Daniel Emma · BIG!

Written

Lucy Feagins

Writer

Lucy Feagins

1st of December 2013

'Cherry on the Bottom' pendant light from the new BIG! product range by Adelaide based husband and wife design team Daniel To and Emma Aiston aka Daniel · Emma. Photo - Rodrick Bond.

'Loop' and 'Puck' trivets from the new BIG! product range by Daniel · Emma. Photo - Rodrick Bond.

'Pick 'n Mix' table for Tait from the new BIG! product range by Daniel · Emma. Photo - Rodrick Bond.

Daniel To and Emma Aiston of Daniel · Emma, in their Adelaide studio. Photo - Andrew Castelucci.

OK as y'all know, I have long been a fan of Adelaide-based design duo Emma Aiston and Daniel To of Daniel · Emma, who have an uncanny knack of making serious waves on the international design scene, whilst flying very much under the radar here on home soil. Amongst their many accolades, these two have been listed us as design graduates to watch by Wallpaper* Magazine, 'most promising talent' by 100% Design London, and have exhibited in Paris, Berlin, Tokyo, London and New York. Recently they have designed products for clients including revered Danish design house Hay, and Thorsten Van Elten in the UK. Alongside these high profile commissions, Daniel and Emma have spent the past 18 months developing a brand new range of design pieces, which they will be exhibiting at Lamington Drive in Melbourne this week! The show, entitled 'BIG!' is Daniel and Emma's first solo exhibition on home soil EVER, and will feature their latest designs for the home, displayed in 'still life' format - think furniture, light fittings and tabletop paraphernalia. Alongside the show, Lamington Drive will also be running two workshops inspired by Daniel and Emma's work. The first will encourage visitors to illustrate Daniel and Emma’s still life scenes, and pin their work to the gallery walls, whilst the second workshop will feature Melbourne illustrators Beci Orpin and Madeleine Stamer, who will demonstrate their own in situ still life illustrations. We asked Daniel and Emma about their exciting new range and upcoming exhibition -

Tell us a little bit about BIG! at Lamington Drive? What inspired this body of work?

When we first met with Jeremy and Monica from Jacky Winter they offered us the opportunity to have a show at Lamington Drive. We all were thinking that it would be great, but our work was so small for such a large space. Eventually we realised that this would be a chance to explore some BIG! ideas.

Tell us a little about the creative process for your latest range.

Being partners in life and work means the creative process takes place anywhere at anytime. The collection often starts with a vision of what we want the end picture to be, for instance with BIG! we knew we wanted a scene based around a table. From here a list of objects were written down and we worked towards completing that. It can take a while to come to the first design but once we have that it informs the next pieces and becomes easier by the end, as the look of the collection naturally evolves. The change of scale has been both challenging and exciting as we have been able to explore different material combinations and finishes that we have not used before.

What's next for Daniel · Emma?

Our focus is to constantly challenge ourselves with what we make. This exhibition is in some ways an occasion to show that our design language can work on various scales. Recently we have been working with other companies to design pieces under their brands, including Hay, Field and Theo. However we are most excited about recently working with more Australian companies, and the project with TAIT is the first of a few! BIG! by Daniel · Emma Opening Event this Thursday 5th December, 6.00pm - 9.00pm Exhibition runs December 6th - 21st 2013 Lamington Drive 15 - 25 Keele Street Collingwood, VIC Supported by Tait Furniture and K.W.Doggett Fine Paper