Design Anatomy
Welcome to Design Anatomy, where we examine the world of interiors and design. With a shared passion for joyful, colour-filled, and lived-in spaces, Bree Banfield and Lauren Li are excited to share their insights and inspiration with you.
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Design Anatomy
The Milan in review series: Sculpting Light with Oliver Wilcox
The Milan in review series: Sculpting Light with Oliver Wilcox
What happens when an artist turns lighting designer? Oliver Wilcox's journey from fine arts graduate to founder of the cutting-edge Lost Profile Studio reveals the magic that occurs at the intersection of art and function.
Oliver's story begins with a fortuitous volunteer position at Christopher Boots' lighting studio that evolved into managing production for one of Australia's most innovative lighting designers. But it was during a trip to Paris when everything clicked into place. Standing before a portrait painting in the famed Paris Fleas antique market, Oliver discovered the concept of "profil perdu" – lost profile – a challenging technique where artists capture someone's likeness without showing their face. This became both his studio name and design philosophy: embedding profound meaning into minimal forms.
His latest collection, Carapace, showcases this philosophy brilliantly. Inspired by both antique candle reflectors and turtle shells, these cast metal pieces create ambient light through reflection rather than direct illumination. The collection spans from intimate incense burners to dramatic chandeliers, each piece custom-designed down to the screws. "I wanted to push myself," Oliver explains, detailing how Carapace represents multiple firsts in his design practice.
What truly distinguishes Oliver's work is the tension he creates between seemingly opposing qualities. His pieces are simultaneously brutalist yet delicate, industrial yet elegant. This distinctive approach has earned him representation across Australia, the United States, and Europe, with his third Milan Design Week exhibition cementing his place on the global design stage.
For those fascinated by the creative process or looking to break into international design markets, Oliver's insights on finding exhibition spaces in Milan, building international relationships, and staying true to artistic vision over commercial appeal offer invaluable guidance. Listen now and discover how Australian designers are making serious waves internationally.
Check out Lost Profile Studio's incredible creations at
https://www.instagram.com/lost_profile_studio
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If you're sitting at your desk about to send a fee proposal and you'd just like to run it by someone else first? Or have you ever had a client dilemma and it just doesn't feel right but no one you know understands (except for the dog)?
And do you wonder why you're not raking it in when you're practically living at your desk, busting your creative chops 'round the clock?
These are the things we're diving into with a small group of designers just like you. And so much more in THE DESIGN SOCIETY
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Well, this was a juicy chat. Welcome to Design Anatomy. Bree and I are doing a series it's the Milan interview series. So today we're talking to Oliver Wilcox, the artist turned designer and founder of Lost Profile, which is like the coolest studio name ever right, and we get into all of the things how he went from making art to designing pieces. It's that fine line between sculpture and lighting Love that. And even how he finds these perfect exhibition spaces in Milan. It's like a whole thing. And his new collection is really turning heads on a world stage. Amazing. It's inspired by antique candle reflectors and tortoise shells which, honestly, iconic behavior. We love it.
Speaker 1:We also unpacked some of those big Milan Week themes and we talked about how Aussie designers are making serious waves internationally. I hope that you love this chat with Ollie. It's a really great listen. If you can't get enough of this kind of Milan Design Week content, which I mean we're obsessed, brie and I have some really exciting things in the planning. So if you want to be able to access all of the cool things we saw in Milan, we are sharing that with you. So stay tuned. But for now, enjoy this episode with Oli Well welcome, ollie.
Speaker 3:I'm so glad you were able to join us. Ollie is from Lost Profile, so I know you have a bit of a long, I guess, description of what you do. But do you call yourself just a designer or as something more specific?
Speaker 2:I say artist and designer. Yeah, I guess what I do is design, um, but also a lot of people sort of expect that to mean industrial designer, which I didn't study for um. So yeah, I don't say yeah, say artist and designer we'll get into that background in a minute.
Speaker 3:But, um, we like to talk about how we know you at the start and you and I have a kind of a long history actually, so, when. I think it would have been when you very first started out, um, and you had that first light, what was it called? The long one with the uh, colossal people can't see what I'm doing colossal yeah, thank you yeah um, and I don't know how I even came across you, but I think you used to share a space somewhere in Collingwood or Fitzroy with someone else.
Speaker 2:Yeah, my studio was in Fitzroy and I was working for Chris Boots at the time that's right, it might have been Den Fair. It could have been Den Fair. I did Den Fair 2017 and 2018. It might have been one of those years.
Speaker 3:It was way before that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, okay, yeah.
Speaker 3:I can't remember what year, but it was before Cause I'm thinking that's well. I reckon it was more like maybe 2016, but um, anyway. I came across your work and, um, I was doing the Dulux forecast shoot and I love to feature, like new makers and local people, so, um, yeah, we used your product a couple of times, I think now in yeah in the shoots we used to do that were a little bit more um, conceptual, and yeah, that's how, that's how I know you. But yeah um, yes and Lauren.
Speaker 1:Well, you guys are just meeting right yeah, but I think um know you mentioned that you sort of see yourself as like an artist and a designer and I think I first really registered seeing your pieces at the Melbourne Art Fair.
Speaker 2:Oh, maybe Melbourne Design Fair.
Speaker 1:Oh, it was Melbourne Design Fair, so maybe three years ago.
Speaker 2:Yeah, 2023,.
Speaker 3:yeah, the one that was out kind of near Hub, like where Hub used to be. Was that out there? No, I've only done one and it was at the.
Speaker 1:It was at the at Jeff's show, at the exhibition centre yeah yeah, yeah, so, but I just maybe I think it was the art fair because it was the same location, but anyway, I get them confused too, I know, I know that was just so epic that fair, wasn't it?
Speaker 2:It was really really good. I thought it was really really good.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but I would have seen your pieces at Den Fair as well, back in the heyday of that. That was such a great event. But then seeing you and your space at Milan Design Week, which was so cool.
Speaker 2:Yeah, thank you. Thanks so much. Thanks for coming. Yeah, thank you. Thanks so much. Thanks for coming. Yeah, I loved it.
Speaker 1:It was, yeah, really exciting and just you know, being on that world stage in design and it was just yeah, it makes, as an Australian, you sort of feel a bit of pride of like seeing such a great design on that like huge, big world stage. So yes, it was very, very nice. But yeah, I'm just like really excited for this chat, to get to know you a little bit more.
Speaker 2:So yeah, for sure cool it would be cool.
Speaker 3:Actually, I was reading you know we're doing our little dig on the website and I didn't know this story and I'd love you to tell it which is the story of how you named your studio.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, absolutely so, in the sort of mid-teen sort of. Well, it was in 2014 that I was travelling with my now husband, simon, and I was thinking a lot about my sort of direction as a creative. I'd been working for Christopher Boots for a couple of years and I was really getting into lighting, but my background is an artist and a sculpture, um, but I also collect, like antiques and objects and and vintage design, and so, yeah, I was sort of thinking about my direction at that time and simon and I um went to europe, um, just on a holiday, and we're in the Paris Fleas, which is the most amazing antique market in the world. I think you can just spend days there. It's really, really inspiring and incredible. And we came across a painting that we both fell in love with, and it was sort of a portrait of a woman, but her head was turned so that you could only really see sort of a sliver of her face.
Speaker 2:It was kind of the back of her head, like the kind of cheekbone, yeah, exactly, and so we were talking to the sort of shop owner about it and he told us that the style was called the profil perdu, which means lost profile in English, and he told us that it was like a training technique for young painters.
Speaker 2:It was almost like a challenge for them, because when you're painting somebody's portrait but you're sort of losing all of their facial features, which sort of make it easy to make a portrait of someone when you know what their eyes look like and their mouth but, you lose all of that information and you have to distill what they look like into their lost profile, and so to get that right's even harder to to get a portrait right when you've got all the the facial features to work with, and um, I just thought that was really really beautiful and and poetic and um yeah, and immediately it was like a light bulb moment.
Speaker 2:I was like lost profile. I'm going to start a studio called lost profile and you know that's going to be my umbrella and under that I can be an artist and I can be a designer and I can be a collector and sort of combine all my passions under this sort of yeah, the banner of Lost Profile.
Speaker 1:Love that story so much, that's so good and like, in a way, I like how you said. Yeah, with capturing you know somebody's portrait. Traditionally it's you know the eyes and the mouth. It's really defining feature. But not having that, it's almost like you have to capture the essence of a person without those, giveaways so it's kind of a really beautiful like meaning in relation to your work as well.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Yeah, it's sort of about like embedding meaning into something that's very, very minimal, and I think that sort of about like embedding meaning into something that's very, very minimal, and I think that sort of carries through to what we do here.
Speaker 3:And you mentioned that. So did you study fine art? Is that what you?
Speaker 2:studied, yeah, visual arts up in Lismore, northern New South Wales.
Speaker 3:Okay, yeah, and then when did you come to Melbourne?
Speaker 2:2011, I moved to Melbourne.
Speaker 3:You didn't follow a boy or something, did you? No, no, soft on the story.
Speaker 2:Um, I mean, it might've been to do with the lack of boys in Lismore, new South Wales, but, um, I grew up in Sydney and and I moved to Lismore to study. So I had been there for five years, um, and I loved it up there. It's such a stunning part of the world and I thought that I would stay in that area. I got a really good job, a creative job, while I was in uni and that sort of kept me there for two years after I finished uni. But I went to New York for the first time when I was living up there and was just really insanely inspired by that city and kind of got back to Lismore and thought, actually, I think I need to be in a big city again.
Speaker 3:Oh, that's so interesting.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So I didn't want to move back to Sydney, I didn't want to move to Brisbane. I had spent a lot of time in Brisbane over those five years and I don't like the heat, so and I just figured Melbourne's like the, you know, the New York of Australia.
Speaker 3:Oh, I like that. I think Melbourne is also the Milan of Australia.
Speaker 2:Yeah, true, true.
Speaker 1:So, Ollie, I'm really curious to know with your art practice, how did you move into design? Yeah, I'd love to know how you moved into design. I've got lots of questions though.
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, my first segue was that job that I just mentioned when I was up in Northern New South Wales. So I got hired by a mosaicist, a guy called Scott Carrow. Oh, wow.
Speaker 2:And so he was. You know, he'd been working mosaics for many years I think about 20 years when I met him and so he was doing a lot of large scale commission works for Catholic schools, Catholic churches, public artworks, some private commissions, and so that was sort of my segue into a bit of a design job, in that, you know, everything that he was doing was sort of responding to a client's brief and that you know everything that he was doing was sort of responding to a client's brief and it was yeah, it was very much my first glimpse at like a small creative business.
Speaker 2:So there was that. And then, when I moved to Melbourne in 2011, I really wanted to get back into a creative job, but I didn't know anybody when I moved here. I mean, I knew a couple of people, but it was definitely not compared to everyone I know now, and so I worked in hospitality for about a year and I just kept near to the ground and tried to network and eventually got introduced to Christopher Boots, which I think was early 2012. And Chris's business was just really starting to take off. He'd been going for a year, a year and a half, but he was definitely getting some really like international attention and some big projects like pretty much from the get-go. So I've offered to volunteer for Chris for a few months and I just did like a day or two a week here and there, but I loved it.
Speaker 2:I loved it so much more than my cafe job and um, I just really expect yeah, yeah, I just, um, you know, let let Chris and and his then production manager know that I I really wanted to work for them and um, and, and they hired me and so, and so that was my next big exposure to like a design and you know, design business. Within six months, chris's then production manager, um, didn't want to do that role anymore and so I ended up taking over the production manager role.
Speaker 2:Oh cool, pretty crazy, how sort of quickly all that happened, but I'd really like thrown myself into it and was just soaking it all up and, and so I managed his production team for I think, about five years, between 2012 and 2017. And then I moved into a bit more of a research and development role for Chris between 2017 and 2019. So, yeah, fantastic experience really.
Speaker 1:That volunteer stint really paid off? Yeah, totally Wow. I sort of jumped on board at the right time, yeah and um, yeah, I do remember seeing christopher boots lights for the first time and they were so exciting, I mean they still are exciting yeah um, and they're not really a traditional lighting design company.
Speaker 3:Like it's very um art led, I would say yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, really good fit for your combination of skills, I guess yeah, I think so.
Speaker 2:I mean, I what attracted me to to chris's work? When I first saw it, I was like I couldn't believe that I was looking at these. I I sort of saw them as sculptures that lit up, um. So I was sort of attracted to it as art and you know, they've all got their own language, their own processes. I was completely fascinated by it and I still think his work is amazing.
Speaker 1:Can you just describe one of their pieces for those that are listening that aren't familiar?
Speaker 2:One of Boots' pieces.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So Boots works with a lot of brass in terms of materials I think that's sort of the base metal that he works with and he also integrates a lot of quartz, natural materials stone, alabaster, blown glass, all really sort of luxurious materials but I think Chris is very inspired by sort of natural minerals and that comes through. Even if he's designing a light that doesn't have the quartz built into it, it's still referencing the sort of, you know, microscopic shapes that the crystals can form.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, that's a very good description and I guess he's so well known for those quartz pieces, but there's so much more that he's done. That's, yeah, beautiful, yeah, so when did you know you wanted to go out on your own and do your own thing?
Speaker 2:I sort of so. After that, you know that point of conceiving the lost profile idea, which was 2014. So it's like 12 years ago I guess. It was on my mind for a long time and I was lighting had kind of taken over my creative practice, like I was still making paintings and sculptures, but I was also making lights or light sculptures, and it was sort of a few years of my practice evolving towards lighting and then sort of coming up towards 2017.
Speaker 2:I guess the lights that I was making was quite that. They were looking more like products essentially and you know, still sculptural, but not like one-off light sculptures. So yeah, it's hard to say if there was a point that I decided to do that, but there was a point that I decided to step down as production manager, which really allowed me the time to um, to to work on lost profile, and that was sort of in around 2017. I decided to sit down as his production manager and I booked a space at den fair. I was like, right, that's, that's. The goal is to have a handful of products to to launch at den fair and um and see how it goes did you used to loan out your um vintage stuff as well?
Speaker 3:yeah, back then I think that's how I might have come across your actual work, because I was probably looking for those pieces, yeah, and had that little showroom and yeah, that's what I think it was.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think you borrowed some as well.
Speaker 1:Ollie with that first collection. Can you describe what that looked like?
Speaker 2:Yeah. So I launched with three products. One of them was the Colossal which Bree mentioned earlier. So it's a brass cage made, made up of lots of fins that are all kind of bolted together and there's like an illuminated tube, um, in the middle of it. I'd say it's.
Speaker 2:It's quite brutalist and a little bit sort of art deco inspired as well yeah I had also launched a product called surgeon, which is inspired by surgery lamps, essentially like vintage surgery lamps, but I wanted to do it all out of brass and really, you know, the surgery lamps are quite thick because they've got big light bulbs in them, but because I was designing LED into everything, I'd sort of reduce the overall depth to like 80 millimeters. So it's more about this big sort of disc with these glowing sort of half spheres of glass, and so, yeah, that one with these glowing sort of half spheres of glass and so yeah, that one. And I also launched Surveillance, which has been a real sort of steadfast of the collection since back then, which is just like a very simple rod with a tube on the end, a brass tube, and it's a directional spotlight, sort of inspired by a security camera profile in a way.
Speaker 1:And all of those pieces? Are they still in your production?
Speaker 2:Yeah, they are yeah.
Speaker 1:Wow, that's amazing. Yeah, I'm just having a look on your Instagram now and, yeah, they're so stunning.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And yeah, you mentioned, you know Art Deco is sort of an influence, but I hate to use the word timeless because I don't know if I have an issue with it. But I feel they, there is a timeless quality yeah, it's hard to pin a date on your pieces yeah yeah, it's so overused that term.
Speaker 1:What about um I wanted to talk to you about, because um brie and I, we were talking to some artists over the weekend. They exhibited jeffrey karen and rowena martinich. They exhibited their pieces in a hotel lobby, so it's artists coming into the world of design, which is kind of similar to you and I'm really curious to know, like for you, how do you define design versus art? Like, how do you, how do you kind of what's, what's the definition?
Speaker 3:It's almost like you were saying that with that point, when you realized that your lights had stopped being sculptures and actually being lights like where do you? Where's that line?
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's's. It's a really tricky one people have. I know people have tried to coin terms for that sort of, you know, that product, that's an art piece over the years.
Speaker 2:I don't know, I think maybe when it, when it becomes repeatable in a way, is is yeah that's a good one actually yeah, maybe when it's designed in a way that it can be produced multiple times, even if it's just 20 times, you know, like a limited run, I would say maybe that's where the line is, whereas if it's just a one-off, and you know, it might still light up. But it's an art piece.
Speaker 3:I would sort of add to that maybe, if it's a design as opposed to say a sculpture or an art piece, it has to have a function other than just aesthetic.
Speaker 2:Do you think?
Speaker 3:that's also part of it. Yeah, like obviously yours is lighting, but if we're sort of just talking about any kind of sculpture or art, it has also kind of some other function to it, in an interior kind of sense.
Speaker 1:Well, you know with, oh sorry.
Speaker 2:Oh no, I was just going just gonna say, and I really appreciate, like in in this sphere of sort of art and design, I I really appreciate when some artists or designers take it in this sort of extremely art direction but then have this little element of design and I think that's like a really interesting combination, like um nacho carbonell's work I don't know if you know him, but he'll do this massive chair with these sort of blooming, um, almost like chicken wire cages which are all plastered and it's like 90 art piece but then, like a section of it, will have somewhere you can sit and then maybe like somewhere you can put your drink yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:Well, when we were talking with um, yeah, rowena, because she, she, she's a's a painter, so we talked about that element of repetition for her. You know, putting her pieces printed onto a carpet, it becomes a pattern that's repeated. But then, on the flip side of that, it's like, well, a fine art photographer, their pieces are repeated. But that's art, that's not design. So it's really hard to define, I feel.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 3:I don't know I'll have to think on that a little. Yeah, I guess shifting the conversation to Milan, because that's what we'd love to have a discussion about in terms of your involvement, had you been before to Milan.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it was my third time exhibiting.
Speaker 1:Okay, oh, my God, cool yeah.
Speaker 2:So my first two times I exhibited with Chris Boots, so the first time was 2019. And then again post COVID 2022. And then, this time, by myself. Yeah, my third time over there.
Speaker 3:Chris had a space for a little while, didn't he over there?
Speaker 2:No, I don't think so.
Speaker 3:Only during the show.
Speaker 2:Yeah, he did exhibit last year, but not this year.
Speaker 3:Was it quite a big leap to decide to do it on your own? I guess if you'd already had a little bit of the experience of being involved in it, maybe it's not quite as scary, because I imagine it's a big investment right. It's a big investment Like in time and everything.
Speaker 2:Yeah, in some ways yes and in some ways no, I felt like, having done it twice before, I knew what to do and you know I was heavily involved in organizing the first, the first two. I kind of it kind of excites me the idea of, you know, doing something repeatedly and getting better at it and figuring out what went wrong the last time and not to say that things didn't go wrong this time. But yeah, it's. I mean, it's more expensive doing it by yourself. And you know it's been great in the past to have the support of Chris's team, because, you know, chris has got a small team, I've got a small team. There's heaps of us Like we'll sort it out, you know, whereas this time it's like okay, I'm running this. You know I can only have some of my people come because my team's only like eight people.
Speaker 1:You've got to keep it too, right, yeah, yeah, so it's sort of a higher level of responsibility, but it all turned out really well, and how has the feedback been? I think really good.
Speaker 2:Yeah, for sure, I think the feedback on the ground over there was really good. I recognize that it's not a super commercial looking product that I put out there and that's not what I was aiming for really. I think it's more valuable to put something out there that's weird and exciting and maybe not make as many sales and is to do something that's commercial and not that exciting. Well, especially there too, I think it's a place to do it.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I think you want attention and then the other stuff kind of follows. So I think it's better to do something that really stands out and is talked about and liked or not liked. Just stands out, talked about and then you know the attention comes and they'll find the other things that maybe are more commercial. Not everything has to have that purpose, right.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:I was going to say the space that you had was in a great area. It was quite small, but you made the absolute most of it. Yeah, thank you how do you even go about finding a space when it comes to that, like, where do you start?
Speaker 2:There's a few ways you can go about it In the Brera. There's a website called Brera Location and it's really good it's basically like Airbnb for shopfronts. Who want?
Speaker 3:to lease their space.
Speaker 2:So you can go online see the profile of the space square meter, age, where is it, how much is it, etc. Etc. Um, so that's a really good, good resource and I have been emailing with them for a few years about, you know, potentially bookings, something through them, but I think this was the first time I'd booked through them and there are. There are a few groups like that. Um, there's another one called the, the 5v or the chinko v, which is a little bit different in that you contact them and say this is my budget, this is how much space I want, this is the area I want to be in, and they sort of do some hunting for you. They come back to you with with some proposals and I heard on the great vine when I was over there this year that there was a tour. I don't't know if you've heard about this, but somebody out there I can pull up the details later, but someone out there is doing tours of spaces during Design Week.
Speaker 3:Just like curious spaces. I will get those details from you.
Speaker 2:I'll have to contact the person that told me about it. But yeah, you can jump on a bus and someone takes, so this is for future planning right.
Speaker 3:So if you're thinking about doing, it in two years.
Speaker 2:You could go this year, jump on the bus and they tour you around to all the spaces that are available for the next year.
Speaker 3:Wow, that's a great idea isn't?
Speaker 2:it.
Speaker 3:I suppose of course there are people doing that because there's just so much opportunity, there are so many people needing spaces and I was just saying this before, but a friend of mine who isn't living in Milan anymore but was. She was saying it's getting harder and harder to find particularly bigger spaces because there's so much more development happening in Milan now.
Speaker 3:So, those empty kind of abandoned spaces are being developed and that's why one of the biggest reasons Alcova kind of moved out of the city was they just don't have the space, so it will get harder and harder, I assume.
Speaker 2:Yeah, the other way to find space is to. I mean, the way that I found the space that Chris and I first exhibited in back in 2019 is. My partner, simon, and I went over there the year before I think it was 2016 and we just walked around and and looked in shops and found one that we loved, talked to the owner and he was like yep, sure, let's, let's do it all right so that was.
Speaker 2:That was a really amazing experience and, like we've said, friends with him, he was like the most wonderful host. So, yeah, that that was a good way to do it.
Speaker 1:But yeah, if, if you can't get over there to do hunting and sourcing, there are resources online I was just wondering, like you know, talking about exhibiting, did you have any outcomes in mind that you wanted to get out of it?
Speaker 2:not this time. No, I remember the first time I exhibited over there I had zero expectations and and it was a really successful show and I like sold a lot of the pieces that I took over there which I wasn't expecting at all, and I got reps off the back of that. And then the second time I showed over there, I was wanting more representatives, and so that was a bit of a goal and it worked out. I think I got three representatives, not directly off the back of it, but I sort of you know, I made sure that this showroom that I wanted to work with knew that I was doing it, and then that came through and we ended up setting something up.
Speaker 1:So when you say representatives, do you mean like stockists around the world?
Speaker 2:Yeah, cool, so where?
Speaker 1:can people buy your pieces?
Speaker 2:We've got six or seven reps that we work with in the States. Wow, we've got two in New Zealand, four in Australia, one in Milan, one in London. I think that's it.
Speaker 3:That's amazing. How much of your work would be. From those reps has it become quite a considerable amount, that's international work.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's really cool. The States is probably equal to our Australian market.
Speaker 3:Oh, wow, okay, I mean it's bigger, I guess, right.
Speaker 2:It's a really big market and I don't think we've even scratched the surface really. But yeah, I would say like sort of 40% of our works in Australia, 40% is in the USA and then maybe 20% is just everywhere else at the moment.
Speaker 1:What I was wondering as well do you think that kind of representation would that have come about if you don't exhibit at Milan? It would be pretty difficult, right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's hard to say. I mean, some of the reps discovered us at Milan and so those ones we know doing Milan was the reason for making that connection. Other ones, like I said, I had contacted them before we did the exhibition and they either came to the show or they just saw that we did it and they thought, okay, this is like a cool brand.
Speaker 3:Legit man yeah.
Speaker 1:So I think it would have contributed to some of those relationships.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'd say nearly all of the reps are somehow connected to us having this. We've now got this history of exhibiting over there.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and what do you think it is about Milan that draws the Aussies to exhibit over there and to visit?
Speaker 2:probably a number of things. I mean, for me it's like this sort of electric feeling in the city, like it's it's really exciting. Everybody's excited to be there. Um, everybody's excited about different exhibitions that are on. I think there's just like a little bit of magic to it. That's a bit addictive, like once you've done it once.
Speaker 1:You're like I kind of want that I'm gonna do it again. What do you reckon?
Speaker 3:brie, is that right?
Speaker 2:or you might be onto something I'm very addicted yeah, Even though there was sort of I feel like there were a lot of complaints about this year, it's still a really magical place to be.
Speaker 1:What were the?
Speaker 3:complaints. It's funny, isn't it? You're probably talking about the crowds and stuff is that, yeah, yeah People.
Speaker 2:I heard it was the busiest year ever and lots of people were saying it was too busy. The queues, the data harvesting the big brands sort of taking over with their major exhibitions and kind of drowning out a lot of the small brands.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's interesting, isn't it? Data harvesting? I've not heard that.
Speaker 3:That sounds just scary, doesn't it? Like we're part of the Matrix or something.
Speaker 2:Well see, you can't enter an exhibition, for the most part, without handing over your name and your email address.
Speaker 3:Yeah, the old QR code.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:That's typical. It has mostly been like that. I think it's just become so much more digital and I think it can be a bit frustrating because if you I feel like at the start, you know when you're getting all of the invitations and you register for everything, and then you turn up and go I'm pretty sure I registered for this and then you've got to try and find, like this yeah there really should be a much more streamlined way to go about it.
Speaker 3:However, I don't know whether the Italians are going to pull that off, but, um, I don't know. It's funny, isn't it, because I you know, I think both Lauren and I've heard similar things, and it was incredibly busy. I found it um. I wondered if it was busier than last year, because I thought last year was actually worse in some ways, for me, but maybe because I maybe we pulled back a little bit on expectations of how much we could get done.
Speaker 3:I always put too much on myself of trying to get a lot in, but I think there's still plenty of small brands and makers standing out because we look for those and the people that want to find those people will, and I think there's. I think why it's grown is there's people going for those bigger experiences, just because they're kind of social media worthy. So you've got a kind of slightly different crowd who can now attach themselves to the week.
Speaker 3:That are maybe not the design lovers that we are looking for, the newness and the small brands and the makers and you know like really combing through alcova for that genuinely amazing piece or whatever it is so I think it's still, I think the opportunities are still there and like any, totally like any show or event, it's going to reach some kind of peak moment, and maybe that's now for milan, and I think it'll. It'll probably peter off and then it'll peak again at some other point, but it has evolved. Um, did you go out to the fair?
Speaker 2:I didn't go. No, I really wanted to. This year I've actually never been to the fair. Oh wow, you've been too busy. That's why I know when you're exhibiting it'll be hard, I imagine it is hard and because I have a lot of people that I know are coming to the exhibition, but I don't exactly know which day or what time.
Speaker 3:I feel really guilty whenever.
Speaker 2:I leave the exhibition because it's like a key client or like a you know key rep.
Speaker 1:Did you take a toilet break at all or no? Oh yeah, I mean we had a team.
Speaker 2:So, no, I did really want to go this year because I really wanted to see Recumba and Articulo out there. I think what it looks like what they did was really incredible.
Speaker 3:Well, they had a great presence right and not being out there I mean it was, but obviously everyone would understand that I think when you're exhibiting for yourself. It's a lot of work and you, exactly like you said, you sort of want to be around to meet those key people. Yeah, yeah, I imagine did you get out much at all? Like what did you?
Speaker 2:say I did a few little, just sort of like one hour popping out around the to see things, but I did take one full day and just tried to squeeze in as much as possible when it's on nilifar depot, which I really liked, like I just loved it.
Speaker 3:Amazing out there.
Speaker 2:And like 10, corsicomo is really good.
Speaker 1:We had dinner there once.
Speaker 2:Oh, yeah, yeah, yes, we did once as well. The bank account barely survived.
Speaker 3:I know right, Maybe you have to. You have to do it at least once.
Speaker 2:Yes, it's really good. Great vibe, great food. So yeah, a couple of things, and Rosanna Orlandi was really good as well. Essential essential Just all of those like key things where you know, I know I can see like 100 different designers in one space so it makes it worth it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, what did you think about this year compared to other years?
Speaker 2:In terms of like the work.
Speaker 1:Well, yeah, the work, the vibe.
Speaker 2:Look two other years in terms of, like the work, well, yeah, the work, the vibe, um, look, I think there was some really interesting things going on this year. I think what, uh, former phantasma did with the casino, that sort of performance looked amazing. I didn't see it but, um, I think for me you know, I've done a lot of digging and sort of watching to see what, what was good, that I didn't see and and that really stood out for me. And I think the demore studio exhibition looked really interesting. Uh, 6 am glass doing that exhibition in the old change rooms of like the public pool.
Speaker 3:Oh my, god, I don't think I saw that one.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, it's like that sounds fun yeah, like a lighting exhibition in like a dank old change room, but they're called 6am glass thanks for the tip and what else, like atelier de troupe. Uh, looked like they had a really good exhibition. I did see the bocce 20 year sort of in their apartment.
Speaker 3:That was that in their apartment, though it was in.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think they have a permanent space um, so I was able. So I was able, that's sort of near Rosanna Orlandi, so I was sort of able to tie that in. That was stunning, like the work the fit out. It's just absolutely flawless. So yeah, I think there was some really good work there this year.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we loved it.
Speaker 2:What were your favourite things?
Speaker 3:I love an apartment that's been done well. So Muto was amazing just color-wise. I mean, they always do a beautiful job, but it had a beautiful story behind it. I loved the color combinations. Casa Onala, which is another apartment that was a bit more sort of maximalist with pattern and again kind of great use of color. But I kind of love being in those sort of Milanese spaces that we don't really have that as much here, so it feels more of an experience yeah I mean, rosanna orland is kind of a no-brainer.
Speaker 3:That's always amazing every year, yeah, um, and nilifar depot is always a favorite too and I liked it. I feel like they really, with the installation this year, which who I've forgotten who did that on the ground floor and that whole, and then they kind of brought a ceiling in over it. So normally that's like just like you know, massive, what would you say like quadruple height sort of area, and it just changed the whole space and I like seeing how that dynamic can change completely when you bring something into, into um, make it a little bit more intimate, um, just to name a few yeah, yeah, so much, so much to say, I think though, um, because I've only been once before, and that was 2017, and I feel like then I stumbled across more smaller brands than this time.
Speaker 1:I don't know. I think it's sometimes it's just luck of the draw what you can fit in and what you? You know it's a limited time but. I loved the um tahini new sofa called butter by faye too good, and I got to meet her. Oh we did.
Speaker 3:We're pretty close right now. We accosted her for a photo.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, she's great, we did the fan girl.
Speaker 3:She's lovely though.
Speaker 1:Stumbling across somebody like that was just such a cool highlight.
Speaker 3:Oh, and also you also just ran into who at Casa Brera.
Speaker 1:Yeah, oh, I ran into Patricia Urchiola at lunch we're pretty close as well. I've met her once she's got all these besties over there yeah, um I also got to meet um bridget romanek, so she's a us designer. She's designed for gwyneth paltrow all of these like celebrities and stuff and she was beautiful and I just loved her yeah that was at uh artemis artemis yeah that's where simone haig had her, her entry for you that she he's not designed, and that was I mean.
Speaker 1:We know, simone, we're not. I'm not just being biased. He, it was stunning, it was amazing, it was really real I mean I loved her space. It was so great. But I mean, I mean, sometimes it is the people that you meet that stand out, but you know, as well as the design, like yeah, to see those new sofas be released. Also, ross Gardnams loved his lighting.
Speaker 2:It's incredible, yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so incredible the space, the product. The space was great as well.
Speaker 2:He did such a good job this year.
Speaker 3:It was cool, wasn't it? He's kind of flawless isn't he, he's just like, down to the detail.
Speaker 2:Yeah, totally.
Speaker 1:So, tell us what were the pieces that you exhibited?
Speaker 2:Were they new releases or yeah, so it was a whole new collection called Carapace, which is when the word carapace sort of describes a shell or like a container, and it was inspired, sort of a dual inspiration, of antique candle reflectors and a turtle's shell. So because I'm an avid collector and I'm always in antique stores and and over the years I've seen a lot of candle reflectors and I've always thought like I want to do a candle reflector and I also collect natural history, so I have like a cupboard full of skulls and like I've got a stuffed sea turtle. So yeah, it's like that.
Speaker 1:Yeah okay, I have to ask what are those heads on the background of your wall there? What are those?
Speaker 2:yeah, so they're not. They're not actual animals, they're. They're called taxidermy forms. So these are the forms that a a hunter or a taxidermist would get the animal and take the skin off it and then stretch the skin onto the form.
Speaker 1:Oh, my God. They're so scary, I have to say so to me.
Speaker 3:I'll just describe them for people listening To me like and my eyesight's not that great and it's small, on my screen they kind of look like dinosaur heads, yeah, with long necks yeah, well, they're deers, but um they don't, because they don't have ears or there's no ear.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah but I am the I. So they used to make them out of paper mache, like up until the 70s, and so these are paper mache and they collect the old ones.
Speaker 1:They sort of started making them. Is there? Is it a thing?
Speaker 2:um no, it's pretty niche I found. I didn't really know they existed. I found the first one when I was at an antique market with boots in new york many years ago and that kind of sparked my love for them, and so since then, every time I go to the states, I'll go to antique markets. I found some there and otherwise I get them online.
Speaker 1:They mostly come from usa I can imagine you at customs trying to explain like what the hell is this thing?
Speaker 2:I've had many moments.
Speaker 1:It's so funny. Oh, I love that. So, this whole thing about going to antiques stores and stuff? Was that something that you were dragged around as a kid, because that was my experience, or how did that happen?
Speaker 2:Yeah, it kind of started when I moved to Melbourne, Like I've always been collecting things. But then when I moved to Melbourne I don't know, my partner now husband he was really like he could see that I was enjoying going to antique stores or like op shops and stuff and he kind of encouraged me to do it and to sort of treat it seriously. And that's everything you you know in terms of the kinds of stores. That's like everything from a rundown antique warehouse like in out in the country to like really sort of high-end, contemporary, contemporary style antique stores in like new york and la. Yeah, just find them really inspiring places, even if I don't buy stuff. There's so many shapes and finishes and colors and textures to sort of draw inspiration from just just one more thing about that.
Speaker 1:Can you share your secret favorite haunt? Do you have a place like in melbourne that you love to go to?
Speaker 2:yeah, yeah, probably glenn waverley antique bazaar yeah, that's my favorite, yeah see you there it's good, it's so big and I'm a bit like you.
Speaker 3:I could just wander around and maybe you don't find anything that day, but I enjoy every minute of it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, just yeah, but it's almost like you could go back the next day and find 10 things. You know.
Speaker 3:It's just yeah, I don't feel like I turn over it that quickly, not the turnover, but what you see?
Speaker 2:Oh, what you see, yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah yeah, because it's so layered.
Speaker 2:It's true, sometimes I'll do an aisle twice and you see different things the next time.
Speaker 1:Absolutely.
Speaker 3:I definitely do that yeah.
Speaker 1:So sorry for that tangent, but you were talking about your new collection.
Speaker 2:Yes, yeah, so I wanted to design a candle reflector. So it sort of started as a candle reflector, the product I wanted to get into casting. I've sort of dabbled in casting metal a couple of times. I used to do it a little bit with the boots, but I've never like really integrated casting metal into a product. So I designed this shape and got it cast in both aluminium and bronze, so we're sort of offering it in two different metals. And then I kind of elaborated it into like a big chandelier and there's a wall sconce and there's a floor lamp as well, and so it's this really sort of well-rounded collection. It kind of covers homewares as well, because the smallest one is like an incense burner. It's only like as big as your hand, oh. So cool.
Speaker 2:And then there's sort of some larger candle reflectors and then, yeah, it just goes.
Speaker 1:So can you describe the shape a little bit?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so it's. I mean sort of imagine a turtle shell like a sea turtle, but kind of faceted, and it's got a cutout at the top and the bottom which is in some ways decorative but also it's functional, particularly for the candle reflector. And this is sort of something that I pulled out of like antique candle reflectors. They say often if it's this like a semi-circular shape, like a convex shape and there's a candle in there, there needs to be a cutout at the top to let the heat and the smoke out the top so you're not sort of setting fire to the object. And so it's kind of like the functionality of that influences the way it looks.
Speaker 2:And then when that evolved into like the pendant and the wall sconce, I kind of replaced the candle with a metal tube and we designed the system where we can sort of embed the LEDs into the metal tube so that the LED light source is hidden and then the reflector kind of clamps onto the tube and then all you see is reflected light, essentially so beautiful, which is a first for me. There are a number of things with this collection that I wanted to do for the first time, like it was my first reflected light product, first time casting metal. First time designing every single component of the product. First time, like it was my first reflected light product, first time casting metal, first time designing every single component of the product so a lot of my other products have a mix of off the shelf and custom component components, whereas this one is just completely custom.
Speaker 2:Every, every swivel, we have custom screws made. So yeah, it's sort of satisfied a lot of my sort of needs to to push myself.
Speaker 3:And how long does it take to develop something like that, like if you're doing it from literally, from scratch, every piece, like how long have you been working on it?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I had conceived it before I booked. I'd probably done sketches and things before I booked the space in Milan. I booked the space a year before the exhibition, but it was after I booked the space that I was like right, we've got a deadline. There's a lot of new ideas in this.
Speaker 1:I don't know if it's going to work.
Speaker 2:We've got to get working on it. So we sort of, yeah, we prototyped it for a long time. So, yeah, I guess that's how I was working on it for a year. Yeah.
Speaker 1:I love any light that you don't directly see that light source, you know it's yeah. And I think that's yeah, it's directed back onto that reflector and it is so stunning. I like the wall piece with the bigger one on the wall and then above it a slightly smaller one. And that motif of repetition. That's something that you seem to use quite a bit in your work, would you say.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely yeah.
Speaker 1:And then you've got the candle reflectors, which are the most charming. Yeah, just cool objects. So can people buy them directly from your website or only through stockists?
Speaker 2:Yeah, at the moment, just via email to us.
Speaker 1:Okay, cool, that's a nice one for under the Christmas tree.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, start saving now I know it's really beautiful. They're so gorgeous, I love how you sort of manage to, because I think you do have obviously a bit of a brutalist influence in a lot of what you do, and that's. I kind of love these because they're sort of that. But then they're so delicate as well, and almost for me, like you know, the pendants almost look like flowers or seed pods or something like that and then there's like just that elegance to them.
Speaker 3:So I love that kind of um mix of sort of brutalist, slash industrial, but also like I guess it's quite deco issues and that like that shape too. Yeah, it's just such a beautiful mix that, um, you know it's not overly decorative, so it kind of just has that edge to it that I too yeah. Yeah, it's just such a beautiful mix that, um, you know it's not overly decorative, so it kind of just has that edge to it that I love yeah, it has an edge.
Speaker 2:I'm so glad that that. You see that. That definitely excites me, that, that idea of something being sort of hard and heavy and strong but also being delicate at the same time and pretty elegant there's this sort of tension between the two that I find really exciting.
Speaker 1:So I'm glad you see that amazing well, thank goodness that a euro leach is every second year yeah yeah no way, no way, I'm doing next year I know it's a lot right it takes
Speaker 3:a lot of energy and you know it's not just the time and the money, it's just the energy and the thought behind it that you have that focus when you're also running a business. You're a small business, right, so yeah, it's a lot to sort of focus on, but what a great outcome. I think the range is absolutely stunning and yeah, and I hopefully got some good actual outcomes out of Milan as well.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:I guess to sort of wrap up a little bit. I mean, lauren's probably got a million more questions.
Speaker 2:I'm just looking at the time, that's okay, was there?
Speaker 3:I mean, you did mention, obviously, some things that you did go and see that you loved. I guess was there something in particular that was sort of your favourite moment for Milanan, yeah I um think those, those mirano chandeliers at nilify depot.
Speaker 2:I think they were by um christian pelissari. I thought they were really, really beautiful, even though I think they'd been damaged in transit and some of the sections weren't working.
Speaker 2:Like the product was so beautiful that I was just like it actually eclipses the fact that, you know, I, I, I could feel the stress of the designer, you know, seeing this stunning thing in such a prominent spot in Niloufar Depot, but I could also just like the beauty of them was it was bigger than that, you know. So that really stood out for me. And again in Niloufar, etienne Marc, who I discovered a couple of years ago, is a French designer who was doing this grotto furniture. I don't know if you remember the cast bronze shell chairs.
Speaker 3:Yes, yes.
Speaker 2:So he had new work in Niloufar, in both the gallery and the depot, where he sort of like glued shells and plants yeah, that's the chandelier there Glued shells, maybe with resin, onto the back of glass and then silvered the mirror, and so these sort of natural things were in almost embedded in this mirror and they were. They're very, very simple and and really beautiful. So that stood out to me and um arno de klerk, who had the gallery space at 10 Corsacomo. I think his work is amazing and seeing so many pieces in that stark white environment and all these furnishes, black.
Speaker 3:It worked really well, didn't it? Yeah, I remember that?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I just thought that was so futuristic and such a powerful statement.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that was brilliant.
Speaker 1:I think that was just before dinner for for me walking through that one after a long day I was like you know how you just see so much and you're seeing something really amazing.
Speaker 3:You're like, oh, that's cool and you just walk past it yeah, yeah I think I stopped and paid a little bit more attention just because someone else I think it was michael, I think had mentioned it to me and I was like, okay, I need to pay, I need to just have a moment because it is. I do think that you do get to a point where you're overstimulated, right, and you actually you're sort of you're just sort of nodding at things yep, yep, you're all brilliant, but like, maybe it doesn't sink in.
Speaker 3:I think this is why, we take so many photos as well. For me, I can like go back now and look at something. You go, oh yeah, that's right, and kind of relive it and think about it again and take it all in, whereas my memory is not good enough to keep all of that in there.
Speaker 1:So the bread isn't necessary. Yeah, totally, totally. So good. Ollie, thank you so much for the great chat. It's so good to get to know you a little bit more in your work.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you too. Thank you for having me. It's been fun, it's been brilliant.
Speaker 3:Thanks for all your insights and little tips as well.
Speaker 2:Yeah, of course.
Speaker 1:I'm going to be looking them all up. I'll see you at Waverley. Yeah, see you there soon. Thanks, ollie, see you later.
Speaker 2:Bye guys.
Speaker 1:We've got the utmost respect for the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation. They're the OG custodians of this unceded land and its waters, where we set up shop, create and call home and come to you. From this podcast today, a big shout out to all of the amazing elders who have walked before us, those leading the way in the present and the emerging leaders who will carry the torch into the future. We're just lucky to be on this journey together.