and husband 

Mick Russell still love 

going to work. Lara 

Merrington chats to 

this creative couple 

about their co-working 

space at JamFactory at 

Seppeltsfield and how 

they fashioned their 

perfect fit. 

Words by Lara Merrington 

Lara is Assistant Curator at JamFactory. 

LM: Rosie, from studying Custom-Made Footwear at TAFE in 2003/4 to setting up 

a shoemaker’s co-operative, you then expanded and eventually re-located to a retail 

space and workshop in the eastern suburbs of Adelaide. Tell us a bit about your 

trajectory from then to your current position at JamFactory Seppeltsfield. 

RR: I have really grown and developed my practice as a maker since study. From 

a focus on custom-made shoes, I have expanded into handbags and accessories. 

Our hills relocation really took place as part of our dream to retire to the country. 

We came across a gorgeous restored carpenters workshop from the 1880s in the 

Barossa, at Springton. We started off there running a home studio, and that’s when 

Mick and I started working together too. It was pretty understated with a small 

A-frame sign out the front, but we found there was definitely demand here. In 2013 

I was approached by JamFactory to become an Artist-In-Residence at their new 

location in Seppeltsfield, so I delightedly accepted, with Mick sharing the space too. 

LM: Mick, you were obviously inspired by Rosie to some degree, but your practice is 

perhaps more classic in style. How would you describe your part in the business? 

MR: Rosie is definitely the team leader. I’m the team schmuck! I worked in real estate 

and sales for years but when we moved up here I was semi-retired and needed a 

challenge. Everyone wanted belts from Rosie – so I came on board to help out and 

took on another full-time job really! On the side, I guess there was a bit of mucking 

around in leather before then though. I love doing up old cars, like my old FJ Holden, 

which I reupholstered. I also did a two-year motor trimming course, so there are 

some applicable skills to what we do here – like pattern-making. I have a lot of fun 

making different requests for people. For example I recently did up a 1926 Douglas 

motorbike toolbox for a client – so I guess you could say my work is a little more 

traditional than Rosie’s style which is so colourful and diverse. 

LM: Between you there is such an array of wares lining your retail space. 

From handbags, cushions, purses, earrings and shoes, is there anything you 

can’t do in leather? Tell us a bit about your materials and ideas? 

MR: We love repurposing: I find a lot of old belt buckles at vintage shops, markets 

and op-shops (as well as ideas for new belts). Buckles are works of art, and I just love 

old things too. For instance, this here [Mick shows an old leather pouch in perfect 

condition: his grandfather’s compass case from 1916], the quality, 101 years old. How 

cool is that? How many things do you see that people still use in 100 years time? 

RR: The beauty of working with leather is its diversity. I’ve incorporated weaving, 

painting, stitching, appliqué and recently even some sculpture in the small vessels I’m 

making. My practice is almost compulsive. I’m not stuck to one style – I’ll do all sorts. 

LM: Has being at Seppeltsfield changed your direction or provided you with a 

different client base? 

RR: There has been a lot more corporate gigs. The culture is rich in wine and food up 

here so I make quite a few high-end menu covers for restaurants like the ones I did 

for Fermentasian Restaurant in Tanunda. 

MR: I loved doing a recent piece with furniture designer Andrew Bartlett, for which 

we made the leather straps for a bespoke timber collectors wine case. I really enjoy 

working with other artists and learning about their materials and design process. 

LM: What does the future look like for you both? 

RR: I really get a buzz out of doing exhibition work. I know Mick would love to do 

more carving, plaiting, that kind of thing. He was recently really inspired by an ABC 

program he saw on a guy who was making hand-plaited whips for example. 

Left: Rosie and Mick’s studio. 

Photographer: Lara Merrington. 

MR: The future? Rosie could easily keep going until she’s 75. In leather, you are only 

limited by your imagination, and we haven’t even scratched the surface. I’m already 

looking forward to coming in tomorrow. 

ISSUE 05 / 49

Profile 

COURTNEY JACKSON

Contemporary Adelaidebased 

jeweller Courtney 

Jackson creates intricate 

and complex jewellery 

that reflects the dramatic 

collision between natural 

and architectural forms. 

The artist completed 

JamFactory’s Metal 

Design Studio Associate 

program in 2014 and 

continues to develop her 

craft as a studio tenant. 

Words by Caitlin Eyre 

Caitlin is Assistant Curator at JamFactory. 

Working primarily with fine sterling silver wire, Jackson utilises her practice to 

transform precious metals into graceful wearable forms that hover tantalisingly 

between the familiar and the alien. Her collection includes a delightful array of 

brooches, stickpins, earrings, pendants and rings that each embody a curious 

fusion of industrial and natural elements that Jackson describes as ‘organic 

geometry’. The pieces variously bring to mind the neatly folded lines of origami 

and paper fans, segmented petals and dissected insect wings, point quartz 

prisms and the wire framework of architectural structures. While many of her 

compositions seem to reflect the influence of such forms, Jackson is playful in 

her explorations and reluctant to define the shapes in such rigid and specific 

terms. Instead, the artist prefers to embrace the ambiguity that each piece 

embodies and the subjective interpretations that are evoked in the viewer. 

Science fiction is a prominent source of inspiration and intrigue for Jackson, 

who draws on the idea of parallel universes and alternate realities in the creation 

and conceptualisation of her otherworldly alien blooms. ‘They could have just 

sprouted in an abandoned post-apocalyptic theme park or an alien landscape,’ 

Jackson suggests. Indeed, it is not difficult to imagine the sharp-edged metallic 

structures blooming in a ravaged dystopian landscape or a strange and 

paradoxical rendering of Earth. 

In her practice, Jackson laboriously layers and repeats a series of simple selfdeveloped 

techniques to create delicate and complex wire-based jewellery 

pieces. Instead of crafting specific components for each new piece, Jackson 

works solidly to create an extensive master stockpile of components that can 

be assembled in various ways. While there is always a general concept behind 

the creation of her works, the process of compiling the pieces themselves is 

largely spontaneous for Jackson. The end result is therefore often something 

of a surprise, even to the artist herself. 

The process for creating each individual component involves coiling wires, 

soldering them together with a micro torch and cutting the pieces with a 

jewellery-saw before sanding, filing and polishing the finished pieces. Fine 

details such as Jackson’s signature chevron patterns are usually added during 

this process, the artist occasionally utilising gold plate to provide contrast to 

the sterling silver and emphasise the patterned surfaces. When experimenting 

with different configurations, Jackson arranges the components with Blu-Tack, 

examining the piece from all angles and tweaking the designs accordingly. The 

configuration is then soldered together into its finished form. The wintery, frosty 

finish that Jackson applies to many of her pieces is the result of depletion gilding, 

a process whereby sterling silver is heated and placed in a pickle solution to 

bring the fine silver to the surface. 

Left: Courtney Jackson in the studio. 

Photographer: Stephen Soeffky. 

The inspiration for Jackson’s jewellery pieces can largely be traced to her 

interest in architectural forms, the artist replicating the clean lines, sharp 

corners and fine details of structural formations, throughout her practice. 

The three television towers that overlook Jackson’s childhood home near 

Mount Dandenong in Victoria continue to be a significant source of aesthetic 

inspiration for Jackson, who is drawn to the skeletal framework of the forms. 

The artist’s affinity for crafting complex hollow structures from wire can also be 

attributed to her obsession with abandoned theme parks and other neglected 

spaces. ‘I could look at pictures of abandoned roller coasters for days,’ laughs 

Jackson. The decaying skeletons of theme park rides such as ferris wheels and 

roller coasters provide ample aesthetic inspiration for the artist, who fondly 

recalls her memories of covert visits to such sites to satisfy her curiosity. For 

Jackson, the lure of such spaces is the inevitable way in which nature envelopes 

and overtakes architectural forms, the unchecked forces of nature hungrily 

reclaiming mankind’s creations. In this way, Jackson’s jewellery pieces are much 

like the bare bones left behind by decaying plant life and architectural structures, 

their bodies picked clean and returned to nature to begin a new life. about how 

their procurement process is not offering enough creative opportunities. 

ISSUE 05 / 51

EXHIBITIONS ON TOUR 

GLASS ART DESIGN ARCHITECTURE 

Design Tasmania Centre, Launceston, TAS 

29 September - 6 November 2017 

Mornington Penisula Regional Gallery, Mornington, VIC 

13 November 2017 - 19 January 2018 

GLASS: art design architecture is supported by Visions of Australia, an 

Australian Government program supporting touring exhibitions by providing 

funding assistance for the development and touring of Australian cultural 

material across Australia. 


CATHERINE TRUMAN: NO SURFACE HOLDS 

JamFactory at Seppeltsfield, Seppeltsfield, SA 

16 December 2017 - 11 February 2018 

Riddoch Art Gallery, Mount Gambier, SA 

11 May - 13 July 2018 

Murray Bridge Regional Gallery, Murray Bridge, SA 

27 July - 9 September 2018 

Tamworth Regional Gallery, Tamworth, NSW 

22 March - 17 May 2019 

Shoalhaven Regional Gallery, Nowra, NSW 

31 May - 9 August 2019 

Cowra Regional Art Gallery, Cowra NSW 

23 August - 25 October 2019 

Latrobe Regional Gallery, Morwell, VIC 

9 November 2019 - 19 January 2020 

JamFactory Icon Catherine Truman: no surface holds has been 

assisted by the South Australian Government through Arts 

South Australia and the Australian Government through the 

Australia Council for the Arts, Contemporary Touring Initiative. 

Clockwise from left: Catherine Truman, 

Ways to see inside, Eye falls, 2016-17. Photographer: Grant Hancock 

Charles Wright Architects, Cairns Botanic Gardens Visitors Centre, 2012. 

Photographer: Patrick Gingham-Hall. 

Gerry Wedd, Strange Fruit Bowl, 2016. Photographer: Andrew Cohen. 

Tony Hobba, Third Wave Kiosk, 2012. Photographer: Rory Gardiner. 

52 / ISSUE 05

STEEL : ART DESIGN ARCHITECTURE 

Cairns Art Gallery, Cairns, QLD 

22 September – 19 November 2017 

Hervey Bay Regional Art Gallery, Piabla, QLD 

8 December – 4 February 2018 

QUT Art Museum, Brisbane, QLD 

11 March – 28 May 2018 

Bathurst Regional Art Gallery, Bathurst NSW 

8 June - 5 August 2018 

Lake Macquarie City Art Gallery, Booragu, NSW 

7 September – 21 October 2018 

Hawkesbury Regional Gallery, Windsor, NSW 

2 November 2018 - 20 January 2019 


GERRY WEDD: KITSCHEN MAN 


20 October - 26 November 2017 

Civic Centre Walkway Gallery, Bordertown, SA 

16 December 2017 - 18 February 2018 

Manly Art Gallery and Museum, Manly, NSW 

6 April - 20 May 2018 

Tamworth Regional Gallery, Tamworth, NSW 

15 June - 18 August 2018 

Cowra Regional Art Gallery, Cowra, NSW 

13 October - 18 November 2018 

Artspace Mackay, Mackay, QLD 

30 November 2018 - 17 February 2019 

Coffs Harbour Regional Gallery, Coffs Harbour 

8 March - 12 April 2019 

JamFactory Icon Gerry Wedd: Kitschen Man is supported by 

the Australian Government through the Australia Council for 

the Arts, Contemporary Touring Initiative 

Australian Design Centre, Darlinghurst, NSW 

1 February – 31 March 2019 

Wagga Wagga Art Gallery, Wagga Wagga, NSW 

13 April – 9 June 2019 

Western Plain Cultural Centre, Dubbo, NSW 

21 June – 21 July 2019 

Mornington Peninsula Regional Art Gallery, 

Mornington, VIC 

2 August – 6 October 2019 

Bunbury Regional Art Galleries, Bunbury, WA 

29 November 2019 – 1 February 2020 


6 March – 26 April 2020 

Signal Point Gallery, Goolwa, SA 

15 May – 19 July 2020 

STEEL: art design architecture is supported by Visions of 

Australia funding through Australian Government Department of 

Communications and Arts and the South Australian Government 

through Arts South Australia. 

ISSUE 05 / 53

54 / ISSUE 05

JAMFACTORY 

PRODUCT 

FURNITURE 

JamFactory’s collection of furniture and lighting is informed 

by the process of making, the beauty of materials and the 

craftsperson’s attention to detail. It is produced in Australia 

through a network of local manufacturers and highly 

skilled artisans. 

This range of products is designed by Daniel Emma, 

Adam Goodrum, Jon Goulder, Henry Wilson, Karen Cunningham, 

Rhys Cooper, and Daniel Tucker. 

All products are available through JamFactory’s online shop 

jamfactory.com.au 

Photographer: Sven Kovac.

JAMFACTORY 

PRODUCT 

HOMEWARES 

JamFactory studio production focusses on the design 

of useful, well made products. These objects highlight 

the craft methods behind their production and the 

specific characteristics of the materials used. 

JamFactory products are designed in-house by creative 

staff or through collaboration with independent designers. 

Each piece is manufactured or hand finished within one 

or more of JamFactory’s four Adelaide based studios 

in ceramics, glass, furniture, and metal design. 

This range of products is designed by Kristel Britcher, 

Daniel Emma, Liam Fleming, Jon Goulder, Christian Hall, 

Deb Jones, Tom Mirams, Damon Moon, Brian Parkes, 

Alice Potter and Daniel Tucker. 

All products are available through JamFactory’s online shop. 

jamfactory.com.au 

Photographer: Sven Kovac.

ISSUE 05 / 57

MEDICI 

COLLECTIVE 

The dynamic program enabling visionary patrons to 

collectively invest in and directly engage with the 

talented emerging artists and designers undertaking 

JamFactory’s acclaimed Associate training program. 

THANK YOU TO OUR 

MEDICI COLLECTIVE 

Medici Collective Patrons 

William Boyle 

David & Dulcie Henshall Foundation 

Medici Collective Donors 

Paul and Janelle Amos 

Noelene Buddle and David Shannon 

Jim and Helen Carreker 

John Chambers and Dawn Taylor 

Annette Coleman 

Geoff Day OAM and Anne Day 

Shane and Kate Flowers 

Denise George 

Paul and Angela Gillett 

Colin and Marie Goodall 

Patricia Roche Greville and 

Dr HughGreville 

Steve Grieve and Dr Christine Putland 

Deborah and Craig Hosking 

Philippe and Diana Jaquillard 

John Kirkwood and Wendy Alstergren 

Professor Kay Lawrence AM 

Nicholas Linke 

Paul and Fatima McHugh 

David McKee AO and Pam McKee 

David and Sue Minns 

Anne Moroney 

Elizabeth Raupach OAM and 

Mark Lloyd OAM 

Roger and Helen Salkeld 

David and Allison Smallacombe 

Peter Vaughan and Anne Barker 

Alan Young AM and Sue Young 

Association of Australian 

Decorative & Fine Arts Societies 

JPE Design 

In its first three years the Medici Collective has contributed more than $200,000 

towards supporting the Associate training program. The passionate influencers 

who make up the Medici Collective have the opportunity to see the results of their 

investment and involvement as they witness the development of individual artists and 

designers. 

We sincerely thank the 2017 Medici Collective and warmly welcome interest in the 

program for 2018. For further information please contact JamFactory’s Development 

Manager Nikki Hamdorf on (08) 8410 0727 or nikki.hamdorf@jamfactory.com.au 

Right: 2017 Medici Dinner. Photographer: Josh Geelen.

ISSUE 05 / 59

MEMBERSHIP 

Enjoy more… 

Join as a member from just $50 a year 

• A year of exclusive offers, previews, events 

and behind the scenes access 

• Opportunities to meet artists, designers and 

like-minded contemporaries 

• Delivery of Marmalade magazine and event 

programs 

• Discount at select Australia Craft & Design 

Centres nationally 

INDIVIDUAL MEMBERSHIP 

Cost: $50 Student/Senior: $25 

10% discount on purchases in JamFactory shops, galleries and online, 

including workshops and gift memberships. 

CORPORATE MEMBERSHIP 

Cost: $130 

20% discount off corporate purchases in JamFactory shops, team 

building sessions and venue hire. 

10% discount off gallery and personal purchases. 

MEMBERS’ EVENTS 

Enjoy a calendar of exclusive, tailored events and celebrate contemporary 

craft and design with curious like-minded people. Be involved with 

designers, makers and influencers associated with JamFactory. 

GIFT MEMBERSHIP 

Share the love of design with a gift membership, and support 

something good… 

SUPPORTING JAMFACTORY 

Every membership supports the promotion of good design 

and fine craftsmanship, and the professional development of 

creative entrepreneurs in Australia. 

Left: 2017 Australian Furniture Design Award showcase and official announcement. 


ISSUE 05 / 61

MAJOR 

PARTNERS 

GOVERNMENT 

PARTNERS 

JamFactory is a unique, iconic 

and important South Australian 

organisation, and ANZ is proud 

to be a sponsor again in 2017. 

With a priceless legacy dating back 

to 1851, Seppeltsfield is one of 

Australia’s finest wine estates and 

JamFactory’s exclusive wine 

partner. Their partnership with 

JamFactory brings together two 

significant South Australian icons – 

both with a commitment to 

premium quality and bespoke 

production, providing a unique hub 

for craft and design in the Barossa. 

The University of South Australia 

is a progressive international 

university, and through the School 

of Art, Architecture and Design has 

a long history of leading the way in 

arts education and contributing to 

the vitality of the creative economy. 

The University of South Australia is 

pleased to be working closely with 

JamFactory to further enhance 

opportunity and viability for 

creative entrepreneurs. 

Established in 2003, Canvas Group 

is a multi-award-winning creative 

agency based in Sydney. With over 

9,000 projects for clients around 

Australia, Europe, Asia and the 

Americas, they are proud partners 

in the JamFactory brand, website 

design and Marmalade. 

A leader in the design industry, 

Stylecraft has been providing 

furniture of original contemporary 

design for over 60 years. Now 

together with JamFactory, they are 

proudly presenting the Australian 

Furniture Design Award, Australia’s 

richest and most prestigious award 

for furniture design that encourages 

innovation in furniture design and 

will foster new opportunities for 

furniture manufacturing in Australia. 

62 / ISSUE 05

SUPPORTING 

AND PRESENTING 

PARTNERS 

CORPORATE 

COMMISSION 

CLIENTS 

Adelaide Airport 

Adelaide Central School of Art 

Adelaide Flower House 

Antipodes 

Art After Dark 

Art Gallery of South Australia 

Australian Design Centre 

Blanco Food & Wine 

Botanic Gardens Restaurant 

Canvas Group 

Design Institute of Australia 

Ernabella Arts 

Erub Arts 

Fisher Jeffries 

Fran Fest 

Girringun Aboriginal Art Centre 

Grieve Gillett Andersen 

Hermannsburg Potters 

Jaquillard Minns 

Martyn Cook Antiques 

Mayfair Hotel 

Mornington Island Art 

Mossgreen 

Pitcher Partners 

Pol Roger 

Project Two 

Sabbia Gallery 

South Australian Living Artists 

Festival (SALA) 

South Australian Tourism 

Commission (SATC) 

Seppeltsfield Wines 

Stylecraft 

TARNANTHI: Festival of 

Contemporary Aboriginal 

& Torres Strait Islander Art 

The Adelaide Review/Hot 100 

Wines 

The David Roche Foundation 

The Louise & Appellation 

Tiwi Designs 

University of South Australia 

Vale Ale 

Visualcom 

Workshopped 

Adelaide Airport 

Adelaide Cabaret Festival 

Adelaide City Council 

Adelaide Festival Centre 

Adelaide Oval 

Adelaide Wine Research institute 

Adelaide Wine Show 

ANZ 

ANZAC Centenary 

Art Gallery of New South Wales 

Articolo 

Arts South Australia 

Australia Council 

Australian Medical Assocation 

Barossa Trust Mark 

Belle Laide Events 

Bird in Hand Wines 

Botanic Gardens Restaurant 

Brand South Australia 

Callum Campbell 

Cara 

Caren Elliss Design 

Climate Council 

Coco Contemporary 

Department of State Development 

Design Institute of Australia 

Economic Development Board 

FINO Seppeltsfield 

Food South Australia 

Genesin Studio 

Hassell 

Hill of Grace Restaurant 

History Trust of South Australia 

Jacobs Creek Wines 

JPE Design 

Justin Hermes Design 

Le Cordon Bleu 

Meals on Wheels 

Media Resource Centre 

Mercato 

Monash University 

Museums & Galleries of NSW 

National Pharmacies 

NAWIC 

Penfolds Magill Estate 

Public Health Association of Australia 

RESA 

Robinson Institute 

Ross Gardam Design 

SA Health 

SA Media Awards 

SACE 

Santos Tour Down Under 

Simulation Australia 

Snøhetta 

South Australian Museum 

South Australian Tourism Commissin 

Tennis Australia 

The Adelaide Festival Centre 

University of Adelaide 


Voice Design 

Volunteers SA 

Walford Angilcan Girls School 

Warrangari Aboriginal Arts 

Wolfhorde Studios 

ISSUE 05 / 63

JamFactory is a not for profit organisation promoting good craft and design. All donations to 

JamFactory directly support our education, training and exhibition activities. JamFactory 

in turn provides support for a number of organisations through our Give Back initiative. 

Below are the donors JamFactory would like to acknowledge and sincerely thank along with 

those organisations we are proud to support: 


PATRONS 

William Boyle 

David & Dulcie Henshall Foundation 


DONORS 

Paul and Janelle Amos 

Noelene Buddle and David Shannon 


John Chambers and Dawn Taylor 

Annette Coleman 

Geoff Day OAM and Anne Day 


Denise George 

Paul and Angela Gillett 

Colin and Marie Goodall 

Patricia Roche Greville and 

Dr Hugh Greville 

Steve Grieve and Dr Christine Putland 

Deborah and Craig Hosking 


John Kirkwood and Wendy Alstergren 

Professor Kay Lawrence AM 

Nicholas Linke 

Paul and Fatima McHugh 

David McKee AO and Pam McKee 

David and Sue Minns 

Anne Moroney 

Elizabeth Raupach OAM and 

Mark Lloyd OAM 

Roger and Helen Salkeld 

David and Allison Smallacombe 

Peter Vaughan and Anne Barker 


Association of Australian 

Decorative & Fine Arts Societies 

JPE Design 

FUSE GLASS PRIZE 

DONORS 

Sandy Benjamin OAM 



Diana Laidlaw AM 

The Thomas Foundation 


DONORS 

Ganesh Balakrishnan 

Lewis Batchelar 

Susanna Bilardo and Judd Crush 

Catherine Buddle 

Alexandrea Cannon 

John and Rose Caporaso 

Kirsten Coelho 

Rhys Cooper 

John and Penny Diekman 

Caren Ellis 

Robert Farnan 

Catherine and Eugene Fleming 


Susan Frost 

Helen Fuller 

Donald and Rhonda Gilmour 

Jon Goulder 

Stephanie Grose 

Sanghamitra Guha 

Helen Hagen 

Mary Anne Healy 

Victoria Jennings 

Deb Jones 

Peta Kruger 

Margaret Lehmann 

Jane Lomax Smith 

Leslie Matthews 

Penny McAuley 

Tom Moore 

Anne Moroney 

Sylvia Nevistic 

Bruce Nuske 

Richard Ryan AO 

Patricia Stretton 

Barbara and Ray Tanner 

Caroline Treloar 

Ulrica Trulsson 

Catherine Truman 

Gerry Wedd 

Robina Weir 

Jane Yuile 

Sidney Myer Fund 

GIVE BACK 

10x10 Philanthropy 

Adelaide Symphony Orchestra 

Adelaide Victory Football Club 

Amnesty International Australia 

Australian Medical Association (SA) 

Australian Refugee Foundation 

Bellevue Philanthropy 

Campbelltown Squash Club 

Canteen 

Catherine House 

Cora Barclay Centre 

Ethiopian Maternal Health 

Flinders Foundation 

Hang it up for Poverty 

Happy Haven OSHC 

Heart Foundation 

HYPA 

JusticeNet SA 

Lifeline / Uniting Communities 

Marie Clark Musical Theatre 

National Breast Cancer Foundation 

Nature Foundation 

Nuriootpa High School 

Red Faces 2017 

Ronald McDonald House 

SA Nursing & Midwifery 

SA Olympic Council 

Starlight Children’s Foundation 

State Theatre Company of South Australia 

Sunrise Cambodia 

The Adelaide University Art History Club 

The Hospital Research Foundation 

The Law Society of South Australia 

Trees For Life 

University of Adelaide 


Unley High School 

64 / ISSUE 05

Ursula Halpin, Bachelor of Visual Arts (Honours) 

An lub ar lár (the dropped stitch) 2016, 

pâte de verre, kiln formed bullseye glass, 

40x40cm, photo by Grant Hancock. 

Recipient of the Graduate in Residence Canberra Glassworks (ACT) 

Creative Enterprise 

8098911_CRICOS PROVIDER No 00121B 

The University of South Australia’s School of Art, Architecture and Design continues to lead 

the way in contemporary art and design. 

Ranked in the World Top 100*, and supported through cutting-edge teaching facilities, our 

award-winning students and staff are some of Australia’s leading professional artists. Building 

a legacy and culture of enterprise, innovation and creativity through our teaching and research, 

we encourage our students to express themselves and excel in their creative practice. 

aad.unisa.edu.au 

*World Top 100 for Art and Design, 2017 QS Subject rankings.

JamFactory thanks 

our major sponsors. 

Proudly investing in 

Tomorrow. Talent. 

Furniture Associate Jake Rollins. Photographer: Sven Kovac

Marmalade Issue 5, 2017

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