Profile... The Problem Solver
Martin Murray at George Street Studios. Photographer: Andre Castellucci.
Metal fabricator Martin Murray has shape-shifted through many lives - mustering sheep in the outback, inventing Adelaide’s ubiquitous curly bike racks, and installing balustrades. Now, the JamFactory Alumni and jam collection manufacturer has become a vital part of Adelaide’s creative ecology by bridging the gap between designers and the realisation of their vision.
Words by Farrin Foster
Farrin is an Adelaide based writer and journalist.
jam Australia, Sit Chair designed by Daniel Emma in black/blackwood.
Photographer: Josh Geelen.
At George Street Studios, a semi-industrial artists’ workshop on Adelaide’s city fringe, Martin Murray is working on a prototype chair for a local designer. Indicating joins in the oversize tubed frame, he explains how he’s found a new approach that adds strength and streamlines production.
It’s a perfect example of why the specialist metal fabricator is in high demand. And while online biographies often refer to Martin as a sculptor as well as a manufacturer, he’s quick to eschew the artistic title and focus on his capacity to make.
“I learned to do all kinds of things growing up as a teenager in Pinnaroo,” he says.
“My Dad was the doctor… and he liked making things, repairing things. So, we had a fabulous shed… and that’s what we spent most of our holidays doing.
“Strangely, I find myself doing a very similar type of thing now.”
But Martin’s skillset is shot through with heady doses of creativity. An almost-accidental alumni of the JamFactory furniture program (“my girlfriend at the time told me there was a job going for someone who could drive a truck,” he says, “at the end of that job, they asked me if I’d like to interview to join the studio”), he followed his early career working on outback stations with a shift into the world of design.
From his time as a founding member of small, prolific design firms, Martin leaves a strong legacy - including an original-style of café and pool fencing, and Adelaide’s immediately recognisable loopy bike locks.
“It was originally supposed to be like the end of the nappy pin,” says Martin. “I think I was having babies at the time.”
Over the last few years, his practice at the shared George Street Studios has become largely focussed on metal fabrication. Among the occasional fabulous creations for film or TV, and support for studio mates working on art projects, Martin’s bread and butter is furniture for local designers - including the Sit range for the jam by JamFactory collection.
JamFactory CEO Brian Parkes says Martin is an ideal collaborator for producing the organisation’s core range of high-end furniture and objects. “For a specifier to be able to put a stool into a café that is supporting the local economy through a local manufacturer like Martin… it’s a really positive choice,” he says.
With steady demand from designers and institutions like JamFactory, Martin has recently brought on casual staff to help with bigger projects. Offering paid hours to some of the artists who have come through George Street as part of residencies, Martin is delighted to see his skills being taken on by a new generation.
“Not everyone gets to learn all these fabrication skills at university,” Martin says. “It’s been wonderful to watch their progress. They’re confidently taking on these jobs now.”
This rippling spread of knowledge, and Martin’s capacity to help local designers prepare for commercial-scale production, are clear indicators of the far-reaching impact high-end local manufacturing can have. And Brian says that’s not a coincidence.
“Effectively the purpose of the jam collection is to create these opportunities for designers and manufacturers locally and to grow that ecosystem so that it supports more people in the industry,” says Brian.
“Increasingly we’re seeing the benefits of doing more here - COVID exposed some shortcomings in the supply chain… so to have a range of manufacturing capabilities is very important.”
If it’s been hewn by the hand of Martin or one of his colleagues, a chair, it turns out, is more than just a place to sit.
Martin Murray at George Street Studios. Photographer: Andre Castellucci.