A Legacy of Original Design
Jon Goulder is a hard man to pin down. Both in terms of actually getting him to sit down for an interview, but also in defining him. His output spans 20 years and most states of Australia, with work in the permanent collections of the type of state institutions that sport impressive acronyms (AGWA, AGSA, NGV, NGA, Power House, TMAG). He’s headed furniture workshops at major craft institutions and universities in as many states. He’s invited to the sort of parties at Milan Design Week where people wear hats indoors.
I could jump online right now and buy production pieces of his from five different respected independent Australian furniture and lighting retailers. He’s taught a generation of contemporary designers and makers across the country. He’s currently working as a senior designer for the Australian branch of an internationally renowned Norwegian architecture firm, on projects around the globe. His stories on Instagram are either him or his kids tearing down a mountainside on a bike splattered in mud. Definitely a hard man to pin down.
When I think about designer makers as both an idea and a profession in Australia, there are probably only a handful of people I could name that have been able to continuously maintain a successful and relevant practice over many years, and even fewer that have been able to find respect emanating from both sawdust covered workshops and copic-marker wielding designers.
To someone like me, in a fairly continual state of existential crisis owing
