Sean Brickhill fell into furnishings design by chance after lacking out on finding out his dream course in communication design.
As an alternative, he wound up in his backup course — furnishings design — at RMIT. Sean imagined finishing a 12 months of the furnishings course earlier than switching to the communications design diploma. That was till he ‘sort of received hooked on furnishings’.
After experimenting with making a few items for pals, he took a niche 12 months and accomplished a three-month stint in Europe, which he says was the right place for inspiration and constructing his data of design historical past.
‘I positively got here again to Melbourne with a stronger ardour for design,’ he displays.
As soon as graduated, it was getting approached by prolific woodworker and designer Damien Wright that actually propelled Sean’s profession. Working as Damien’s assistant, he constructed up his confidence and ultimately discovered a studio for himself.
Now, his bespoke, predominately timber stools, chairs, espresso tables, and extra may be present in native boutiques together with curated homewares and furnishings retailer Ma Home in Collingwood, and close by design gallery pépite, in addition to Sydney studio Bow + Arrow. He additionally takes commissions for custom-made items.
However there’s nobody dimension suits all strategy to Sean’s course of — it varies piece by piece. All of his work additionally requires intensive planning and budgeting, from designing the items to sourcing supplies to creating the completed product.
‘The common individual in all probability doesn’t even give it some thought however a chunk of furnishings requires an entire number of totally different equipment and instruments,’ Sean explains. ‘I keep in mind in uni we did a costing class the place we calculated the prices to arrange a base stage workshop with all of the gear wanted to supply fundamental furnishings.
‘From reminiscence it was round $30,000. There’s no manner I may afford that so having a shared area with my very own little studio and all of the equipment has been a blessing.’
Sean attributes most of his inspiration to ‘books, books, books’. Whereas travelling was his preliminary major supply of inspiration, working extra within the studio has meant much less time to discover the world. So, the furnishings designer has turned to books — and pictures — to maintain him impressed.
design with the attention of a photographer has helped to shift his perspective and suppose extra about how a chunk will look from each angle, and the way it will {photograph} in sure lighting or a selected area. His design course of is all about prioritising the visible enchantment of a chunk over its performance.
‘Once I provide you with one thing that ticks the aesthetic field after which performance field, that’s once I really feel like I’m onto one thing,’ he notes.
When he’s not within the studio engaged on his subsequent piece, Sean additionally doubles as CocoFlip’s manufacturing assistant, in addition to helming his ardour mission — First Version Library, an internet area devoted to sourcing, curating and promoting uncommon design, pictures and artwork books.
The platform was born from Sean’s want to share his ardour for books with like-minded creatives. After a profitable pop-up at native clothes and homewares retailer Saloon the place he offered books from the private libraries of assorted Melbourne artists and designers, he started sourcing extra uncommon books from all over the world and promoting them for a small revenue.
‘For me it’s probably not concerning the revenue, it’s extra so about curating a collection of books that you would be able to rarely buy right here in Australia,’ Sean provides. ‘However other than serving to pals with different odd jobs right here and there, the remainder of my time is spent on the studio making the subsequent piece.’
Store Sean’s items at seanbrickhill.com or DM him on Instagram for {custom} orders.
