Design & Development 2021

Due to the rapidly changing COVID 19 restrictions, this course will be delayed until 2022. We will let you know when the new date is announced.

Design & Development 2021 is a home-grown affair this year, with Australian master craftsman Damien Wright joining the Dunstone Design team for the first time.

Damien is a highly thoughtful maker who believes that a craftsperson’s role is to embrace local materials and respond to local culture. Damien’s work with ancient red gum is iconic, leading to a range of techniques and processes that address our “difficult” timbers.  Damien switches effortlessly between functional furniture and sculptural pieces. He has worked with Western trained craftspeople and collaborated extensively with indigenous craftspeople, most notably Yolngu man Bonhula Yunupingu. 

Damien has been a self employed designer/maker since 1995. He supports his practice through the sale of his uncompromised contemporary fine furniture. Although he is very generous with his knowledge, Damien hardly ever teaches in the formal sense. This is a rare and exciting opportunity to learn design from an Australian maker who is both artistically and commercially successful.

“Design is a way of asking and solving problems. A discipline, a tool. A powerful and essential condition of making. It has no start and no end. But it is a lonely and graceless edifice without its craft soul. 

It is the balance of these grand narratives that compels me to make. Through making I get to express and reflect. 

I work to and around a brief. But I always hold something for myself. For ever trying to unite the what, the why and the how. 

The future is handmade. “ – Damien Wright, 2021

The Design & Development Masterclass includes theory, whimsy, play, drawing, technique and visualization. We will be encouraging the sensitive use of material, the appropriate application of technique and the clear response to a well-articulated brief. This course is open to woodworking enthusiasts, aspiring professional and established professional makers.

The Process

Week One will focus on design theory, the develop a clear brief, how to ideate a concept through sketching, model making and technical drawing, as well as developing a sensitive approach to material.

Week Two will be “on the tools” as you prototype your design(s). Dunstone Design has one of the best-equipped wood workshops in Australia. As part of the course structure, we will look at advanced techniques such as the use of the spindle moulder, curved laminations, re-sawn veneering, free-hand shaping and much, much more.

Damien and I will be supported by multi-award-winning Dunstone Design craftsman William Bayliss. The class will be limited to 12 students, so you will enjoy a teacher/student ratio of 1 to 4.

Bring images of 3 pieces of wooden furniture that you find special. We will work through the common thread of those pieces to help you identify what you are “seeing” that pleases you. This is the first step to understanding your own aesthetic.

Arrive with a written brief for the piece that you intend to design. The emphasis should be on who/where/when the furniture is intended. The brief might be self-imposed, or it might come from an external source such as a spouse or client.

An example of a helpful brief is “I intend to design an easy chair for a contemporary apartment owned by a professional couple in their late thirties/early forties.”

An example of an unhelpful brief is “I intend to design a cabinet in white oak with through-wedged-tenons and an Art Deco marquetry panel.”

Feel free to consider any form of furniture you wish. Remember, design is not “how something looks” but “how something responds to the brief”.

Ideation

There are many ways to develop an idea; sketching, technical drawing, modeling and prototyping are a few examples. No two designers approach this problem the same way. Damien and I will lead you through all the possibilities. It’s fundamentally important that you develop your own responsive and creative strategy towards design.

Tools and Items to Bring

You will need to bring your own PPE of dust mask, hearing protection and eye protection.

We encourage you to bring drawing materials such as a large visual diary and your favourite pencils. You are welcome to bring a laptop or similar device with a drawing program if you wish.

Please bring whatever personal hand tools you like. You are encouraged to bring a cordless drill. Please do not bring any power tools such a routers, angle grinders etc.

Inclusions

The course fees (see below) include basic drawing materials, MDF for templates and jigs and some 50mm thick solid timber (rock maple) for experimentation. All abrasives and consumables such as glue and finish are included.

Morning tea, lunch, snacks and bottled water are included.

Timber

A limited range of fine cabinet timbers are available for purchase from Dunstone Design. Monaro Timbers (a local timber merchant) is only 15 mins away.

Expectations

This is not the type of course that results in a “finished piece”. You can expect to leave with a well-advanced design/concept and perhaps some jigs, templates, drawings, mock-ups or models.

Thursday Night Dinner

On the night of Thursday 11^th November, we will have a group dinner at a local restaurant (TBA). The price of this event is not included in the course fees.

Terms and Conditions

The total cost of Design & Development is $4,500 incl. GST. A fully refundable deposit of $100 incl. GST is payable on booking. Class size is limited to 12 students.

You will receive an invoice from Dunstone Design via email for the balance of your fees 10 days out from the commencement date (payment via EFT).

We are all at the mercy of COVID 19 restrictions. If you are unable to travel to NSW for the course due to COVID restrictions, you will receive a full refund of your deposit. If we need to postpone or cancel the course due to COVID restrictions, you will receive a full refund.

If you wish to discuss this opportunity further prior to booking, contact me, Evan, on email evan@dunstonedesign.com.au or call 0401 404 275.

Learn more about Design & Development.