AUS S I E S in Milan

The Australian accent rang out loud and clear as our stellar representatives strutted their stuff before an appreciative international audience.

THERE IS SOMETHING heart-warming about seeing people from your own country battling it out with the best in the world. In Australia it’s usually to do with sport but the same reaction occurs with architecture practices at the Venice Biennale or any leading art or design fair. It’s an expensive exercise for Australian designers to participate in Salone del Mobile or one of Milan Design Week’s Fuorisalone events but Milan has always been the design destination to strive for – a place where a designer’s work can be seen by the world’s most influential manufacturers and buyers. For the past two years Sydney-based designer Emma Elizabeth (emmaelizabethdesigns. com) has brought Local Design to Milan with a curated selection of Australia’s best designers. Again this year she chose to exhibit as part of up-and-coming design district, 5Vie, and featured some of her own pieces along with work by 10 other designers and studios: ACV Studio (acvstudio.com), Kate Banazi (katebenazi.com) and Ryan Mcgoldrick (ryedesign.com.au), Christopher Boots (christopherboots. com), Tom Fereday (tomfereday.com), Ross Gardam (rossgardam.com), Adam Goodrum (adamgoodrum.com), Jon Goulder ( jongoulder.com), Tom Skeehan (skeehan.com.au), Charles Wilson (charleswilsondesign. com) and Dowel Jones (doweljones.com) founded by Adam Lynch and Dale Hardiman, in a small medieval chapel, Oratorio della Passione in the central Milan area of Sant’ambrogio.

KNOWN FOR HIS USE of pattern on pattern and bold geometric interior concepts, Australian interior designer Greg Natale has been slowly branching out into product design. This year in Milan glass mosaic specialist Bisazza launched a Greg Natale collection consisting of four nature-inspired patterns and the Australian was given equal billing with celebrated Brazilian designers Humberto & Fernando Campana. “We have been developing products in Australia for a while now – rugs, furniture and accessories but this collaboration is extremely special,” says Natale. Although nature isn’t something that springs to mind when thinking about his work, the designer insists this has been steadily creeping into his projects. “Lately we have been combining geometry with organic elements, and designing our own pieces has enabled us to achieve greater depth with our interiors,” says Natale. Inspiration for the tile patterns has come from random places: Italian terrazzo floors for ‘Fragments’; brain coral from the Great Barrier Reef for ‘Groove’. Natale believes that moving into product design is a natural evolution. “I was inspired by the late English designer David Hicks who did this in the 70s,” he says. Ultimately Natale dreams of setting up his own store in LA or New York but for now he is content to bask in the glow of his Milan achievements. “With the Bisazza mosaics I was hoping to achieve a wall surface that delivered texture while being appropriate for use anywhere in the home – I’m delighted with the results.” gregnatale.com; bisazza.com JAMIE DURIE SHOT EXCLUSIVELY FOR BELLE AT THE NATUZZI ITALIA STAND AT SALONE DEL MOBILE After designing

nearly 30 pieces for high-end Italian furniture company Riva 1920 over the past five years, it was only a matter of time before Jamie Durie was linked to other important Italian brands. After presenting concepts to Natuzzi Italia at last year’s fair, Durie and his team have worked closely with the Bari-based manufacturer to present a selection of new pieces at this year’s Salone del Mobile. He is the first Australian designer to work for the company and, because of his landscape design background, an outdoor collection is the next step. His first Natuzzi collection includes ‘Gemma’, a luxurious upholstered bed in leather or velvet, ‘Amber’, a sculpted sideboard, and a glasstopped timber-framed table with a contrasting double wishbone metal stretcher below the glass. “We started work on this project a year ago with the Natuzzi family and took them through our ideas. They were very excited by our designs – too many to launch in one year but we’ve worked with them to select the best and deliver the finished product in time for the fair. It’s always good to work with a company with the level of technical expertise to deliver very complex designs. It took some time to resolve the veneering process on the ‘Amber’ sideboard but we are delighted with it,” says Durie. The designer also launched three new products in the ‘Bungalow’ range for Riva 1920 and a quilted folding day bed for outdoor specialist Unopiù, modelled on a camp bed used by Italian soldiers. natuzzi.com, riva1920.it, unopiu.com; fanuli.com.au