Local heroes and locally made

WE usually think of ourselves as a patriotic bunch. But that sentiment doesn’t often spill over to design and manufacturing.

An Australian story: This office desk by Porktown Manufacturing Custom Furniture, based in Preston, Victoria, is available from Handkrafted.

WE usually think of ourselves as a patriotic bunch.

We get worked up about the flag, about key dates in the year and the selling of national food brands.

And it’s understandable. All those things are expressions of who we are as a nation and say something about our national character.

But that sentiment doesn’t often spill over to design and manufacturing.

Indeed, for years now we’ve become enamoured of imported design knock-offs labelled as “replica” furniture. And again, I get it.

It’s lovely to sit down to dinner on one of those “must-have” chairs while a “must-have” pendant lights the table. But there’s a price to be paid for that.

The Wedge Stand by Matt Pearson is a timber coat stand that features a series of movable timber pegs. It breaks down and assembles without the need for tools and is completely flat-packable into a custom-made carton. It is 100 per cent designed and made in Australia, from Handkrafted, handkrafted.com

Celebrate Australian made with these Tessellate ceramic bowls by Hayden Youlley Design.

Aside from cheap furniture just not being built to last and too often ending up in landfill, there’s a real risk that we’re overlooking great local designers and manufacturers.

I know a lot of people think of locally made furniture as being prohibitively expensive, but it doesn’t have to be. A couple of years ago, I bought a bed for one of my kids manufactured in Sydney’s southwest for the same price as a similar import.

Better yet, I could specify exactly what I wanted in the showroom — drawers under the bed on the left hand side so that it could be pushed against the bedroom wall.

If you’re looking for something that’s a bit unique, there are craftspeople scattered all over the city — and the state — designing and making amazing homewares from ceramics and glassware through to lighting and furniture. It may not be recognisably from a designer but it comes with its own story. An Australian story.

And it keeps our design and manufacturing industry alive. That’s advancing Australia, fairly.