Collaboration Key to Winning Drink Dine Design 2016

The joint project, entered by Liam Fleming, Liam Somerville, Steve Soeffky, Sebastian Vivian and Ulrica Trulsson, was curated by last year’s Drink Dine Design winner Liam Mugavin for Coffee Bondi Beach, a coffee bar and roaster with a focus on education, experience, sustainability and quality.

In late 2015, the client approached JamFactory alumnus Mugavin with the opportunity not only to apply his skills as a designer and maker, but also to engage and collaborate with peers.

Taking on this challenge, Mugavin and his collaborators created a series of objects
and furniture for the space, including glass blown elements by Fleming, lighting by Soeffky, 60 pieces of ceramics by Trulsson and furniture and timber components by Mugavin.

Liam Mugavin also won the 2015 Drink Dine Design Award

Influenced by Mugavin’s research during his Masters in Sustainable Design at the University of South Australia, the project aims to engage with the client’s business ethos which is to serve only what they produce.

The multi-disciplinary approach was a standout aspect of the group entry. Highlighting the diversity proffered by this sort of collaboration, the panel was especially keen to recognise and acknowledge that each of the elements maintained their merit, and yet ultimately worked together to create a cohesive and unified interior experience.

Judging panel member Jane Lawrence says of the winning project: “[It] establishes a new paradigm for creative craft and design based practices. It is significant as it foregrounds a collection of idiosyncratic and beautifully crafted objects specifically created for a commercial setting where one could argue that the sum of each part is as great as the whole.”

The group’s bold use of materiality, striking form and functionality was the centre of much discussion during the judging process and demonstrated a strong commitment to craftsmanship, originality and initiative in an already densely-populated industry: coffee making.

Continuing the innovation of the project, they documented their making processes on film, joining forces with filmmaker Liam Somerville and electronic sound artist Sebastian Vivian, to produce a three-minute visual presentation, which they used for their entry, a first in the competition’s history. JamFactory CEO Brian Parkes: “We were impressed by the way the video highlighted the highly handcrafted nature of the objects created for the café and the way it revealed the design and making processes.”

It was the collective initiative and desire to create a distinctive and bespoke design solution that ultimately raised the project to be a standout amongst a group of extremely well considered entries this year.

Nathan James Crane was a judge of this year’s Drink Dine Design along with Brian Parkes (JamFactory), Ryan Genesin (Genesin Design), Jane Lawrence (University of South Australia) and Sharon Romeo (FINO)