NEWS RELEASE
July 1 2002
Award winning furniture takes flight
Schumacher with fly to
Asahikawa, Japan this week to collect a Bronze Leaf award for his original
design of a translucent fabric room divider.
The Furniture Design
Competition is held every three years, attracting more than 800 entries
from around the world. Schumacher was short listed in the top 34 who were
asked to submit completed pieces for this year’s event.
“I explored various
configurations before settling on the final design,” Schumacher said.
The first prototype was made in a week. It was only on completion of the
prototype that the translucent affects became apparent; lights behind the
screen gave very interesting shades and shadows.
Schumacher flagged good
design processes as the key to superior design.
“This enables you to take
what you see around you and know how to turn these things into unique
viable designs. A good sound understanding of a diverse range of materials
and processes, and, or the ability to explore this aspect of design is
also a vital element,” he said.
The original piece was
designed in 1996 for an Australian Furniture Design Competition but never
short listed.
“I
believed the design was good and deserved to be produced and shown. So
over the next few years I played with it, improved production aspects and
approached several people and showrooms about production and selling the
design without much luck. When this competition came up it seemed to be a
suitable venue for the design so I submitted images as required by the
competition guidelines.
“I feel very honoured to
have the design recognised in such an international forum judged by such
experienced furniture designers. It gives me greater confidence in my work
in an international context.”
While in Japan, Schumacher
will have a chance to present his design to Japanese manufacturers and
also take part in a two-day design workshop run by one of the judges.
“This is a great
opportunity to make contacts and to develop my design skills with
internationally recognised designers.”
