Maison&Objet have presented Melbourne design collective Lab De Stu with the Rising Talent Award, with the group set to exhibit at the Singapore fair in March 2016.
Lab De Stu is a design studio made up of three individuals – Adam Lynch, Dale Hardiman and Andre Hnatojko – who each run their own practices under the uniform banner. Lab De Stu’s work crosses disciplines and brings together each designer’s own distinct aesthetic to form a multi-faceted organisation.
Adam’s individual projects are minimalized everyday items, brought down to the basics to enhance appreciation of the piece’s form. An example of this is his ‘TBC1’ chair, a product in a growing line of seating. The tube chair features sleek tubing with a basic leather hide seat, the leather allowing one to make their own individual imprint on the piece, subject to its use.
Focusing strongly on materials and their source, Dale’s work features distinctive textures, as seen in ‘polly’ – a range of homewares created with standard kitchen utensils and coloured pigment manipulated throughout. Texture is however nowhere as apparent as in Dale’s ‘kids straw stool,’ a biodegradable three footed stool made from pea straw and grass seeds, a curious design that intelligently accounts for how quickly children grow out of things.
Meanwhile, Hnatojko’s works cross contaminate different design approaches to produce a collection of futuristic and varied lighting solutions. ‘CUP’ is a clean light shade which combines geometry with a sphere for a contemporary and eye-catching piece. Contrastingly, the ‘copper popper’ is a bold statement piece made from pure copper, hand finished to leave a stunning shine, reflective of the light it shelters.
