Hello!
My name is Matt Allison.
I go by many titles with over a decade of experience in the design industry. My work has been featured in various lifestyle publications including Home, House & Leisure, Elle Decoration, VISI, Real Estate, Good Taste & The Sunday Times.
Based in Sydney, Australia my approach to interior styling and design is clean and timeless. I believe in creating spaces that are simple and functional, yet practical enough to deal with the ever-growing demands of daily life.
Thank you for visiting.
Author Archives: Matt
Morphosis Chopstix Lamp
Morphosis Design Studios are Warno Rüde and Werner Venter, based out of Pretoria these two young gentlemen are forging a force in the local design scene.
I first ‘discovered’ them at last years Design Indaba Expo where they were part of the ever talented group of ‘Emerging Creatives’, launching a line of 3 custom-made furniture pieces made from Iroko (Nigerian Teak), a dense and durable wood that contains its own natural oils.
Fast forward to Design Indaba Expo 2013 and they’re back with a joint design with wooly wonder woman, Ronel Jordaan, aptly titled ‘The Chopstix Lamp’.
In their words:
Our new chopstix lamp is a combination of high quality materials and craftsmanship. The clean modern bamboo frame in combination with the 100% wool, from Ronel Jordaan, results in a sculptural light that can be used for ambient lighting in any room. Available in four colours. (light fittings included).
The lamp is available directly from Morphosis for R1100.00 (price at the time of publishing) along with their earlier offerings.
Design Indaba Expo 2013
One of the highlights on my creative calendar is the Design Indaba Expo, it’s grown from strength to strength over the years and I’m happy to share this year it’s even bigger and better. The talent, especially in the Emerging Creatives field, is outstanding.
I popped in today, though sadly I didn’t have NEARLY enough time to take it all in, but what I saw impressed me, below are a few of my personal highlights.
First up is Mr. Fox, a young duo from Durban. The owners, both in different creative fields, wanted to try their hand at product design. The results are spectacular! Two desk lamp offerings, a pendant light, a table, magazine rack and shelves, all reasonably priced. They’ve chosen to stick with white oak as their wood of choice, which is sustainably sourced and makes them stand out from others who’ve chosen to go with the ubiquitous ‘Scandi’ choice of birch and/or ash.
While on the topic of sustainability, nothing came close to matching Milkshed. Owner Blaire Rieger works in the building industry by trade and out of that spun a desire to the offcuts and waste to create bespoke pieces, creating the cutest furniture, hand turned out of her Grandfather’s old Milkshed. Better still is that 100% of the profits are put back into local community programs in the Eastern Cape where they are based. Above are her reversible tables and chairs made of reclaimed Oregon pine and 10mm steel. The trike is a one-off piece made from a reclaimed mahogany window frame and powder coated pulleys for wheels.
Interior designer Nina du Plessis’s pulp light fittings turned eyes, seen hung between her faceted wall hooks, again made from reclaimed timber, primarily oak and beech and affordable at only R80 each!
Lighting was strong this year with another offering coming via my friend, Graeme Bettles, of Graeme Bettles Designs. The sitting lamp comes in two sizes and he’ll also be launching two new products at the expo this weekend.
After running the emerging creatives gauntlet I headed over to the food court to check out my Mexican food friends, El Burro’s new food wagon, she’s a beauty, the food even more so. Keep an eye out for them coming to a venue near you soon!
Marc & Lyall of Thingking fame never cease to amaze, and while the plant stands aren’t a new product per say, they are one of their latest commercial offerings. I fell in love with them at the Flower Safari Exhibition and still have plans to add one to our ever-growing plant collection.
I popped into to see my good friend Lucas R Adams at his Kraftisan stand, which was HUMMING. If you recall last year he launched his Luna Light there as an emerging creative and sold out on buyers day. This year he launches the flapstand, a laser cut birch ply laptop stand, which I’m using as I type this. He made 70 for the show and at close of business today he was left with 7.
On my way out I stopped by Saks Corner, Dan was exhibiting his mid-mod furniture. I bumped into him earlier this week and he asked if he could run it by me and I offered him a few suggestions and tips, being a first time exhibitor.
Overall a fantastic event, if you’re in town you HAVE to visit and huge kudos to Kelly and her team for pulling together yet another benchmark event.