Packaging – it draws many questions. Do we need it? How can we recycle it? Rethink it? Adelaide-based industrial design studio Daniel Emma is changing the narrative on packaging, and embracing its beauty with a new exhibition on view at Beulah Park-based gallery Hugo Michell Gallery.
Duo Daniel To and Emma Aiston often focus on everyday, sometimes forgotten objects in their practice, elevating them with whimsy. ‘Packaging is quite often just a throw away item, and it is what is inside that is celebrated, which is such a shame! We have a long standing love of packaging and have many strong memories associated with it,’ they explain. For the exhibition, titled Pak-Uh-Jing (phonetic sounds for the term), Daniel Emma have a forensic view on the subject – ‘for us, this influence of packaging, ranging from form to colour, is indirectly a theme in much of our work.’
From a five dollar note pack made in sterling silver to a resin envelope, there is plenty of nostalgia in the 16 pieces Daniel Emma have devised for the project. ‘For us it is quite satisfying to see a crate of perfectly lined up apricots!’ they explain of a painted oak tray they designed just for the small orange fruit. ‘Personally there are also some delightful and enjoyable moments attached to these objects, whether they be memories of our grandparents, a celebration of our large haul of fruits from our backyard orchard, our travels, or family traditions.’
There are a few regular favourites too, like a classic water bottle made in oak, acrylic and aluminium, and a tennis ball can adorned with Australian sapphires. Playful, lighthearted and experimental, Daniel Emma’s models distort the idea of packaging as waste, and frames it as a prized possession. Ultimately for the duo, they wanted to design pieces that are ‘just nice.’
INFORMATION
Pak-Uh-Jing, 12 March – 8 April at Hugo Michell Gallery
daniel-emma.com
ADDRESS
260 Portrush Rd
Beulah Park SA 5067
Australia
-
‘I wanted to create a sanctuary’ – discover a nature-conscious take on Balinese architectureUmah Tsuki by Colvin Haven is an idyllic Balinese family home rooted in the island's crafts culture
-
‘Concrete Dreams’: rethinking Newcastle’s brutalist pastA new project and exhibition at the Farrell Centre in Newcastle revisits the radical urban ideas that changed Tyneside in the 1960s and 1970s
-
Mexican designers show their metal at Gallery Collectional, Dubai‘Unearthing’ at Dubai’s Gallery Collectional sees Ewe Studio designers Manu Bañó and Héctor Esrawe celebrate Mexican craftsmanship with contemporary forms
-
9 things to see at Melbourne Design Week 2023Melbourne Design Week 2023 (18 – 28 May 2023) follows a theme of ‘Design The World You Want’
-
Discover Melbourne Design Week 2022Discover the best of Melbourne Design Week 2022, from thematic exhibitions to the first design fair in the city, to talks and events
-
Melbourne Design Week returns for 2021 editionNow in its fifth consecutive year, Melbourne Design Week (26 March – 5 April 2021) returns with a multi-site program of design activations and provocations under a compelling theme: ‘Design the world you want’
-
Melbourne’s NGV Triennial presents a radical design re-thinkCombining design ingenuity with scientific research, these global designers have created new materials and methods that can change the way we build our architectures and produce our objects, and through their project they raise awareness towards global ecological issues
-
Melbourne Design Week asks ‘How can design shape life?’Our edit of exhibitions to see at Melbourne Design Week 2020
-
A Surrealist parlour game inspires these new marquetry piecesThree new marquetry pieces by Adam&Arthur, inspired by a Surrealist parlour game, make their debut at Melbourne Design Week this week
-
Meet the Australian designers to look out for at Denfair 2019 -
Inside a new Melbourne gallery that champions creative dualism
