Feature... Creative Collaboration
Beci Orpin. Photographer: Amelia Stanwix
David Caon. Photo courtesy of the designer
The jam collection is expanding with contributions from two high-profile designers that demonstrate the breadth and depth of Australia’s contemporary design identity.
Words by Farrin Foster.
Farrin is an Adelaide based writer and journalist.
Lauded illustrator, designer and artist Beci Orpin and leading industrial designer David Caon may not appear - at first glance - to have much in common.
David’s practice is often large-scale, with recent work from his studio – Caon Design Office – including the design of Qantas’ A350 aircraft interiors and headphones for an aerospace project. His aesthetic is also highly restrained, characterised by blunt, clear lines and a minimal, often-organically occurring colour palette.
In contrast, Beci’s work riotously embraces fluid forms and bright colours - with her always energetic and often style-blending designs translating into everything from tactile exhibitions and installations, to branding and books.
But, both are highly respected in the Australian scene, with their sensibilities considered reflections – albeit at different extremes – of the country’s modern, mature design identity. Both are also new contributors to JamFactory’s jam collection, which brings together local designers, makers and fabricators to produce uniquely Australian objects.
Adding designs from Beci and David signals a new stage of growth for the collection.
“We want to collaborate with a broad spectrum of artists and designers, from emerging through to established,” says jam Product Developer, Dean Toepfer. “We want some of these very well-established designers as part of the collection as well. I think that helps bring exposure to the jam collection across the East Coast and across Australia.”
Beci has designed a family of three pieces for jam. Known as the Sketch Trivets, they started life as a series of geometric-shape drawings Beci shared with JamFactory creative directors Daniel To and Emma Aiston.
After experimenting with translating the shapes into coasters, further development led the collaborators towards laser-cut stainless-steel trivets, which are coated in pastel-coloured enamels.
For Beci, creating the objects was a gratifying chance to once more examine how her work fits into people’s lives.
"I worked, actually, for a long time with textile design and worked as an art director for a homewares label,” she says. “So, I do have that craving still to make things that are tangible, that you can use in your everyday life.
“It's very satisfying to know that what you're making will become part of someone's routine. Maybe that's because of how important the things in my life are for me, too.”
Sketch Trivets. Photographer: Connor Patterson
Sketch Trivets. Photographer: Connor Patterson
“It’s very satisfying to know that what you’re making will become part of someone’s routine. Maybe that’s because of how important the things in my life are for me, too.”
Render of Wire Chair design
The final forms of the three trivets – which take the shapes of a flower, a star and a ginko leaf – were decided upon after rounds of prototyping and discussions between Beci, Daniel, Emma and the manufacturing team that included Unique Laser and JamFactory Metal Studio in SA and Melbourne Enamelling in Victoria.
"They [the Sketch Trivets] have got this great enamel coating,” says Beci, “which is sort of perfectly imperfect - it is beautifully done, but you can tell it hasn't been created on an enormous production line. Each one has a sense of character to it."
Building working relationships that stretch across different layers of the design industry is a key benefit of the jam collection process.
The development of David’s object – a stacking wire chair – has also been highly collaborative, with Caon Design Office, Dean from jam, and manufacturer Ace Wire undertaking an iterative process over the past two years. David says everyone involved made significant contributions to the final designs.
“The Jam Factory team are designers themselves which allows for an easy working relationship where everyone is able to speak the same language and understand what to expect in different stages of the development,” he says.
The final result is a chair with a neat, limited footprint, but a flowing form that recalls archetypal outdoor furniture through a bold tubing outline supporting a bent wire infill pattern. As well as answering logistical questions around efficiencies in manufacture and shipping, this design provides a chair that can serve a variety of purposes.
“A stacking wire chair lends itself to outdoor applications, but from the beginning I didn't want to limit its use that way,” says David. “So, I started thinking of more organic, classic forms which – when combined with some upholstery, perhaps – would really allow this chair to be more universal.”
A chair that crosses boundaries between indoor, outdoor, commercial and residential uses fits snugly into the multi-purpose jam collection, which provides for commercial architects and interior designers alongside everyday design-conscious Australians.
Because of this broad audience, the collection’s capacity to maintain, grow and evolve reflects the country’s engagement - at all scales - with local design. It first launched in 2019, which is contemporary with an embrace of Australian design Beci says she’s been noticing in the last five to ten years.
"Australia is home to some of the oldest cultures in the world, but our design identity is still evolving,” says Beci. “I think it's really influenced by lots of things, but especially the light - the light here is so special.
“We're starting to see our environment and our society reflected in what our designers are doing, and I think that's why people are more engaged with Australian design now."
As the jam collection grows – folding in designers of David and Beci’s profile, and more work of diverse aesthetics – it seems like working proof that Australian design culture is continuing on its upward trajectory, and growing in complexity along the way.
The Sketch Trivets are available now as part of the jam collection at j-a-m.com.au. David Caon’s stacking wire chair will be released later this year.