tait 21years

Tait: 1993 — 2013

...

Beginning, process and practice

Tait 1993 — 2013

21 years of making, breaking, trying, collaboration, refinement, design, manufacturing, styling, thinking, working and playing

Tait: 1993 — 2013Archive 1 The beginning

32

21 years of making, breaking, trying, collaboration, refinement, design, manufacturing, styling, thinking, working and playing

...

Tait


54

The beginning 7

The process 51

The practice 157

The end ... 173

Contents

To the team at Tait,

we couldn’t have done

it without you.

To our rockin’ daughters,

Lily and Coco.


76

The beginning

1

The early days, a factory space, a hammer, sailing, experiments in steel, the Egg Ship, Easey Street, Lily + Coco, diamonds, timber, glass ...


98

This is a planishing hammer. I’ve had it

since I was 25, so it means a lot to me.

The Hickory handle gives the hammer a nice

bounce, so it weighs comfortably in your

hand. It’s a bit like a chef with a good knife.

This story begins with Gordon

The hammer was a gift from my first boss, Jim Hogan. It’s a quality piece of equipment, no one else is allowed to use it. At the time I received it I was living and working in Sydney, where I grew up. I’d already finished my sheet metal

apprenticeship and Jim, who bought the hammer for me, really nurtured me in those early years. He wanted me to do a good job — hence the gift of a hammer.


1110

1 This was my first factory space out in Nunawading (Victoria), given to me for cheap rent by a couple of guys I worked for, Bill and David Mudford. Bill and David were very kind to me, setting me up in this space with equipment and a client list, and teaching me how to build the printing machines.

1

The two subjects I really excelled in at school were

maths and metal work — which tend to go hand-in-

hand. Following school I applied for many different

apprenticeships, but I chose sheet metal work at

a workshop located near my home in the northern

suburbs of Sydney. Sheet metal was a natural fit

for me and it was part of my journey ending up in

that trade. I excelled throughout my apprenticeship

and passed with flying colours.

In 1988 I moved to Melbourne where I

began working for a printing company, building

machines for drying ink. The machines were

quite complex containing motors, running water,

pumps, conveyor belts.

The Mudfords were real risk takers and taught me a lot about business. I was 25 at the time and hungry to do my own thing, but fearful as well. Of course I had no savings. I made just enough from servicing machines to do some of my own work, like one-off furniture pieces. It was David who suggested the name for my new business: Tait Enterprises. I thought it was a great suggestion.


1312

2

3

4 I’m a perfectionist and I like things to be aligned and in proportion. Even mounting the pressure gauges onto this Colourdry UVG 105 UV Drying System, I’d make sure it was the best I could do even though it would be hidden.

5 My time in my little 150m2 factory space in Nunawading gave birth to a lot of early experiments in furniture making. This is one of the first, the Metro Sofa, which had a very ‘Memphis’ look about it. I even upholstered it myself.

5

4

2 I’ve always loved sailing, particularly when I was a kid. So when I finished my sheet metal apprenticeship I bought a Combivan and escaped up north. I paused in Southport for three months, living in a caravan park in the Combi, working by day making boats.

3 My first piece of machinery was a John Heine guillotine, for cutting sheet metal. It was only small — about four-foot long, and beautifully hand painted.


1514

6 During the 1990s aromatherapy and natural therapies really took off with companies like Red Earth capturing a corner of the market with holistic products and accessories. I saw a hole in the market for designer oil burners, and embarked upon my first mass-producible product.

The styling of these oil burners in their various forms was quite futuristic, the design and make quite high quality. I wholesaled the oil burners to select design retailers in Melbourne, the packaging featuring the Tait brand burnt onto the box.

For me, thinking and conceptualising progresses

straight into making and that’s the way I like to work.

I can easily visualise something three dimensionally

and I don’t have to detail it too much on paper.

And while I do work out all the calculations on paper,

I never draw my pieces in 3D.

In 1994 Red Earth invited me to design a perfume

bottle for their retail range. The resulting product

was called the Aromadome7 — a small, wearable

aluminium vessel which hung from a leather thong

around your neck. The Aromadome was a real

milestone for the Tait business. We were receiving

orders from all around the world for hundreds

of thousands of these vessels. The proceeds were

pouring into our pockets with five-figure orders

coming in by fax. All I had to do was make four

phone calls and the manufacture and assemblage

would be underway.

During this period I’d take on anything

for a challenge — security grills, one-off furniture

pieces. But the Aromadome represented a real

tipping point for the business as a low-cost, mass

producible item with global appeal.

6

7


1716

9 The Egg Ship was a custom-made piece designed to hold quail and hen eggs. It was commissioned by a good friend and local hospitality identity, Gerald Diffey. I developed a production run from this one-off commission. It was a good learning curve for making an affordable product, packaging it, marketing it and finding retailers.

9

8

8 Still very much inspired by the Memphis aesthetic, I made a chair and table set which I entered into the 1992 Fringe Furniture exhibition. Making a piece of furniture and putting it in an exhibition was quite a big step. I hadn’t entered the creative industry as a designer or maker, I was a trades person — which is a very different thing.

Years later, Susan and I would head to the Milan Furniture Fair for an exhibition of products by the Fringe Alumni. It was a trade fair trip which would change the vision of our business and refine the way we worked.


1918

Tait moves to Leicester Street, Fitzroy

Taking the Tait workshop from Nunawading to Fitzroy in 1993 was a big move. In the early years at No. 61 we lived upstairs while the ground level alternated between a shop and studio space.

The Tait logo, which was designed by Colin Batrouney, was a gift to Gordon delivered rather humbly on a piece of napkin. With its blue squiggle and blotted dots, it represented a new start, a new step and a safe haven for us.

The words of my early mentor, David Mudford,

came back to me: “If you don’t do it, you’re never

going to know.” So we took the chance, signed

the lease and moved in.


2120

Those early years in Fitzroy were a really important time in my

working life. I was working as the creative director at Red Earth

with a very young, energetic team. I loved it, but it was also a

huge learning curve. I was thrown into the deep end managing

branding and packaging, store design, and learning to work

with photographers, graphic designers and advertising agencies.

My background was in textile design, but I’d specialised in

packaging while studying at RMIT University, and it represented

a great opportunity to tap in to my training. Our CEO at Red Earth

was of the belief that people wanted an authentic story behind

a brand. ‘It’s all about the sizzle, not the sausage,’ he would say.

It taught me a lot about presentation and confirmed that people

really do relate to a genuine story. Through the development

and marketing of Red Earth’s products, which were pitched

at a mass market, I also learnt that good design doesn’t have

to be produced at great expense.

Back at Tait, Gordon was making a lot of one-off pieces.

He was used to working solo, and saw Tait as a metal workshop

rather than a furniture brand. I came in with a retail vision,

suggesting he develop furniture ranges. He was quite dubious

and didn’t agree that we could produce furniture to appeal

to a local consumer market. But I could see where the furniture

and design scene was heading and I was thinking big picture.

The fact that Gordon came from a trade background

played a huge part in the business’ vision and direction. He

didn’t think of himself as a designer and found my ideas quite

challenging. Once our first daughter Lily arrived I decided

to freelance, working with brands like Mecca Cosmetica and

continuing with Red Earth. At the same time I was having lots

of conversations with Gordon about Tait. And slowly, slowly

I started to see where my place could be with the company.

SusanThere’s the girl from Red Earth in a matching Pene Durston-designed ensemble, working full time being the corporate packaging queen and then moonlighting at Tait.


2322

The Gypsy Bar on Brunswick Street in Fitzroy was a regular hangout for Susan and I during our dating days. Luciano, a friend and incidentally the owner of Gypsy Bar, commissioned us to produce a series of powder coated aluminium stools for the bar. Unfortunately the stools didn’t last long, because everyone liked playing bongos on them. They kept popping up in music venues around Melbourne!

10 The inspiration for Jester (made in 1993) came from a baseball glove, the mixture of fabric with timber legs and bronze balls lending the chair a sense of humour and fun.

11 Here we are at the opening of our store at Leicester Street.

10

11


2524

So many good people supported us in the early years, and that faith from friends as well as local hospitality owners paved our path. The Coby chair and table proved popular in local restaurants and cafés, like The Locarno on Greville Street, Prahran.

Buddy is Gordon’s father’s dog, Pepper the cat is in the pot plant behind, and that’s Licorice the chook.


2726

Our early products were simple, affordable,

usable and youthful, and it made for a quirky

story. A big turning point for us was the opening

of Georges department store on Collins Street.

Georges ordered quite a few Tait pieces which

also attracted some early editorial coverage.


2928

The factory on Easey Street, Collingwood

This is our Easey Street factory, just before Saturday in Design 2008. It was a pretty tight working environment in there — you can see the customised bench unit for Wesley College, front right; the 8ight tables stacked behind the van for Qantas’ call centres; and tables for the Opera Bar in Sydney to the left.


3130

Having participated in a few local trade fairs we were starting to realise where we fitted in. We knew we offered the right price point, and we knew we were a bit funky. We launched Huski in 2003 amidst much celebration, as you can see.

We were really excited about our branded vans, this one is parked out the front of Easey Street. We trimmed the tree so you could see our new logo.


3332

12 The launch of our new logo, designed by Dan Jessep in 2002, really cemented our vision and style, which was a lot more refined, clean lined and minimal.

13 Sleigh was an early outdoor setting featuring slatted timber — also quite sleek and minimalist — tapping into this stainless steel and polished timber look.

14 We were picked up by a furniture homewares store called Cochrane & Galloway, and suddenly our products were being beautifully styled and merchandised to customers.

15 Our Utility tables, made using a tubular steel frame and laminate top, were big sellers back in the day. People liked the modular nature of the Utility, because you could move it around, and use it indoors and out.

13 15

14

Gordon had always produced furniture pieces more

for himself than a specific market. But I could see the

opportunity for making furniture that responded to

what people wanted. I could see what Gordon was

capable of and (thanks to my creative direction skills),

I was always looking at international developments

and trends. I was a huge fan of Elle Decoration, which

provided me with lots of inspiration. We were talking

about making ranges that responded directly to the

market. I was thinking about beds and looking at mixing

up glass and timber for table and chair settings. It was

all the style and so we experimented with producing

furniture that responded to colour stories and trends.

Looking at it now, it was pretty dry and basic, but

it was the early 1990s, everything was minimal and grey.

And it was successful.

12


3534

17

16

17 That would be Lily’s hand. And that’s the cover for the Jester chair transparency taken in 1995. Lily’s drawn on it years later.

16 The kids would spend school holidays in the office constructing robots out of boxes. Gordon playing around with Lily’s robot on our Boxa bed.

Coco, aged two, is the spitting image of Gordon as a child. Lily, aged six, is on the left — what a character! This was taken in Emmaline Street, Northcote.


3736

19 Even though the style of this indoor dining setting is quite basic it’s very relaxed and appeals to a more casual Australian lifestyle. At the time people found the concept of benches for inside a bit too ‘edgy’, but we were a young couple trying to buy furniture. It was much cheaper using benches instead of chairs. It was a new style and even though it looked super minimal and serious, it had quite a relaxed feel to it.

19

18 Keen to try our hand at outdoor furniture we entered a competition to design a sunlounge using the materials from a wine barrel. It gave us the perfect opportunity to test our ideas and our entry, which featured these beautiful red-stained timber slats, was eventually developed into the Fat range of sunlounges and chairs.

Our Fat Sunlounge, which was distributed through a

client in New York, gained huge exposure in the US when

it was named top sunlounge of the year by Elle Decor

in 2001. We were so stoked! We planned a trip to New

York to meet the client and do a deal with them. They were

buying container loads of stock from us and we were

really excited about looking outwards.

And then the week before we were scheduled

to depart, September 11 happened. And we never did

go in the end. In the aftermath of 9/11, we decided to

consolidate and remain focused on Australia. We

started developing our market here and servicing it

more efficiently, and it was a much better thing to

happen really.

18


3938


4140

We’d never used round tubular steel before, so the Huski range really pushed the boundaries of materiality and style for us. By that point Justin Hutchinson was working with us and he’d designed the Tablet table also pictured here.

Huski featured in one of our early marketing images, in 2006. I had the idea of taking a photo of Huski in a pool, to prove its hardwearing, outdoor durability.


4342

“It is often impressive to witness the energy that life

partners bring to a joint business and the Taits’

combination of technical skill and creative flair (laced

with a good measure of humour) [has] built them a

reputation for a signature style of restrained minimalism

backed by fine detailing and technical expertise...

After moving from Fitzroy to their current premises,

the Taits relaunched their brand as ‘Tait — Designed for

Living’. This re-brand communicated in many ways the

internal acknowledgement that the company was evolving

from a commission-based practice, geared around the

design and manufacture of high-quality furniture and

fittings, to a manufacturing and retail enterprise that

had aligned its custom production with the commercial

presentation of several ranges of products, from beds to

tables, chairs to outdoor settings.”

Ewan McEoinInside magazine, Issue 31 2004


4544

In 2007 I relinquished running the company for a while and Suzie took over. I was feeling really stifled and wanted to get back on the tools and do something creative. It’s been quite a challenge moving from the overalls to where I am now; especially in the early days having to shed the overalls and wear so many different hats.

Making stuff is what I do, and I felt like I had lost the most creative parts of my practice. So we agreed that Suzie would run the company and I would pursue more creative endeavours. That was when I started making diamonds.

“It’s a homage to how important creativity is, it’s about pushing metal and going back to basics. We were making so much precise, square, minimal furniture and I could tell Gordon just wanted to bash away at something. That was the way I saw it.”

Susan


4746

20 Brilliant + Radiant

The Brilliant Cut Diamond was the first piece I made. I structured it in cardboard and papier-mâché first and constructed it from rusted steel. Being an old-school tradesman, I was working out the triangulation of the diamonds on paper using a compass, ruler and paper.

22 Cro-Magnon

Cro-Magnon was made as a need to step back from years of precise metal fabricating and furniture making. It fulfilled an urge to get back to my roots. The piece required a lot of hammering. I think my elbow is still feeling the pain. I really loved that piece.

21 Amalgamation

Amalgamation is a combination of two or more patterns or movements. Amalgamation was made in response to the Fringe Furniture’s 2011 theme ’Dancing in the dark’ which showcased at Abbotsford Convent in Melbourne.

21

20

22


4948

In 2008 we received a grant to attend the Milan Furniture

Fair where our GardenWall planter23 was showing as part of

Designing Nhow, an exhibition of Australian-designed products

curated by Marisia Lukaszewski. Having shown in a few trade

fairs in Australia (designEX, Furnitex and Saturday in Design),

our perogative was to attend the Milan fair and see how

international brands tackled trade fairs in Europe. Between

manning the exhibition and fielding enquiries we would dash

off to look around Zona Tortona and the main Fiera. We

were blown away by what we saw: the way manufacturers

and retailers did business on-stand, and the exhibition and

showroom set-ups around the city’s creative hubs.

While at the Fiera we happened across an Austrian

manufacturing company called Viteo. We had no intention of

selling Viteo our products as we, too, identified as manufacturers

rather than designers. However, Viteo was interested to see our

GardenWall, and took it on to manufacture and retail around

Europe and the United States. Going through that process was

a big learning curve for Gordon and I. And it informed the way

in which we would start working with designers in Australia.

Arriving home, we knew we needed to present ourselves

better, and could see the opportunity for producing better

quality products.

I remember being underwhelmed by the outdoor furniture

we saw in Milan, and realising what we were producing was

on par with the quality of product on show. It was a great

confidence boost, and was the precursor to one of our first ever

furniture ranges, a collection of chairs and tables which would

change the trajectory of our business.

Susan

23

5150

The process Tait: 1993 — 2013Archive 2

Collaborations, designers, sketches, 3D models, renders, woven wire, expanded steel mesh, weekends in the factory, refining, styling, launches ...

The process of Jak + Jil, Flint, Good One,

Airliner, Volley and Breeze

2

5352


1 presentation, 4 years in the factory, a trip to Milan, 3 field trips, 9 rounds of sketches, 4230 metres of powder coated wire, 23 chairs, 8 tables ...

Jak + Jil

with Justin Hutchinson

5554


Settling into a black Jak chair, Justin crosses ankle over knee. Glancing around the table, he begins:

Gordon and Susan recount

the conception of Jak + Jil with

designer Justin Hutchinson

Tait headquarters, Thornbury Monday 5 August 2013 8.41 AM

Justin In my final year at university I’d been searching out the sorts of businesses I wanted to align myself with. It was only towards the end of my studies we were given free reign, we were working towards a final year exhibition and I discovered a natural affinity for furniture design, which seems to exist in the overlap between engineering and art. I remember walking off the street and into the Tait showroom and recognising a lot of the furniture I’d seen around cafés on Brunswick Street in Fitzroy. That would have been 2002.

Gordon We were at Easey Street then and you sought us out. You turned up one day — Justin I did, I did... I’d just painted my bedroom bright orange, and I remembered this company, Tait, who had recently rebranded in a bright orange. It was like a synergy of moments. I knocked on Tait’s door and presented a folio of work, Gordon called me up that same afternoon and said he had a job for me on the factory floor. And it was a really fantastic starting point. I could understand what was happening in the factory, and got small glimpses of the design thinking behind the process. I worked there for a period of four years. In the first year it was mostly on the factory floor, but by the end I was working full time in design.

5756


to the Milan Furniture Fair where they’d seen a different model of working, where the manufacturer works alongside a designer and commissions a piece. And so we got together and started. We went through quite a structured process to begin with, working out how we’d take the idea to market. There was an evolution of sketches and a lot of research at the beginning while we were exploring different ideas.

Gordon We went into town and visited the showrooms looking at Arper’s Leaf chair, the Hee barstool by Hay. We investigated the really high quality products knowing that’s what we were going to be up against.

Susan As the client, I like that Justin comes into a project and sets us homework. Gordon and I tend to communicate telepathically and we don’t always communicate clearly what we’re thinking. Even though the three of us have this fabulous long-standing relationship — Justin was already out in front, he knew the brand and knew how to bring a new family member to the clan — he still made us search for imagery and create mood boards, which is my thing, how I communicate. Gordon was quite clear though: ‘I want to do wire, it’s got to be wire.’

Justin It was very exciting, having never worked with wire before. It was a very nice process working conceptually with it. The way I was working on modeling it and breaking it up, dissecting it and building it up, it was a constant play with form. Gordon and Susan were able to keep pushing what I may have settled on, saying, ‘Let’s go a little bit further.’ I think that’s a really critical part of a successful design — pushing that little bit harder and then just nailing it.

Gordon The detailing, the way these lines lift up...

Gordon In 2003 we launched the Huski range, which I prototyped with Justin. I was the sheet metal guy and Justin was the design guy.

Justin Back then I had no inhibitions — that was the brilliant thing. There was a beautiful momentum between the three of us, putting different concepts on the table. I do remember with Huski having to rationalise the way it was being produced and held together and keeping a consistency of language — which is something I hold to this day.

Gordon It was a big undertaking I recall. There were tables, a chair and a lounger. Susan Until then we’d really only done single pieces, rather than collections or ranges.

Gordon With Huski we were ahead of our time, people were saying, ‘Wow, what’s that, who’s Tait?’

Justin The reason it was ahead of its time was it was an outdoor table that had no timber slats, it didn’t have any of that language that would make people recognise it as an outdoor table. People couldn’t categorise it and most thought it was made in Europe. At that point in time, I think outdoor furniture was largely unexciting.

Gordon The Jak + Jil range of chairs and tables came later. Around 2006, Tom Dixon launched his Wire Dining Chair and I thought, ‘Oh wow, that looks really beautiful’. So we approached Justin (who by that point was now working for himself ), and asked whether he’d do a wire range for us. That was the very beginning.

Justin It was just good timing, there were only a few pieces of wire furniture on the market, coming out of Europe, but there was nothing being made locally. Susan and Gordon had recently been

Gordon shifts in his Jak chair, tracing the upward tilt of the seat base.

5958


Justin The back rail was also functional so you could pick it up. And the little kick on the leg, it had features that gave it a sense of personality, as opposed to being completely commercial. And that was very true to the Tait brand, there was personality there. It was not purely a piece of furniture, although it functioned very well and it worked on a number of levels in that space, and alongside other products in the market. It was trying to find a relationship between Jak and Jil that was the challenge. The names Jak and Jil, they’re different but the same, they’re part of a family. There’s this idea that Jil is this elegant figure, and Jak is the boy rallying around the girl. These are the things that come out during the process.

Susan It was our most resolved range to date. We’d never spent that long on something to get it right, and that was the beauty of having Justin come in and focus solely on the design.To Justin: It’s funny you remember us pushing you Justin, because you pushed us. It was a big learning curve for Gordon and I. Look at what happens when you invest that much time in a product and look how beautiful this product is; time has shown how well it works. From then on we knew that this was the way to do it. Our trip to Milan gave us confidence in what we were doing. When we looked at all the outdoor furniture that was available — of which there wasn’t much — we thought, ‘We can do this, we’re at this level.’ We saw the opportunity. Our stuff was very simple and naïve in the beginning, and I felt like a lot of architects we’d been contacting had been watching us, seeing if we’d hang in there, how we would develop. Jak + Jil got their attention as a serious range for hospitality and commercial use, and it had this great personality that was uniquely Tait. From then on it was a lot easier to get orders.

End

Lightly gripping the backrest bar, Justin lifts the chair.

6160


6362


6564


6766


Jak + Jil —Tait factory, Thornbury Tuesday 10 July 2012 3.07 PM

We see you’ve decided to have a look at our most famous

couple, Jak + Jil. Jak’s a real man about town, you’ve

probably seen him relaxing with friends inside a café

north-side as well as flirting with a cute backpacker down

in St. Kilda. You don’t need to tell Jil about how Jak gets

around though, she’s usually there, right beside him.

Some might see this couple as a bit wirey, but skinny

jeans aside, they’re as sturdy and dependable as the

day is long.

6968


Jak chairs —Tait factory, Thornbury Monday 9 July 2012 2.45 PM

7170


Jil tables —Tait factory, Thornbury Tuesday 10 July 2012 4.05 PM

7372


Mike and Jak—Tait factory, Thornbury Monday 9 July 2012 2.11 PM

7574


Jak bar stool—Alphington House Sunday 11 August 2013 10.22 AM

7776


Jak + Jil Stay Outside campaign —Alphington House Friday 15 February 2013 8.59 PM

7978


13 squash balls, 1 chance meeting, 18 renders, Sundays in the factory, jazz, 1 prototype, a laser cutter, 4 ribs, 1 launch ...

Flint

with Ross Gardam

8180


Gordon It was May and we were at designEX in Melbourne. Ross was exhibiting and he had his computer set up, running a slide show of products. Standing there looking at it, I saw the Flint table and thought, ‘Wow.’ I really liked the lines, the way the leg hooked over the table top. And this is the way I love working, I could see something I really liked and instantly knew it would easily fit into the Tait family — just by looking at the render1. I waited around at the stand, waiting for Ross to turn up. Sure enough he turned up and we had a chat about it. We had three weeks before Saturday in Design, and nothing was made but I knew it would be fine. The render speaks for itself, and I know the manufacturing process just by looking at it. All Ross had to do was give me the components, laid out flat. So once we’d done that, we went to the laser cutter, back to the factory on Easey Street, bent it all up and had it all laid out ready for Saturday in Design.

Making Flint

designEX, Melbourne May 2009

1

8382


When Ross exhibited his work at the Latitude showcase of emerging designers at designEX in 2009, he was in his second year of practice. He was exhibiting the Squash Me, a lounge chair constructed from plywood, steel and 13 squash balls. Much of his early work had revolved around an exploration of material and process — the product being the outcome of this. “It was more an artistic pursuit,” he remembers. The Flint table, which at that point existed purely in rendered form1, was one of Ross’ first products to respond to the end user.

It was a well refined concept centering on the idea of a leg that levered over the table. It was intended for indoor use, but light years away from manufacture. “I’d created this table and put it in the too-hard basket. I’d spent a fair bit of time refining it, pretty much in a bubble that wasn’t related to materials or process,” Ross recounts. And then Gordon Tait, a local manufacturer whom Ross had met perhaps once or twice through a mutual connection,

Justin Hutchinson (then Ross’s studio partner), made a simple proposition: “I really like that table, I want to make it.” “There was a little bit of design development and drawing, but the form of the object stayed relatively consistent. We pretty much started prototyping,” says Ross. “My fondest memories are of the time spent in Tait’s workshop. Gordon is a talented metal worker and we prototyped Flint over three weeks on a Sunday, listening to jazz on PBS Radio. I remember lots of jazz and hanging in the workshop on Easey Street. There were some issues we had to overcome. The concept entailed the legs levering onto a substrate and pushing the limits of structural stability and structural strength. It was minimising the movement and vibration in the tabletop that posed the problem. “In between the flat prototype and three-dimensional laser cut prototype, I did a lot of design development2, lots of different geometry to give the Flint table structure without compromising the original concept.

“As a designer you can get so focused on solving a problem you can’t see the forest for the trees. The Taits were really good with leading the design, and bringing it back to the original concept. We’d engaged in a process nearly at the end of the design development. Normally there’d be a conversation early on about concept and materials. But with Tait it was straight into it — bang bang bang! “In my experience, it’s great if the manufacturer is invested in the product in some way — it could be as simple as liking the product and wanting to do a good job of producing it to the right standard. It’s always a challenge with small volume

1

2

Ross Gardam, on

working with Tait

A short passage by Alice Blackwood August 2013

8584


production. With Tait, because they manufacture and distribute, they’ve got that amazing engagement with their product; they really care about what that end product is. Coming back to the original design of Flint, we looked at little adjustments3, like minimal looking fins or ribs, that would allow us to retain the original aesthetic of the product.

“Looking at the bare minimum of the table’s structure, we used small fillets in the corners, barely noticeable. We launched at Saturday in Design [Sydney, 2009], and that was a great experience.”

3

1 x Set of Table Components

1 x Set of Bench Components

1 x Table Ribs

8786


Flint table and bench—Tait factory, Thornbury Wednesday 11 August 2012 2.47 PM

8988


Good One

with Al Keating

3 days in Auckland, the 2010 Classic Yacht Regatta, Fair Winds, 1 day in town, the Good One café, 1 Google search, 7 emails, 1 stool, a whole new range ...

9190


Gordon I went to Auckland for The Classic Yacht Regatta. It was 2010. We were racing the Fair Winds, a yacht owned by a friend, Mark Chew. It was the first day of three and the boys had taken the yacht out to test the rig. I’d just landed in Auckland and checked in at the hotel, and I thought while I was there I’d better do some design homework. Out and about I happened across the Good One stool at a café near the docks in Ponsonby, Auckland. The stool had a laser cut hole in the top and a sheet metal design and I thought, ‘That’s right up our alley.’ The café, which incidentally carried the name Good One, was owned by Al Keating, the managing director of Coffee Supreme. Al is also an industrial designer, so he’d designed a stool for the café and naturally called it Good One. So that was it for New Zealand, I saw the stool, sailed the race, and came home to Google Al Keating. I didn’t see any sketches. Al sent me a stool, which I still have at home, and we did the rest. We tweaked the design along the way and we’ve since extended the range to include stools in three heights, as well as tables and bench seats. It was great as the product was already designed, we didn’t have to go through that design phase. So bingo bango, we got straight into it and went straight to manufacturing phase — my favourite part!

Finding the Good One

Ponsonby, Auckland2010

9392


Classic Yacht Regatta—Ponsonby Cruising Club, Auckland 2010

9594


An email to Al

Sunday 21 February 20103.24 PM

>-------- Original Message -------- Feb 21 -- 2010 -- 3:24pm:

Hi AlastairI am keen to talk with you regarding your Good One Stool.Tait designs, manufactures and markets outdoor furniture from our Melbourne base in Collingwood. We have 30 years of manufacturing experience and I am trained in sheet metal. Tait has been in business for 16 years and we have recently opened our new concept store/showroom in Melbourne’s Fitzroy. I am interested in either importing your stool into Australia or preferably manufacturing it here under license. If you would like to discuss this further please email me back. All the bestGordon Tait

>-------- Original Message -------- On 22/02/2010, at 2:03 PM, Al Keating wrote:

Hi Gordon, thanks for your emailYes, I would be keen to talk re. you selling/manufacturing the Good One stool. I remember your place from when I was over your way in October last year.Let’s talk soon. CheersAl

Good One café—Ponsonby, Auckland 2011

9796


>-------- Original Message -------- On 22/02/2010, at 4:39 PM, Gordon Tait wrote:

AlThat’s great, do you have anyone selling them here already?

>-------- Original Message -------- On 22/02/2010, at 5:23 PM, Al Keating wrote:

no, i dontyou’re in firsta

>-------- Original Message -------- On 22/02/2010, at 5:15 PM, Gordon Tait wrote:

Pls email me your phone number

>-------- Original Message -------- On 26/02/2010, at 8:57 AM, Al Keating wrote:

hi gordon, sorry for delayi had a few days offmob - +64 21 451 295wk - +64 9 360 5040 cheersa

>-------- Original Message -------- On 26/02/2010, at 11:34 AM, Gordon Tait wrote:

OK AlWe have contracts with 2 other designers and we are engaging another this year to design a product that Tait will manufacture under license. Jak & Jil by Justin Hutchinson and Flint by Ross Gardam are the 2 products we currently manufacture and distribute. We also have many products that are designed in-house by Tait.I have not seen your stool in the flesh, I am assuming it is sheet metal/rust proofed and powder coated.Check out the products by Justin and Ross on our website.

I’ll give you a call early next week.All the bestGordon Tait

Good One bench—Alphington House Sunday 11 August 201311.03 AM

9998


According to urbandictionary.com, the term “Good

One” is used to congratulate someone for a funny joke.

Complemented with a fist pump. According to Tait, it’s

a range of stools, tables and benches, that were first

seen in one of those funky NZ cafés whilst waiting for

a latte. Tait jumped on the opportunity to bring this

colourful character back to Oz and since then, Good One

has been a mainstay within hospitality, commercial

and home environments.

Jonathan and Good One—Tait factory, Thornbury Tuesday 10 July 20122.25 PM

101100


103102


Good One stools—Tait factory, Thornbury Monday 9 July 20124.37 PM

105104


Airliner

with Adam Goodrum

2 conversations, 1 brief, 20 names, 13 sheets of cantilevered metal, 5mm and 6mm thickness, 4 prototypes, 1 metal sunlounge ...

107106


Adam I met Tait through a mutual friend, Marcus Piper, at Saturday in Design in 2009 — they were launching the Flint table — we met and talked and I suggested that doing something with them would be fantastic. It was a really informal way to meet Susan and Gordon, and they came back nine months later with a brief to create an outdoor sunlounge. The formality of the brief after such a casual introduction was really nice.

Susan Gordon really wanted to create a sculptural sunlounger using only metal. He had a yearning for Tait to get back to what we knew best — metal, and creating beautiful forms with it. We had this brief in mind and once Adam heard it he was very keen. I would have typed up a one page brief, but we don’t like to place too many restrictions on designers — after all we get them in to challenge us! The requirements: Stackability (for hotel contexts), weight, comfort, limit materials to metal. Adam The airliner has big sheets of cantilevered metal, and Gordon would whip one up in the factory, trying it at 6mm and 5mm thicknesses. That sort of expertise and that proactive hands-on approach is really great. Gordon wanted to use all metal, which I found a little bit challenging at first — coming up with a way for metal to be soft and using thin elements to create a sense of cushioning, trying to make it quite light.

The introduction

The brief

The inception of

the Airliner

Saturday in Design, SydneyJuly 2009

The process

109108


Susan and Gordon discuss names

for the new collection with Marcus Piper

and Pollyanna Poulter of design studio

one8one7

Wednesday 19 May 2010 1.16 PM

>-------- Original Message -------- >To: Susan Tait >From: Marcus Piper <studio one8one7> >Sent: Wednesday, 19 May 2010 1:16 PM >Subject: oh oh oh

AIR-LINER / AIR-recLINER?

On 26/07/2010, at 3:12 PM, Susan Tait wrote:

Marcus – something around AIR????

On 26/07/2010, at 3:23 PM, Pollyanna Poulter <studio one8one7> wrote:

So we have Air-liner (sunlounger) and Rec-liner (recliner) but need a range name...Air-restAir-restingOut-liner (ties in with the ‘liner’ theme and the fact they are outdoor products)

Any thoughts, anyone? All welcome! Will keep thinking!Thanks,Polly

On 26/07/2010, at 3:55 PM, Gordon Tait wrote:

Hi there,I like Marcus’s take: AIR recLINER

Or –Airliner Sunliner Oceanliner Oneliner Lowliner BrightlinerStraightliner

On 26/07/2010, at 4:04 PM, Pollyanna Poulter wrote:

Ok, so how about we use Sun-liner for the sun lounger, Rec-liner for the recliner and keep Air-liner as the range name.

On 26/07/2010, at 4:01 PM, Marcus Piper wrote:

That works for me!

On 26/07/2010, at 4:32 PM, Gordon Tait wrote:

Alright you lot.Maybe we should keep AIRLINER for another product in the range and use LINER as the range name. On 26/07/2010, at 4:42 PM, Pollyanna Poulter wrote:

Gordon, can you let me know if these will be available in a range of colours? If so, which colours?

On 27/07/2010, at 9:58 AM, Susan Tait wrote:

Hi Polly,The core colours are white and charcoal with highlights of yellow, pink and blue for arms and side tables. This is really a story for the Saturday in Design installation as going forward we will offer in any powder coat colour of choice. If you need technical material data, look at the Huski range on our website, as the materials and finishes are almost identical. The one difference is the frame, which is electro-polished stainless steel. Gordon might finesse that for us – Gordon? He is in the workshop…

Suzie

111110


113112


Airliner—Tait factory, Thornbury Wednesday 11 July 20127.44 PM

115114


Volley

with Adam Goodrum

4.88m2 expanded steel mesh, 2m of coloured sailing rope, a whip knot, 14 models, 3 conceptual meetings, 2 Blue Gum rails, 17 rounds of tooling ...

117116


A chair using wire and mesh, must be light and airy and must stack. Would ideally like to develop a family around the chair — extending the range to include dining tables, coffee tables and bar height if possible. Warm and friendly enough to suit the residential market but robust enough to serve the hospitality trade.

The Brief

119118


is just incredible. I’m always looking for new material to work with, and there was no other Australian company making outdoor products using this expanded steel mesh, so I thought, ‘There you go, let’s start there.’

Adam It’s quite light, and you can shape it into three-dimensional and compound curves — which is what Tait does in-house. So, I was just playing really, with the mesh, and I started thinking about the source of inspiration — netting, nautical themes, and also referencing tennis nets which are quite Australian. So I started playing with these ideas, knowing the product couldn’t be too overly designed, it needed to be familiar and accessible, with an easy name and friendly language.

Gordon The main challenge was forming the mesh, for which we made special tooling. Another challenge was the roped handle: how would we get the handle to attach to the arm? Adam’s brother is a sailor and he came up with a whip knot, Adam came into the Sydney showroom one day and showed me how to do a whip knot. It wasn’t quite tight enough on the arms but we solved that challenge with drilled holes and epoxy.

Adam The first ‘rail’ was a bit dangerous. I had to wear a helmet.

Gordon The supplier who made the rails — which are Blue Gum incidentally — kindly rushed through another set at a different radius, to give the Saturday in Design visitors a smoother ride...

Adam I have to say, I’ve been focusing more on Australia, and I’ve got so much good stuff going on now. I can honestly say it’s really happening, specifiers really want to specify Aussie product.

End

The launch of Volley: An

interview between Gordon and

Adam, with Alice Blackwood

Tait showroom, Fitzroy Friday 17 August 2012 3.43 PM

Gordon We weren’t always intending to follow the release of Airliner with another collection. However, we’d always wanted to do an outdoor lounge, so we asked whether Adam would design us one, and he came back with a couple of concepts — about 8-10 months ago. On our third meeting [during the conceptual phase] Adam showed some very early renders of Volley.

Adam You’d also suggested it would be nice to do a chair for volume production…

Gordon We did want to also do a volume product with Adam, partly because the Airliner is not really a volume product.

Adam When we started with the Volley, Gordon was really interested in using expanded steel mesh — which looks a bit like netting. You know those paper lanterns, where the paper is carefully slit into a pattern and you pull it out to create an expanded three-dimensional form? Steel mesh is exactly the same; so that’s where it started.

Gordon There’s only a couple of suppliers in Australia who can do it, they’ve got special guillotines that pierce the metal and stretch it at the same time. I’d seen some products in Europe that used a steel mesh — the way they work with material over there

Referring to the Volley Rocker’s curved timber sled base.

121120


Susan We were really excited to start working with Adam. His Stitch chair1 was being produced by Cappellini in Italy, but he was yet to work with a local manufacturer.

He was used to working by email — because of the distance and time difference — but wanted to work hands-on with an Australian producer. Having worked with him now I get that. He’s a very tactile person, very passionate, and his method is quite active. He’s quite exuberant but always at ease. When we meet, we sit down and then all get up, and then we sit down again to try a chair.2 He’s an early morning worker, so sometimes we have breakfast chats on the phone.

On working with Adam

1

2

Adam loves coming to the factory to see what processes are available, learning our capabilities, and designing towards that. He enjoys having this involvement; he understands the financial restraints that come into a brief and he’s happy to talk about that. He thinks about all those things that are important to a finished piece, and it makes the process really easy. Adam also has access to amazing 3D printers and often does 3D renders3 for us. He’s a bit like Mary Poppins. He’ll start talking and then he’ll pull tiny models4 out of his pocket — pop pop pop! — surprising us with, ‘I have these little chairs’ and ‘What do you think of this?’

It was only when we asked Adam if he had sketches that he sent us a page of beautiful drawings5. Not many people care about sketches as part of the working process, but I quite love them.

43

5

123122


125124


Volley chairs —Tait factory, Thornbury Tuesday 24 July 20123.04 PM

127126


Say hello to Volley. Volley is equally happy sitting

courtside, next to all the action, as relaxing on a terrace,

soaking up the summer sun. Modern and independent,

Volley comes from a large family filled with rockers and

bar-tenders alike. The common thread being their ability

to suit any occasion. A true team–player and crowd–

pleaser, who’s not unlikely to receive standing ovations.

Volley chairs —Tait factory, Thornbury Wednesday 11 July 20121.09 PM

129128


Volley chair —Tait factory, Thornbury Tuesday 10 July 201212.26 PM

131130


Volley rockers —Tait factory, Thornbury Wednesday 11 July 201212.58 PM

Volley family —Tait factory, Thornbury Wednesday 11 July 201212.50 PM

133132


135134


Volley chair —Scottie Cameron’s studio, Fitzroy Friday 5 July 201311.12 AM

137136


Volley rocker —Clovelly House Saturday 15 September 201210.21 AM

139138


Volley rocker Play Outside campaign —Eva and Griffin at Acorn Park Fairfield— Monday 12 November 20121.12 PM

141140


Volley chair Think Outside campaign —North-east corner of George Knott Reserve Clifton Hill, overlooking Merri Creek— Tuesday 16 October 20127.19 AM

143142


80% right, 2D sketches, 3D prototyping, telepathic communications, 134 trips upstairs, 28 trips down, a mood board of pattern, colour and shape ...

Breeze

with Susan and Gordon

145144


Gordon and Susan had wanted to do a couch for a number of years, but were happily sidelined by the unexpected appearance of the Volley chair during early discussions with Adam Goodrum. “We’d wanted to make a couch for a couple of years,” says Gordon. “And after Volley we picked this idea up again.” Gordon had already developed an idea on the materials he wanted to use — in particular woven wire, a tactile material that felt like a natural progression from the denser textures of the Volley’s expanded steel mesh. “I love the honesty of those materials because the angles are so raw and the wire is quite three-dimensional. The weave in the wire makes it look tactile, soft and airy.” Gordon largely designs in the second dimension, dismissing the ‘fancy’ three-dimensional capabilities of advanced 3D printing and computer generated modeling with: “I missed the boat on that one.” Instead he uses Auto CAD. “I sit down with CAD open and draw different versions. It has to be 80 per cent right before we go to prototype, I have to be happy with it visually. I prefer to make it in 3D, rather than computer generate it.” An intuitive knowledge of dimension, process and material capability garnered from years spent in the workshop allows him to visualise the end product, without having to see it drawn in perspective. For years he would sketch out initial ideas in CAD (rarely by hand), before heading into the workshop

Building the Breeze A short passage by Alice Blackwood August 2013

147146


to prototype, but these days it works differently. “With Breeze I handed my initial 2D renders over to the manager, who handed it over to the maker. I used to make all my own prototypes, up until (and including) Airliner.” Being able to hand over to the production team and allow them to prototype and develop the product affords Gordon important time to run the company. Moments of creativity and design development happen almost in tandem with day-to-day business. Susan brings a refined eye and aesthetic to the Tait product range. She has a strong sense of brand, and intuitively knows when a product is ‘on brand’ or diverging from the path. Her design sense — often absorbed in brand development and marketing — picks up the more visual and tactile elements of colour, pattern, shape and layering of materials — such as timber on steel. “I often have mood boards on the wall. I’m like a magpie, collecting lots of different visual references; as a piece begins to evolve, I then single out specific ideas and samples,” she says. Since its conception, the Breeze lounge — named for its ventilated, ‘breezy’ woven wire1 frame — has been extended into a range encompassing daybed, armchair, lounger2 and coffee table. The expansion of the range has happened rapidly, and as a result of candid customer feedback.

“Because the factory is just a stone’s throw away we can react to demand and turn around a new piece really quickly,” says Gordon. “And the guys in the factory love it. They love to design, they want to make new things.”

1 2

Gordon and Susan’s relationship with their factory is collaborative and free flowing. Tait’s current Thornbury headquarters allows for a seamless interchange between upstairs (where the Tait offices are located), and downstairs (the factory floor). “Sometimes it will be Gordon and I down there3 with our head welder, factory manager and production manager, standing around a trolley discussing a finish, making sure we’re happy with the results,” says Susan.

“Sometimes they’ll bring a prototype upstairs, we’ll sit on it, have a chat about arm height, depth, basic functionality. They might go back down to chop a bit out, weld a bit in. They are very hands-on, they love nutting things out, and getting involved. They’re an amazing resource.”

3

149148


151150


153152


A cool Breeze has blown into town and presents us

with the newest place to chill. Whether you’re looking

for a cosy nook to share with friends and family or a

spot to curl up and forget about the week that’s passed,

Breeze is a breath of fresh air in the outdoor lounge

category. Simple and elegant, just add cushions and

you’ll be right as rain.

Eva on the Breeze sofa —Tait factory, Thornbury Wednesday 11 July 20125.25 PM

155154


Breeze sofa —Tait factory, Thornbury Wednesday 11 July 20124.50 PM

157156

The practice Tait: 1993 — 2013Archive 3

Contract markets, the GFC, calculated risks, retail spaces, the factory, new identity, visionary moments, reflection and enlightenment, Tait today ...

The practice

3

159158


Susan When the GFC [global financial crisis] hit, the commercial world stopped. We had a lot of big projects that were put on hold or cancelled, and that was a shock to our business. We’d never had to tackle such an abrupt fall-off before, and it made us reassess who we were talking to. We were totally focused on commercial markets, but we hadn’t yet considered the possibilities of talking to a consumer market. At the time we were still in our factory at Easey Street, and we’d devoted the upper level to a showroom, mainly catering for trade customers. We were not at all prepared for dealing with retail customers, but despite our appointment-only policy and complete lack of point-of-sale, we were attracting more and more interest — particularly from weekend shoppers. Gordon had been keen for ages to open a shop and the GFC was pleading an increasingly strong case for broadening our footprint. We were pretty naïve about opening a retail outlet, particularly in a GFC, but Gordon and I really operate on gut instinct and so when a shop front became available (on the corner of Johnson and Napier Streets in Fitzroy), we jumped at the opportunity. Following our instincts we harnessed the powers of a minimal budget and maximum elbow grease, and made three pivotal moves right in the middle of the GFC. Our Fitzroy store opened in 2009, followed by the Sydney store in 2011, and we

A new store, a new identity

and a coming of age

161160


moved our factory and offices from Collingwood to Thornbury in 2011. From the start we wanted the stores to be very welcoming, and not at all intimidating. Setting up the shops was like stepping back into my retail comfort zone. We looked at colour schemes and how we would design the space to be warm and inviting, rather than an austere showroom space. Introducing locally crafted products and natural materials was a good way of softening our raw, industrial palette of timber, metal and glass, and it also communicated a strong story of Australian designed, Australian made. The Tait stores were really the first time we’d had our whole range displayed all together in one space, and it was really impressive. Before that we’d only had the odd piece on show at a furniture store. For the first time, people could look at the entire Tait range and it was exciting to be able to present it in our own branded environment. We found the locals seemed to know us, and in those initial days of constructing the space, when we still had the newspaper up on the windows, people would peer through the gaps in the paper facade and give us the thumbs up. A lot of our first orders were from around Fitzroy and I was really touched by the support from our local customers. It was often a big investment for them, but they really wanted a Tait product in their homes.

Gordon Meanwhile, our brand had evolved from a big bold orange logo into a fine, capital-lettered orange logo. It was a lot of years in orange — almost twelve, and one morning I woke up and thought, ‘We’ve got to change that logo.’ I turned to Suzie and said, “Call Rob.” The team at studio Round, headed up by Rob and Michaela, have been a really great support. We knew we needed to update our website, there was also the logo, so we decided to address everything, including our collateral. The intensive process of rebranding played out over a six-month period, and entailed a lot of meetings with Round about the brand and

what it meant to us. Round also spoke with a lot of our clients about how they perceived Tait. Out of this process we identified the ‘book ends’ of our business: the need to improve our visibility — hence the need for a new website — and to refine our follow-up service, beyond sale and installation of products. It was at times challenging, but Round’s ability to distil the very essence of the brand — of the business and vision Suzie and I had built — left us astounded and excited. And when we presented the new branding to the factory staff, they too were excited. It was like it gave them an injection of energy. We were really blown away by that — that it was just as important to them too.

Brand Strategy Tait Outdoor

18 May, 2012©Round

Quality Craftsmanship

The Test of Time

Design is the Difference

Melbourne Authentic

Vision To be the leading designer and manufacturer of outdoor furniture, designed specifically for people and the Australian environment.

Purpose

To make contemporary outdoor furniture that lasts a lifetime.

Brand Platforms

Quality craftsmanship is our obsession. It speaks directly to our passion for making and creating and using our hands to craft our products piece by piece.

Our furniture lasts the test of time in one of the harshest environments on the planet. The continued quality of our craftsmanship and materials form the basis of our reputation.

We value design. It’s what helps differentiate us from manufacturers. Our approach to design can be summed up as ‘Innovative. Characterful. Felt.’

Our products are all made by hand in our local Melbourne factory. This helps us continue to innovate, keep an eye on quality, customise orders and keep our lead times short. Our factory is open, our processes are transparent and our people are accessible so our customers can experience our hands-on craftsmanship in their own backyard.

163162


The Tait factory —Thornbury, MelbourneFriday 24 August 20125.38 PM

165164


Susan Building our brand to be ‘Made By Tait’ has

become one of our strongest and most unique messages.

Finding and establishing that voice was a pivotal part

of the rebrand process, because many people didn’t

realise that Tait made all its own furniture in Australia.

Because of the styling of the product — which is

quintessentially Australian and yet quite sophisticated —

people just assumed it was made overseas.

When we launched our new brand and received

Best Australian Product Launch for Volley at Saturday

in Design 2012, it created a real buzz among the

architecture and design community. I felt like we had

finally grown up.

167166


169168


Susan There have been many moments over the last

21 years when we’ve felt we’ve been leagues ahead of our

time. People would describe us as ‘edgy’, we were quite

contemporary, and I realised then that we inhabited a

unique niche. Today our designs are more contemporary

than ever and quite distinctive yet accessible.

Nowadays people are not so concerned with

following European trends (myself included!). Our

customers are very brave with their choices of colour

and material mixes, and their unique, quintessentially

Australian tastes are a real credit to the products

we design and produce.

171170


Gordon, Susan and P.W. Tiller — Tait factory, ThornburyWednesday 22 August 20121.36 PM

173172


5 logos, 3 websites, 17 photo shoots, 2 retail spaces, 4 factories, 96 staff, 2 houses, 2 kids, 1 dog, 2 goldfish, 8 chickens, 2 vans, 1 combi, 2 utes, 5 motorbikes, 8 bicycles, 28 product ranges, 685 clients, loads of friends, 6 designers, 21 years

21 years

Good times

175174


Thanks—Alice Blackwood Richard BurneMax Soans-BurneScottie CameronNicholas ChadwickMark ChewLeanne Cullinan Mike GiesserAdam Goodrum Jim Hogan Justin HutchinsonDamian Kelly Bianca LazzaroMarisia Lukaszewski

Lynne Meaney Jenni MeaneyKevin MowlesBill, Jill & David Mudford Rob NuddsMarcus Piper Studio Round David Ryan Elise SantangeloCoco TaitLily Tait Roger Tait Michaela Webb

And the many supporters, family and friends who have accompanied us on this rocky journey.

Photography—Scottie Cameron: Front cover, 48 top left, 64-65, 67-73, 76-77, 86-87, 99-103, 112-113, 125, 127-135, 138-140, 150-151, 153-155, 163, 165-167, 169Studio Round: 9, 15, 121 top right, 122-123, 148-149Mark Chew: 28-29, 31, 92-93Shannon McGrath: 40, 42 Anton Ward: 41 Stuart Hall: 74-75, 97, 147 Al Keating: 90Doug Johns: 94Natalie Hunfalvay, Adam Robinson, Josh Harrison: 137 Lucy Feagins [The Design Files]: 170

Publications—Page 27, top left: The Australian Magazine, July 4-5 1998Page 27, top right + bottom left: Interiors, December/January 1998/99 Page 27, bottom right: Vogue Living, February/March 1995 Page 38-39: Vogue Living, December/January 2002 Page 42: Inside Magazine, Issue 31 2004

First published 2013 / © 2013 Tait

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of Tait.

Design Studio Round round.com.au

Words Alice Blackwood aliceblackwood.com

176

The practiceArchive 3

tait 21years

Documents