Melbourne designer Adam Cornish is set to launch Foliar, a product designed for Wovin Wall.
The product is a folding wall tile that allows the individual user to alter the colour and texture of their wall surfaces.
Architecture & Design spoke to Cornish about his hanging garden display at designEX 2012, why winning the Corporate Culture competition was his greatest opportunity and how he brings stories to life with his design.
Can you tell A&D about the 10m hanging monkey pot at DesignEx?
For DesignEx this year we wanted to showcase the versatility of our Monkey Pot product and how it can be used in large architectural installations. This led to the construction of a 10m chain of Monkey Pots. It was great to see people’s reaction as the planters started at ground level and literally disappeared up into the rafters of the convention centre ceiling.
What was the inspiration behind it?
The inspiration behind the 10m installation was the children’s story Jack and the beanstalk. I have vivid memories of the illustrations in the classic children’s tale of the beanstalk vanishing into the clouds. I wanted to re-create this visual using the Monkey Pots.
You have won a lot of awards and competitions. Which one has given you with the greatest opportunity to further your design?
Winning the Corporate Culture design pitch has greatly impacted my design practise. The trip to Milan with the Corporate Culture team allowed me to introduce my designs to the international design community and communicate with European manufacturers face-to-face, something not a lot of young Australian designers have the opportunity to do.
Do you have a mentor? If so, who and how did they come to be your mentor?
Kjell Grant has been my mentor for many years. Like all good mentors, Kjell and I have an open relationship where I can discuss any idea with him, no matter how farfetched. Good mentors have that ability to help you grow via their life experiences, something I am very grateful to have had.
You have said design can ‘bring stories to life’ – how can it do that?
I think good design can bring stories to life by being honest and showing the process of how the piece was created. When designing the Monkey Pot’s, the design was influenced by the children’s game ‘barrel of monkeys’. In this way design can bring stories to life by referencing life experiences and reinterpreting them in new ways.
How does Australia’s design industry compare to those of other countries?
This is a question that is often asked of Australian designers due to our distance from European manufactures. It is my belief that the design community is now truly a global community, with information being shared almost instantly. It is becoming less important which country you originate from.
What is your favourite piece of art/furniture and why?
I really like the art of Jean-Michel Basquiat. I watched a documentary on his life and work and was intrigued by one particular scene where he explains how he crosses out words and phrases he wanted people to read the most as human curiosity would make them explore the things they believed to be mistakes. For me this was a great example of thought process that went into his art works.
