Furniture by Australian Designer Henry Wilson

Modular and handmade furniture seems to be work that I’m drawn to, I can’t pinpoint exactly why, but a few ideas came to mind the other day when I was thinking about the furniture that I personally own. Firstly, as a designer myself, I tend to prefer or remember the prototypes rather more vividly than the finished pieces, you could say that the design process or journey is just as important as the final destination. It also fascinates me how simple concepts can make such functional work, avoiding use of complex machinery and wastage of material. I’ve probably said this before but Enzo Mari’s Sedia 1 chair was a recent example of this train of thought, but he also made furniture in the past that was based around DIY. His book produced in 1974 titled ‘autoprogettazione’, which roughly translates as “self design,” gives elaborate instructions for building easy-to-assemble furniture using rough boards and nails.

When I stumbled in to Henry Wilson’s works they reminded me of this concept, how you can use minimal materials in such an effective way. I don’t mean minimalism in a bad way either, these are truly functional and could fully integrate in to any environment. What I found impressive as well is when all the materials are laid out, which you can see on his portfolio, there’s basically the wood, the metal joins, and a couple of nuts to attach the metal joins to the wood. Easy and simple.

Henry is an Australian designer, which doesn’t really surprise me considering there’s so much amazing work coming out of that part of the world. His background is in woodwork and he set up his studio five years ago in Sydney, which focuses on locally produced furniture and lighting. I guess this idea of self-building has become his niche in many ways, but I think it’s important to note that these concepts could transcend outside of furniture and in to other aspects of the design field. Who knows, maybe Henry will explore this avenue in the future. If you enjoy his work please jump over to his webpage linked below where you’ll find other furniture and products like this.

henrywilson.com.au

BECOME A PART OF OUR DESIGN JOURNEY

Special discounts on OEN Shops curated collection

• Exclusive behind-the-scenes content
• Early access to content from our OEN publication
• Deep dive into design concepts
• Curated guides to the worlds top art and design cities