Australian artists launch furniture line to boost manufacturing
jamweb-australian-furniture.jpg
Pieces designed by Daniel Emma, Rhys Cooper and Karen Cunningham.

Photo By Sven Kovac

Adelaide’s JamFactory has enlisted the help of some of Australia’s most respected designers and is about to launch a commercial furniture line.

Located in Adelaide's West End Arts Precinct, the institution is also investing in partnerships with local companies to create manufacturing jobs in South Australia to bolster the economy.

Known as a training center for emerging commercial artists working in glass, ceramics, metal and furniture, the JamFactory launched a collection of homeware products in 2013, which are sold at JamFactory outlets and wholesalers nationally.

JamFactory CEO Brian Parkes said the furniture line, to be officially launched in June, would follow the model used to establish the product range.

“Like the product collection it’s about generating new streams of revenue that allow us to increase resources in the studios, buy new equipment, all the things we haven’t been able to do for a long time, which helps us attract better people,” Parkes said.

“In a South Australian context we’re also brokering partnerships with manufacturers, creating new markets and new employment at a time when it’s fairly critical for the local economy. It’s at a price point where we can make locally manufacturing viable.”

Parkes said the not-for-profit organization had invested in leading designers Jon Goulder, Daniel Emma, Adam Goodrum and Henry Wilson. All are previous winners of the Bombay Sapphire Design Discovery Award.

“We understand that commercial furniture specifies market space so we wanted to work with some really good designers who understand that space and also might provide valuable insight and design skill and some kind of leadership and example for our training associates,” he said.

“We’re primarily competing with high quality expensive European imports and we’ll have a 12-week lead time which is shorter than the lead times of bringing stuff from Europe so that’s a competitive advantage, we’ll be able to promote the fact that it’s made in South Australia and designed locally.”

The launch collection will include about a dozen items featuring dining tables, dining chairs, occasional chair, stackable stool, feature lights, shelving unit, set of coffee tables and credenza unit. All are customizable and will be available in a limited range of finishes.

Parkes said most of the furniture purchasing decisions for major new building projects were usually made by the architects, prompting the JamFactory to schedule the soft launch of its furniture range to coincide with the National Architecture Conference at the Adelaide Convention Centre at the end of April. The official launch of the furniture range will be in the first week of June at DEN Fair in Melbourne. See www.jamfactory.com.au.

Have something to say? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below.

Profile picture for user karlforth
About the author
Karl Forth

Karl D. Forth is online editor for CCI Media. He also writes news and feature stories in FDMC Magazine, in addition to newsletters and custom publishing projects. He is also involved in event organization, and compiles the annual FDM 300 list of industry leaders. He can be reached at [email protected].