We are thrilled to be partnering up with our good friends at Gaffa to bring a bigger, better super-exciting range of cutting edge young designers and makers for this year’s Finders Keepers Market. If you are bursting with ideas for new products and you’d love to test them on the market, drop us an email to find out more information! APPLICATIONS ARE DUE MONDAY NOVEMBER 7.

We are looking for thoughtful, interesting, well made, beautiful, intriguing, entertaining products. &company is primarily interested in homewares products and items that would make amazing gifts (the kind of gifts you want for the people you love most, and that you occasionally succumb to and buy for yourself…). The key things we are looking for are: a good idea, a well-made product, a design intended to be used and loved.

Things are getting a bit of a shake up this time – in the past, designers have had to pay a fee for joining our stall, but this is a thing of the past. There is no entry fee, but if your work is selected we will recieve a standard consignment commission of 44% of the sale price. This is an opportunity open to students and emerging designers (usually within the first 5 years of their professional practice).

If you or anyone you know is interested in getting involved, please shoot us an email (hello(at)andcompany(dot)com(dot)au) for an application pack.

We are thrilled to have settled into our new home (for the next 6 months) in the Arcade of the Gaffa Precinct. &company has exhibited at and collaborated with our good friends at Gaffa many times over the last two years, so it seemed a natural progression to move in when one of the little holding cells (from the heritage-listed building’s past life as a police station) became available. The tiny space is mostly studio, with a shop-front that is jam-packed with designs produced by &company as well as other independent designers. Everything int the store is by emerging or early career designers, and everything is made in Australia. We think it also needs to be said that everything in the store is really rather beautiful, much of it handmade, all of it designed to be loved and used everyday. We have new stock coming all the time, so pop by and say hullo! As it is our studio, we do occasionally pop out to visit makers, manufacturers and clients, so if we miss you and you want to have a snoop around the shop, just ask the lovely staff at the gaffa counter to help you out!

During Sydney Design 2011, the Gaffa precinct was buzzing with creativity during our second annual See-Saw project. This year’s title was “Mend, Make-Do and Build Anew” in response to the festival theme “Is Old New Again?”. Presented by &company and our project partners, Gaffa Gallery, See-Saw brought together 20 students from diverse design disciplines. In teams of 4, they were allocated an industry mentor, a select range of materials and two days each to respond to a design challenge: To re-examine the City of Sydney through new eyes, and identify opportunities for design to mend, make-do or build anew. 

The two week event began with a symposium exploring design, urban intervention, community and the city. We had some great speakers that kicked our brains into an inspired overload!  Glen Wallace and Eva Rodriguez from the City of Sydney Council talking about the city, the 2030 plan for a green, global and connected city, and it’s public art programs. Selena Griffith (COFA lecturer and DESIS (Design Education for Social Innovation and Sustainability) Node Coordinator for Australia) spoke about social innovation and the role of design. Zanny Begg (director of the Tin Sheds Gallery, The University of Sydney), shared her experiences with art projects and community building in Australia and overseas. Tom Rivard, architect and designer (of Lean productions, and Urban Islands project) took us through “39 Strategies for Design”. 

Each team was assigned a basic human need, and something that makes us “more human” that they had to respond to. Throughout the two week exhibition, the public was invited to come and watch the designers in action through a live video feed as the works grew. Continue reading →

This Thursday, 28 July, we are thrilled to present the first ever See-Saw Symposium: Design and the City. Along with our project partners gaffa, we are running the second See-Saw collaborative student design challenge for Sydney Design festival, but this time you can all join us for an afternoon of ideas, projects and discussions about the place of design in our city.

WHEN: The symposium runs from 1:30pm – 5:30pm and is followed by drinks to launch the whole See-Saw project. Thursday 28 July

COST: $33 including afternoon tea.

BOOKINGS: Places are strictly limited and are selling fast! Bookings HERE. or contact Gaffa at zoe@gaffa.com or (+61) 02 9283 4273

PROGRAM:

MAKING-CITY-ART || City of Sydney , Eva Rodriguez Riestra & Glenn Wallace

Eva Rodriguez Riestra: Public Art Program Manager, City of Sydney

As the City of Sydney’s Public Art Program Manager since 2005 Eva has overseen the development and creation of a broad and diverse public art program. With a professional background in architecture, urban design, photography and graphic design, Eva is a regular guest lecturer on public art, public space, peace and the environment. Eva is a founding member of Architects for Peace and is completing post-graduate research in Art History.

Glenn Wallace: Special Projects Program Manager, City Design Unit, City of Sydney

Playing a key role on the City of Sydney’s major strategic planning projects including the Local Action Plans, Sustainable Sydney 2030 and the CITY ART Public Art Strategy, Glenn has a deep understanding of Council’s important inspirational and leadership role. Glenn has coordinated the Laneway Art program since 2008 and is presently coordinating a range of special projects including aspects of the Eora Journey.

NEXUS : COLLABORATION : INNOVATION  ||  Selena Griffith

Selena Griffith is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Design Studies at COFA where she coordinates the Design Management and Practice courses. Originally qualifying for a Bachelor of Industrial Design, Honors, Selena has worked as a Design Manager in a variety of contexts from in-house to international consultancy and as a freelance designer with her own consultancy. Selena researches in Design Management, Sustainability, Collaboration, Social Innovation, Service Design, Futures and Education. Her interest in creating positive futures through transformative design thinking as led her to produce teaching tools and methods to assist with the development of innovation, collaboration and design thinking skills. Selena is very interested in how organisations can most effectively utilise design thinking to deliver more sustainable products and services. Co-creation and nexus – where people from different backgrounds and professions come together in collaborations that result in innovation or new perceptions has fascinates Griffith and she not only researches in this area but has also developed courses to teach the skills needed to run multidisciplinary creative collaborations.

REMAKING THE CITY  ||  Zanny Begg

Zanny Begg is the Director of Tin Sheds Gallery, the Faculty of Architecture, Design and Planning, The University of Sydney. She is an artist, curator and writer – her work often revolving around an investigation of the politics of space, both in the broader globalised context and a more specific local one. Zanny was invited to Hong Kong for an Australia-China Council Residency (May 2007), Indonesia for an Asia-Link Residency (June 2008), for a Performance Space Residency in Redfern, Australia (Oct 2008) and Australia Council Residency in Chicago (2010). Her recent exhibitions include the Sharjah Biennial, United Arab Eremites, Emeraldtown, Artspace, Sydney, Istanbul Beinnale, Taipei Beinnal and Self Education – Self organization, National Centre for Contemporary Art, Moscow, Russia. Her recent curatorial projects include There Goes The Neighbourhood (www.theregoestheneighbourhood.org) and The Right to the City (www.therighttothecity.com). For more information www.zannybegg.com

STRATEGIES FOR COLLABORATIVE DESIGN  ||  Tom Rivard

Tom Rivard will be presenting live from Melbourne’s Sate of Design festival, where he will be working on a collaborative, cross-disciplinary installation. Architect and designer, director of Lean Productions and Urban Islands.

SEE-SAW PROJECT INTRODUCTION & BRIEFING  ||  Anna Lise De Lorenzo

Anna Lise De Lorenzo, Director of &company, presenting partner of See-Saw. You are welcome to sit in on the briefing for participating students and mentors taking part in the See-Saw project. Hear about the project and what will happen over the next 12 days.

LAUNCH DRINKS  ||

Gaffa is presenting a dynamic mix of events for the Sydney Design festival, join us for a drink to launch See-Saw and see the other exhibitions and installations in the space!

&company and our project partner Gaffa gallery are thrilled to present the second innings of See-Saw: Mend, Make-Do and Build Anew. We would love you to join us for our next big project!

Now in it’s second year, See-Saw invites top design students to join in an cross-disciplinary, collaborative investigation: they are asked to combine their skills and imagine future solutions for their city, Sydney. What needs mending? How can we make do? And what requires total rethinking, and justifies building anew? Over 8 days, each group will be allocated two days each to work within Gaffa – they have a limited selection of materials, limited time, and at the end of their session their response to the brief will be installed in the gallery. Students will work alongside an industry professional as a source of guidance, direction and education.

You can watch the design challenge unfold: everyday the groups can be seen hard at work. From Friday July 29, the exhibition will grow with each new installation. See-Saw is an official Sydney Design 2011 event.

New to the project this year are two special events. We are kicking off with a Symposium, and ending with a public presentation of the works before the wrap party – click more for full event details, we look forward to seeing you there! Continue reading →

Now open and taking bookings, Gaffa’s Meeting Room has finally launched! A space in the heart of the city where you can meet for coffe with clients, friends, or a little work quiet-time on your own. Be it a chat about business propositions, to present your portfolio for an upcoming job, to launch a new product, to show your designs to industry at an invitation-only event, to hold workshops, discussions, film screenings, sketch-clubs… the possibilities are endless! For bookings, contact Gaffa at info(at)gaffa(dot)com(dot)au.

Over the coming months, The Meeting Room will be transformed by other designers and design students, but for the next few weeks it is in &company’s hands. The proposal was tough but exciting: 2 weeks, tiny budget, and a blank police holding cell… we couldn’t resist! &company approached a team of amazing local designers and working with hacked/customised furniture finds and ikea staples, the team collaborated to create an intimate, contemporary private library (ok, so maybe it needs a few more books…).

A huge shout out to a few incredible individuals who’s stellar efforts helped this come together – Sabrina and Nina Baker, Tom, Jacqueline Chan, Tonia Bell, Francis, and Zoe Brand – ladies and gents, you rock our world. Works in the installation are available for comission or for sale, please contact us at hello(at)andcompany(dot)come(dot)au to enquire.

Designers involved were: Nina Baker, Sabrina Baker, Tonia Bell, Hahna Busch, Jacqueline Chan, Anna Lise De Lorenzo, Ben Elbourne, Sarah Long, Coco Reynolds, Sonya Scott and Harriet Watts. Much thanks to Tappeti Rugs for their generous support of the project.

Come by and check it out – it will be open Monday-Friday 10am – 6pm, Saturday 11am – 5pm. If you are an emerging designer and you want to get involved in projects like these, shoot us an email at design(at)andcompany(dot)com(dot)au.

Design development in progress, new &company designer Coco Reynolds... stay tuned to see these odds and ends transformed over the coming weeks!

It has been keenly awaited and long promised, but the time has finally come: &company is holding another New Designer Briefing session! We’ve had so many emails from interested designers wanting to know how they can get involved – some with ideas ready to show and share, others looking to find out a little more and keen to create new work. The session introduces the current brief in depth, explains the different ways that you can get involved with us and gives you a chance to ask all the questions you can think of. What better way to kick off a long weekend designing up a storm!

Our good friends at Gaffa Gallery’s Klink Cafe have opened their doors to us. We will be hosting a session at 11am on Saturday 11 June (yes, that’s about a week away!). We realise it’s soon, and that it’s a long weekend, so if you can’t make it, please get in touch anyway to let us know so we can organise another one.

The Lowdown:

Places are strictly limited, bookings are essential – see below for details.

• Time: 11am – 12.30pm
• Date: Saturday 11 June 2011
• Location: Klink Cafe, Gaffa Gallery: 281 Clarence Street, Sydney (behind the QVB)
• What to bring: just yourself – and maybe some change so you can sip on some of the best coffee in Sydney! We’ll supply everything else.

RSVP ESSENTIAL: hahna(at)andcompany(dot)com(dot(au)

Please pass this link onto anyone you think ought to be there!

With our boxes of made-with-love goods stacked to the ceiling, &company made our mark at the Autumn Finders Keepers. The weather was lovely, the crowds somewhat insane, and once again, we had a wonderful time chatting with old friends and making new acquaintances. We were so proud to present such a strong selection of works by an incredibly talented posse of local designers. With 3 &company products by Harriet Watts, Naomi Taplin and Sarah Long, we also shared some completely new, previously unseen works by independent designers including Jacmatsuo, Hahna Busch, Dubble You, David Busch and Whitefinches Design. If you were mulling over a purchase and feel you missed your chance, shoot us an email at hello(at)andcompany(dot)com(dot)au and we will out you in touch with the designers.

the quiet before the storm...

and after!

Jacmatsuo's quirky hand-sewn accessories.

We loved watching the smirks on peoples faces as they took in the text on Dubble You's cheeky teatowels!

click below for more pics of the amazing wares!

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Yes indeed, this weekend the Finders Keepers Market is back at carriageworks and &company will be there with bells on. We’ve been shaking off the sawdust from our brand new share-shop design, and we can’t wait to share our talented designers with you. With porcelain tealights from Louise Martiensen, Hahna’s hand-scren-printed lampshades, Jacmatsuo’s signature quirky textile accessories, flat-pack candle holders and (truly, quite entertaining) teatowels from Dubblyou, turned timber bowls by David Busch, &company’s Bounty shells by Naomi Taplin and Milkskins by Harriet Watts,  and a few other goodies in the mix too!

Friday 20th May from 6pm – 10pm
Saturday 21st May from 10am – 5pm

The markets will be held at:
The inside foyer at CarriageWorks – 245 Wilson Street, Eveleigh NSW 2015.
The pedestrian entrance is at the corner of Codrington Street and Wilson Street.
Wheelchair ramp and level access at all entrances. Fully accessible toilets.

Nearest train:
Redfern or Macdonaldtown and its only a short walk from King Street in Newtown.

The markets are free entry and parking is available however it is limited. There is no ATM at the markets and most stalls will trade cash only, please be prepared. For more info about where nearest ATM’s are and full list of public transport please see CarriageWorks website - Visiting Us page.

In the last days of our exhibition, In Good Company, at Object Gallery, we held one final dinner: a select guest list of friends, supporters and participants joined &company for one final hurrah in the gallery. This was an informal dinner party, where we were joined at the table by chef and owner of Black Star Pastry, Chris Thé, who focussed on what he does best: three of the most amazingly delicious pies you could imagine: Lamb Shank, Chicken, and Spinach & Mushroom. Unfortunately, in our excitement, we forgot to take photos till it was too late, and all that was left were smashed remnants of pastry, filling, and the smell of deliciousness lingering in the air.

More delicious images, just click the link!

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