Design Moment Australian designer Gordon Andrews’ notable legacy ranges from cool chairs to hard cash.
Local furniture designer Gordon Andrews left a surprisingly noteworthy legacy, writes Chris Pearson.
When Olivetti set up a showroom in Sydney in 1956, it wanted a slick setting for its cutting-edge office products. So the Italian firm tapped into the talents of local designer Gordon Andrews (pictured at top). Not content with designing just the space, he created bold new seats to go in it. The shop and its typewriters may have faded into history, but his ‘Rondo’ chairs became classics.
Born in Sydney in 1914, Gordon had already established himself internationally, having worked extensively in Italy and the UK. He had masterminded the new-look Olivetti showrooms around the UK and the Festival of Britain science pavilion in 1951. In 1955, he was the first Australian designer to become a fellow of the UK Society of Industrial Artists & Designers.
Ever self-effacing, Gordon didn’t big-note himself, which could be why he was less feted in his home country. Sadly, few people outside the design world have heard of him. Perhaps his legacy was diluted by his sheer versatility: he designed everything from furniture, fabric and jewellery to civic projects, corporate logos and Australian pavilions at trade fairs across the world, even saucepans for David Jones.
Most Australians unknowingly carried his work in their pockets: Gordon designed the nation’s original decimal-currency banknotes, in circulation from 1966. It was “most unusual to find a government department in any country going forward with such advanced designs”, architect Robin Boyd told The Age in 1966, alluding to the rich colours and striking graphics of the notes, which remained in circulation for decades.
The banknotes, the ‘Rondo’ chair and the 1957 ‘Gazelle’ are what Gordon remains best known for. The original design for the scooped ‘Rondo’ had splayed legs, but was later changed to a star-shaped base. And while the original frame comprised two sheets of plywood, later versions sported a fibreglass frame. But all shared the trademark join in the fabric, which forms a seam down the seat.
The ‘Rondo’ chair received its biggest leg-up from iconic interior designer Marion Hall Best. She championed it in her interior fitouts, most notably for Sydney’s chic Kingsgate Hotel, which opened in 1971.
According to Andrew Shapiro of Shapiro Auctioneers, Gordon belongs in the canon of the country’s top designers. Nearly every design collection in Australian institutions features his work, and almost every Shapiro vintage auction will include something by Gordon Andrews, be it a sculpture, one of his 1960 hexagonal ‘Coffee Tables’, a 1961 ‘Perch’ saddle stool, or a ‘Rondo’ or ‘Gazelle’ chair. “He was one of Australia’s most inventive furniture designers,” says Shapiro.
WHAT IT MEANS TO US
Gordon, who died in 2001, richly deserves a place on the Australian honour roll, along with the luminaries on his banknotes. He was awarded a gold medal in 1985 by the Design Institute of Australia. And in 1987, he joined a select list of world-class practitioners (fellow Australian Marc Newson is another) when he was named a Royal Designer for Industry, a British honour conferred for “eminence, efficiency and visual excellence” in creative design. His small output is reflected in the high prices his pieces now fetch at auctions.
The ‘Rondo’ chair, especially, remains “very desirable”, notes Shapiro.