Saturday Indesign took me around Sydney’s showrooms on Saturday, 12 September, to explore furniture, lighting and materials, meet suppliers and hear from designers. Among the discoveries were a new product that resolved a design detail for a current project, and a conversation about Finnish forests that unexpectedly brought me back to Canada.

Research on foot

A lot of the work behind a design happens before a selection appears on a drawing or specification.

For me, that includes visiting showrooms, seeing materials in different settings and asking questions. A computer screen can introduce me to a product, but it can’t reliably tell me its exact colour, scale or how it feels. I always see a product in person before buying or specifying it.

Those visits also open up conversations about where products come from. Is something made in Australia or overseas? What is involved in getting it here? Sometimes a discussion moves from manufacturing and transport routes to the effect of global events on delivery times. These details all help inform whether a product will suit a project and its programme.

Saturday Indesign is a design event that brings the industry together through showroom visits around Sydney, including product launches, talks and installations. It’s an opportunity to explore materials and products in person and meet the people behind them, with plenty to take in along the way.

Nikari at the K5 showroom in Surry Hills

K5 showroom always has beautiful floral displays

Trees, timber and a connection to home

One of my most memorable stops was K5, where trees stood among the furniture in the showroom.

A panel conversation with visitors from Finland explored forests, natural materials and the comfort we can find in the natural environment. The discussion touched on differences between landscapes and the place nature holds in everyday life.

For me, it was the trees that made the strongest connection. Listening to the conversation about Finnish forests brought back memories of the Canadian forests I grew up around. The Australian bush has its own distinct character, but something about those trees in the showroom felt familiar.

I loved taking a moment to pause and consider how materials and surroundings can connect us to places we remember, and how personal those responses can be.

From furniture to finishes

The day also took me to Bachli Furniture and Nook Lighting, followed by visits to Winning Appliances, Abey and Fermob.

There is value in seeing a whole setting as well as an individual product: the relationship between a table and its chairs, the scale of a light fitting, or how colours work alongside one another. My photographs became a record of the arrangements, details and combinations that caught my attention.

The hospitality was part of the pleasure, too. Food, conversations and places to sit gave the day a social rhythm between all the looking and learning.

A discovery with an immediate purpose

At the CDK Stone, DECO and Havwoods stop, I had something specific in mind. I wanted to speak with DECO about a product I was specifying for a current project.

I already knew the look I wanted and had been working out how to achieve it by adapting another product. During the visit, I discovered a new option that offered exactly the style I had been looking for.

That is one of the most useful outcomes of getting out to see suppliers. A conversation can introduce an option you haven’t encountered in your research and give you a more direct way to achieve the design intent.

The setting was memorable in its own right: stone slabs, an industrial backdrop, rich red curtains and a disco ball. There was plenty to explore, with room to stop and absorb it.

What comes back to the studio

The work continues after the event. There are suppliers to follow up with, contacts to add to my database, photographs to organise and information to keep for current and future projects.

Over time, those visits build a resource I can draw on: knowledge of what is available, where to source it and who can answer a particular question.

As designers, we don’t need to have every answer, but we do need to know which questions to ask and who to turn to for advice.

That is what comes back to the studio with me after a day like Saturday Indesign, alongside fresh ideas and an iPhone full of details.