Commercial Projects

Restaurants

If you are looking for a way to distinguish your restaurant or bar from the “run of the mill”, then get in touch; we can arrive at a bespoke solution that will set your establishment apart from the crowd. We are happy to work in with owners, interior designers and specifiers to arrive at a suite of furniture that will give your patrons a “complete experience” when they visit your establishment.

All our furniture is designed to be maintainable and is built to last, so you will enjoy low maintenance, low repair and low replacement costs. We can design something specifically for your establishment, or modify an existing design to suit. It could be a simple or a complex solution; it depends entirely on your brief.

Diplomatic

We have done a considerable range of work for a variety of diplomatic missions in Australia. Being Canberra’s leading fine furniture makers, we are the “go to” company for high-end work for local embassies.

Over the years, we have made a variety of bespoke pieces for visiting diplomats, most notably from the British, Canadian, Cypriot, PNG and New Zealand High Commissions, as well as the American, German and Mexican Embassies. The PNG residence and High Commission has some particularly fine examples of our work.

We have made boardroom furniture for Access Economics, The School of Business and Economics (ANU) and Walter Turnbull Canberra (to name but a few). The Boardroom table for the School of Business and Economics is Australia’s largest solid timber river red gum table (pictured) and is registered as a work of art with the ANU Drill Hall Gallery as part of the university’s art collection. We can work in either veneer or solid timber, depending on the brief, the budget and the nature of activity being undertaken by the entity.
We are also one of the very few Australian companies that can design and make original chairs to go with special boardroom furniture. We have designed and made ceremonial and/or boardroom chairs for The Royal Military College Duntroon, Llewellyn House (School of Music), The School of Business and Economics (ANU), Marist College Canberra and many others.

We are happy to work with end clients, architects, interior designers and specifiers to design boardroom furniture.

Liturgical

One of our most satisfying commissions in 2014 was the crosier, complete with a custom stand and travel case, for Bishop Sarah Macneil of the Anglican Diocese of Grafton (Australia’s first female Anglican bishop). The crosier, made from highly figured Victorian blackwood and desert Myall, was a celebration of material and craftsmanship, as well as a technical and aesthetic challenge.

We have also designed and made free standing furniture for various Canberra churches, including St Paul’s Anglican Church, Manuka, and St Andrew’s, Red Hill.

Institutions

Whatever the nature of your institution, we can design and make some original freestanding contemporary fine furniture in Australian native timbers to suit it. We have made pieces for RMC Duntroon, Llewellyn Hall (School of Music), the ANU, Old Parliament House, The National Gallery of Australia, various churches, a number of diplomatic missions, the Academy of Science and many, many others.

As long as the brief is for an excellent product in timber, we are the workshop of choice.

Universities

Australian universities have a long tradition of commissioning contemporary Australian made furniture. Arguably the most famous example was the Australian National University’s decision to engage Fred Ward to design much of the (then) fledgling university’s furniture. Ward, one of Australia’s most notable mid-20^th century furniture designers, was responsible for designing and commissioning everything from chairs and tables through to whole room schemes.

It is a source of great pride to us that the ANU has also commissioned furniture from Dunstone Design on several occasions over the years. Architect Derek Wriggly, who worked with Fred Ward, is a great friend of the Dunstone Design workshop and has taken the team on private tours of Ward’s work at both the ANU and The National Library of Australia.

Libraries

Domestic and institutional libraries have very specific furniture needs, whether in the form of chairs and tables or provision for book storage. Dunstone Design can provide a complete bespoke solution to all your library needs, no matter how small or large, private or public. We are one of the very few Australian companies that can design and craft a complete solution, from the chairs through to the timber fittings.

It should be noted that the solid timber furniture designed by Fred Ward and fabricated under his specifications, for the National Library of Australia in the 60’s has been in almost constant daily use ever since. Not only does this demonstrate an excellent cost/benefit ratio, it is also a fine example of sustainability in action.