Markowitzdesign

Custom pendant in collaboration with for .au featured in the most recent . Thanks to John & Hugh .studio for championing local craftspeople. Honoured to be included amongst very talented & skilled lineup of frienss such as w

Tucked away in a central Melbourne park, wunderkind chef ’s first solo restaurant, .au, takes diners on a journey of discovery.

Designed in collaboration with renowned local architect John Wardle or .studio, the restaurant features an entrance clad with more than 13,000 terracotta tiles crafted by and mimicking the bark of the surrounding century-old Scottish elm trees.

Ceramic tableware by Jacqueline Clayton and Paul Davis of sits next to vases by in a blackwood timber cabinet built by , while in the private dining area, a handblown glass ‘Kindling’ pendant by and hangs above a cypress table by .

See more at the link in bio and in the January issue of Wallpaper*, on newsstands now.⁠

📸:
🖊: Daven Wu

Proud to be showing work completed with at for alongside other pieces completed in American Hardwoods by & and reissues of the Bawa furniture

Beautifully detailed stand designed by .sixty.five with

Looking forward to taking part in the Symbiosis conference being put on by next Friday 7th in Adelaide

I’ve been asked to talk on the role of collaboration in shaping interdisciplinary practice.

Check out for more information about attending

Two Hands Sidetable w/ photo
Kindling & Encircle w/ photo
Cabinet of Curiosities w/ photo
Refractions w/ photo Bhavya Pansari
Blackwood Satchel w/ photo
Fingerprints w/ Many Melbourne woodworkers photo

Feeling very honoured to have received a Commendation at the awards on Friday night. Against such a competitive and established field to even make it to the final shortlist, and then get this recognition from the jury has been a fantastic outcome.

Thanks to
collaborators, particularly who assisted me through the project
Ross Bakker builder, an old school craftsman
Trusting Clients D&M
gardens landscaping
x photography & styling
And a host of local craftspeople that contributed to the job, from custom tapware to butcher block island benches (sorry ) and many others, too many to list here

Details of the Cabinet of Curiosities
Showing off hand cut dovetails and turned 10,000y.o ancient Redgum pulls. The drawers are piston fit in a traditional fine woodworking manner - no runners.
Custom designed & made brass pulls, with pull out keyboard platform and tambour doors designed to allow the piece to transition from WFH during the day to recessive cabinet at night.

Design by me, made by
Photos
Ceramics

Further details of the Cabinet of Curiosities

Using the tambours to make the doors “disappear” allowing visual permeability and allow for a combination of concealed and permanent display storage, play with the idea of mass and transparency.

Made by
Photos

Stoked to have Stumpy Gully House make the final shortlist for the Victorian Architecture Awards in the residential category, against some pretty daunting competition. Look forward to presenting the project in person to the Jury early next month.
Collaboration with
Built by
Landscape .gardens
Photos w/

3/3 Next week I’ll be announcing something exciting coming up for Melbourne Design Week, but I realised I never made the final post to close out the last series. Late last year on the back of launching the Refractions project in Bangalore with , I had the opportunity to visit Colombo to see launch of a number of reissued Bawa furniture pieces alongside prototypes and original pieces, in collaboration with the . I made the pilgrimage to visit some key projects, (sorry about the scattered image order). Especially for me it was special to be able to engage with both scales of his work. I had the chance to chat with Channa Daswatre, the last partner of Bawa’s firm, who worked with on the collection. There’s an aluminium chair on show with an Aussie connection - originally designed by Australian architect Geoffrey Hall out of corrugated sheet. We chatted about the similarities of design approach - being so far from manufacturing centres of Europe and the US the sense of “just work it out with what you have available” in the design culture.

are showing the reissued pieces from the Bawa collection in Milan this year, more details on their page.

2/3 continuing the tour…
1-3: Sangath (Doshi’s office), Ahmedabad 1981, BV Doshi (Sadly couldn’t get there in time for the tour that included the interior)
4-6: CEPT University, School of Architecture, Ahmedabad 1966-68, BV Doshi
Was fortunate to give a lecture here with to the students, with some really engaging Q&A after (rather than the usual blank stares after “any questions?”)
7-8: Was really impressed by the new CEPT workshops, completed in 2018 by ‘68 CEPT alumnus Gurdev Singh (also a great new library by Rahul Mehrotra that I didn’t get a chance to get a good shot of)
9-10: National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad 1961 (variously attributed, mainly the Sarabhai family and being launched in part inspired by the Eames’ India Report) - lectured to the students here also with as well as being shown the work of the furniture cohort including an impromptu crit session with some super keen students.

Sri Lankan/Bawa section to come…

Glimpses of new work, a collaborative project with Bangalore based , in conjunction with and made entirely from Red Oak, Cherry and Maple. Launched last week at . The collection evolved from the laminating process - how curvature creates strength from thin profiles.

A new residence I’ve designed is coming out of the ground in Merricks at the moment that celebrates the work of a number of crafts - in particular the traditional stone masonry of Cam Freeden and his team at . I asked to come out amidst the mud and record the story of it coming together. It’s bloody hard work.
Architecture in collaboration with

Recent work for RSA Architects in Brisbane, two 2m long custom pendants to sit over a 5m long island bench.

Featuring cast & rumbled aluminium corner components from a 3D printed former sourced through (thanks - ). Lots going on in a very small space.

New Guinea Teak sourced from construction waste.

Photos