The Round Table program brings together prominent craft practitioners for discipline-focused critical discussions. Perspectives on making, sources of inspiration and contemporary issues facing today’s practitioners are addressed. The discussions engaged both experienced makers and craft-enthusiasts alike.
Join the designers and makers from the exhibition, Future Remains, in the online discussion Woodworking Today Round Table. The conversation shares insight into each artists' practice, where they discuss technical approaches to working with timber, challenges facing the industry, and the responsibilities of a woodworker.
The discussion is led by furniture maker and designer Alexsandra Pontonio and is sure to engage experienced makers and craft-enthusiasts alike.
Alexsandra Pontonio is an award-winning Naarm/Melbourne-based furniture maker and designer. She creates bespoke pieces that are contemporary in design with a sensitivity to traditional woodcraft. Working predominately with wood, her practice is underpinned by a deep respect for material; she seeks to work with timbers' intrinsic material tactility. Pontonio graduated with an Associate Degree in Design (Furniture) from RMIT University in 2015 after which she was recipient of the Future Leader's prize in Craft Victoria's 2016 Fresh! exhibition, the VIVID Design Award, and the Tait Award for Design Innovation at Fringe Furniture. Recent exhibitions include David Clark's 'At Home -Modern Australian Design', Government House, Sydney, and the Salone Satellite, Milan.
Anke Kindle is a German-born jeweller and object designer based in Naarm/Melbourne. Through her practice, she explores the meaning and stories of inanimate objects, particularly rituals and objects within the domestic realm. Having grown up in Germany's Black Forest, her contemporary wearables and commissioned pieces are steeped in European craft tradition. Kindle has researched ideas and methodologies that cross boundaries between fine art, craft, sculpture, and design, and has completed a Bachelor of Fine Art (Honours) in Furniture Design at the University of Tasmania, 2001, and an Advanced Diploma in Jewellery Design at Melbourne Polytechnic, 2019.
Chi Yusuf is a fine furniture maker based in Warrang/Sydney. Yusuf creates bespoke pieces that harmonise precision joinery with intuitively hand-shaped timber. Taking strong cues from mid-century modern design, she combines simple functionality with elements of sculptural expression to create enduring pieces. After exploring careers across the design sector, her heart has found its home covered in sawdust and her hands crafting objects that elevate our everyday experiences. Yusuf is a graduate of the Sturt School for Wood and was recipient of the 'Craft ACT: Craft+ Design Centre's 2020 Emerging Artist Award'. She recently exhibited in Craft ACT's 'Emerging Contemporaries' exhibition and 'HOME:MADE' as part of Design Canberra.
Linda Fredheim is an established furniture maker and designer based in Nipaluna/ Hobart. Working predominantly with timber, she is interested in the function, form and associations of storage and collecting, and is particularly intrigued by Japanese Tansu and European Campaign furniture. "I aim to design and make furniture pieces that have a quiet presence, objects that don't demand attention, but invite interaction ... that ask to be opened and explored.' Fredheim graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Design in Wood) from the University of Tasmania in 1992. She has exhibited widely and undertakes both furniture commissions, collaborative projects with other artists and small production runs of bespoke packaging. Fredheim shares her studio workshop in North-Hobart with partner, Stuart Houghton.
Makiko Ryujin is a Naarm/Melbourne-based artist and woodturner working with discarded timber to create sculptural objects, vessels, installations, and lighting. Her practice is informed by her Japanese heritage and draws on the cultural burning ritual, 'Otakiage' - a tradition she observed as a child. The ceremony is rich in symbolism and acts as a collective demarcation of time with the opportunity for plans to be reborn. For the artist, including this burning element in her practice allows her to work alongside and embrace fire's transformative nature. 'The fire assists the wood in transcending beyond what an artist can do and pulls nature back into the creative process.' Ryujin completed a Bachelor of Fine Art (Photography) at RMIT before studying woodworking with mentor Carl Lutz. Ryujin has exhibited locally and internationally and is found in both public and private collections. Ryujin recently collaborated with Michael Gittings on a piece commissioned by the NGV and presented in the 2021 Triennial exhibition.
Olive Gill-Hille is a Boorloo/Perth-based multidisciplinary artist and designer. Working with ethically sourced solid timber, she creates both functional and sculptural pieces that are distinctively expressive in form. Gill-Hille seeks to transform furniture's perceived static nature by creating engaging and experimental works that draw reference from the natural environment and the human figure. Gill-Hille holds a Bachelor of Fine Art (Sculpture) from the Victorian College of the Arts and an Associate Degree in Design (Furniture), RM IT. She works out of her studio workshop in Fremantle, WA and is exclusively represented by Gallery Sally Dan-Cuthbert, Sydney. Gill-Hille has exhibited nationally and has an upcoming solo exhibition in 2021.
