Well hello!

We have been so ridiculously busy, there’s so much to tell you all! Let’s break it down, nice and simple!

1. YOU DID IT! With your support, we have raised over $20,000 towards setting up a permanent home for &company – after 18 months popping up in Gaffa and The Rocks, testing out our workshop, our classes and our homewares range, it’s time to settle in for good. THANK YOU to all the incredible people who pledged their support to help us meet out crowd-funding deadline! You can read all about it here.

2. WHERE IS &CO NOW? Now that our time in The Rocks has come to a close, we have popped everything into storage so that we can focus 100% on finding a permanent home for &co’s workshop and store and all the little (and huge!) things that will go into making that a reality. We are running from a temporary private HQ (the kitchen table) and you’ll be the first to know when we’ve got a moving date!

3. WHERE CAN YOU FIND US? Find us here, follow us on Facebook and Twitter while we get the next, very exciting phase underway. You can always get in touch, make an appointment or order our wares via email - hello (at) andcompany (dot) com (dot) au.

4. WHAT ELSE ARE WE UP TO? We are busy finalising new products with some great young designers, we are planing new education programs, collaborations, exhibitions and more. It’s all terribly exciting!

5. CAN YOU DO CLASSES BEFORE CHRISTMAS? Unfortunately not at this stage… although  if we get enough requests, we may be able to rustle something up… email us!

6. FIND OUT A LITTLE MORE! We’ve been chatting with all sorts of people about our recent adventures, check out the gorgeous photos by Nigel Lough and little article in the latest Inside Out Summer Entertaining issue, out now.

We’ll be a little better at updating things over the coming weeks, promise!

We are thrilled to be partnering up with our good friends at Gaffa to bring a bigger, better super-exciting range of cutting edge young designers and makers for this year’s Finders Keepers Market. If you are bursting with ideas for new products and you’d love to test them on the market, drop us an email to find out more information! APPLICATIONS ARE DUE MONDAY NOVEMBER 7.

We are looking for thoughtful, interesting, well made, beautiful, intriguing, entertaining products. &company is primarily interested in homewares products and items that would make amazing gifts (the kind of gifts you want for the people you love most, and that you occasionally succumb to and buy for yourself…). The key things we are looking for are: a good idea, a well-made product, a design intended to be used and loved.

Things are getting a bit of a shake up this time – in the past, designers have had to pay a fee for joining our stall, but this is a thing of the past. There is no entry fee, but if your work is selected we will recieve a standard consignment commission of 44% of the sale price. This is an opportunity open to students and emerging designers (usually within the first 5 years of their professional practice).

If you or anyone you know is interested in getting involved, please shoot us an email (hello(at)andcompany(dot)com(dot)au) for an application pack.

We are thrilled to have settled into our new home (for the next 6 months) in the Arcade of the Gaffa Precinct. &company has exhibited at and collaborated with our good friends at Gaffa many times over the last two years, so it seemed a natural progression to move in when one of the little holding cells (from the heritage-listed building’s past life as a police station) became available. The tiny space is mostly studio, with a shop-front that is jam-packed with designs produced by &company as well as other independent designers. Everything int the store is by emerging or early career designers, and everything is made in Australia. We think it also needs to be said that everything in the store is really rather beautiful, much of it handmade, all of it designed to be loved and used everyday. We have new stock coming all the time, so pop by and say hullo! As it is our studio, we do occasionally pop out to visit makers, manufacturers and clients, so if we miss you and you want to have a snoop around the shop, just ask the lovely staff at the gaffa counter to help you out!

During Sydney Design 2011, the Gaffa precinct was buzzing with creativity during our second annual See-Saw project. This year’s title was “Mend, Make-Do and Build Anew” in response to the festival theme “Is Old New Again?”. Presented by &company and our project partners, Gaffa Gallery, See-Saw brought together 20 students from diverse design disciplines. In teams of 4, they were allocated an industry mentor, a select range of materials and two days each to respond to a design challenge: To re-examine the City of Sydney through new eyes, and identify opportunities for design to mend, make-do or build anew. 

The two week event began with a symposium exploring design, urban intervention, community and the city. We had some great speakers that kicked our brains into an inspired overload!  Glen Wallace and Eva Rodriguez from the City of Sydney Council talking about the city, the 2030 plan for a green, global and connected city, and it’s public art programs. Selena Griffith (COFA lecturer and DESIS (Design Education for Social Innovation and Sustainability) Node Coordinator for Australia) spoke about social innovation and the role of design. Zanny Begg (director of the Tin Sheds Gallery, The University of Sydney), shared her experiences with art projects and community building in Australia and overseas. Tom Rivard, architect and designer (of Lean productions, and Urban Islands project) took us through “39 Strategies for Design”. 

Each team was assigned a basic human need, and something that makes us “more human” that they had to respond to. Throughout the two week exhibition, the public was invited to come and watch the designers in action through a live video feed as the works grew. Continue reading →

This Thursday, 28 July, we are thrilled to present the first ever See-Saw Symposium: Design and the City. Along with our project partners gaffa, we are running the second See-Saw collaborative student design challenge for Sydney Design festival, but this time you can all join us for an afternoon of ideas, projects and discussions about the place of design in our city.

WHEN: The symposium runs from 1:30pm – 5:30pm and is followed by drinks to launch the whole See-Saw project. Thursday 28 July

COST: $33 including afternoon tea.

BOOKINGS: Places are strictly limited and are selling fast! Bookings HERE. or contact Gaffa at zoe@gaffa.com or (+61) 02 9283 4273

PROGRAM:

MAKING-CITY-ART || City of Sydney , Eva Rodriguez Riestra & Glenn Wallace

Eva Rodriguez Riestra: Public Art Program Manager, City of Sydney

As the City of Sydney’s Public Art Program Manager since 2005 Eva has overseen the development and creation of a broad and diverse public art program. With a professional background in architecture, urban design, photography and graphic design, Eva is a regular guest lecturer on public art, public space, peace and the environment. Eva is a founding member of Architects for Peace and is completing post-graduate research in Art History.

Glenn Wallace: Special Projects Program Manager, City Design Unit, City of Sydney

Playing a key role on the City of Sydney’s major strategic planning projects including the Local Action Plans, Sustainable Sydney 2030 and the CITY ART Public Art Strategy, Glenn has a deep understanding of Council’s important inspirational and leadership role. Glenn has coordinated the Laneway Art program since 2008 and is presently coordinating a range of special projects including aspects of the Eora Journey.

NEXUS : COLLABORATION : INNOVATION  ||  Selena Griffith

Selena Griffith is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Design Studies at COFA where she coordinates the Design Management and Practice courses. Originally qualifying for a Bachelor of Industrial Design, Honors, Selena has worked as a Design Manager in a variety of contexts from in-house to international consultancy and as a freelance designer with her own consultancy. Selena researches in Design Management, Sustainability, Collaboration, Social Innovation, Service Design, Futures and Education. Her interest in creating positive futures through transformative design thinking as led her to produce teaching tools and methods to assist with the development of innovation, collaboration and design thinking skills. Selena is very interested in how organisations can most effectively utilise design thinking to deliver more sustainable products and services. Co-creation and nexus – where people from different backgrounds and professions come together in collaborations that result in innovation or new perceptions has fascinates Griffith and she not only researches in this area but has also developed courses to teach the skills needed to run multidisciplinary creative collaborations.

REMAKING THE CITY  ||  Zanny Begg

Zanny Begg is the Director of Tin Sheds Gallery, the Faculty of Architecture, Design and Planning, The University of Sydney. She is an artist, curator and writer – her work often revolving around an investigation of the politics of space, both in the broader globalised context and a more specific local one. Zanny was invited to Hong Kong for an Australia-China Council Residency (May 2007), Indonesia for an Asia-Link Residency (June 2008), for a Performance Space Residency in Redfern, Australia (Oct 2008) and Australia Council Residency in Chicago (2010). Her recent exhibitions include the Sharjah Biennial, United Arab Eremites, Emeraldtown, Artspace, Sydney, Istanbul Beinnale, Taipei Beinnal and Self Education – Self organization, National Centre for Contemporary Art, Moscow, Russia. Her recent curatorial projects include There Goes The Neighbourhood (www.theregoestheneighbourhood.org) and The Right to the City (www.therighttothecity.com). For more information www.zannybegg.com

STRATEGIES FOR COLLABORATIVE DESIGN  ||  Tom Rivard

Tom Rivard will be presenting live from Melbourne’s Sate of Design festival, where he will be working on a collaborative, cross-disciplinary installation. Architect and designer, director of Lean Productions and Urban Islands.

SEE-SAW PROJECT INTRODUCTION & BRIEFING  ||  Anna Lise De Lorenzo

Anna Lise De Lorenzo, Director of &company, presenting partner of See-Saw. You are welcome to sit in on the briefing for participating students and mentors taking part in the See-Saw project. Hear about the project and what will happen over the next 12 days.

LAUNCH DRINKS  ||

Gaffa is presenting a dynamic mix of events for the Sydney Design festival, join us for a drink to launch See-Saw and see the other exhibitions and installations in the space!