Designwork 07

Makiko Ryujin is a Melbourne-based designer 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 Makiko, 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.

Industrial Designer Jonathan Ben-Tovim designs and makes experimental lighting and furniture works which explore the process of recontextualising found objects and source materials. Jonathan utilizes the symbolism and cultural references of the existing materials to imbue new narratives into his final pieces.

His designs seek to question materials, manufacturing processes and globalised production in the delivery of commercially mass-produced goods. Exhibiting nationally and internationally, his work has been presented at Salon Del Mobile, Milan and Dutch Design Week (2007, 2009); Dubai Design Week (2015); and Melbourne Design Week (2017-2022). Jonathan’s floor lamp An ode to the airbag (2019) appeared in the NGV Triennial 2020 and is held in the Gallery’s permanent collection along with his work Off-piste bench (2015), and Crash Wall Lamps (2017).

Over the past decade, Ashley Eriksmoen has been salvaging timber and appropriating discarded wood furniture to construct her artworks. Her work addresses deforestation, reduction of wildlife habitat, contested/shared landscapes, natural resource use, consumerism and waste. She is a strong believer in the power of contemporary craft and design as a means of tackling pressing environmental and societal issues.

Ashley’s work is exhibited nationally and internationally, most recently in Sculpture by the Sea (Bondi 2022, Cottesloe 2023). She was the winner of both the 2021 Clarence Prize for Excellence in Furniture Design, and the 2022 Australian Furniture Design Awards. Her work is in the collections of the NGV (Melbourne), the RISD Art Museum (Providence, USA) and The Center for Art in Wood (Philadelphia).