Edward Linacre, Copper Design – Q&A
DIA: When and how did your career start?
EL: My family always has encouraged my creative pursuits. Grandad was an inventor in plastics manufacturing, Grandma a fine artist, Mum a rock star, Dad, a lover of music, design and art. Most of all, I have Brighton Bay Photography Art and Design course to thank for steering me in the right direction. After my apparent obsession with creating anything in 3D, they set me on a path towards industrial design, and I wouldn’t be where I am today without them. That goes for Swinburne University, too; it was phenomenal for me. The staff there were instrumental in my growth. I was slipping, and Judith Glover failed me, and that taught me a lesson. I received 1st class honours, won the DIA GOTYA, and taught at Swinburne and RMIT. Judith is still a mentor, and we collaborate on projects.
On exchange, I studied at HAWK Hildesheim FH, Germany, under tutor Werner Sauer (Wilkhahn/Wiege), another inspiring figure in my schooling. Through the University Furniture Award, I interned at Wiege, which was ruthlessly formative. After 18 months of studying, working and touring Europe, I returned to Swinburne to complete my honours and got a job with CP Design now Annex Products. Chris Peters was another mentor. I have much to thank him for and spent three years working for him before starting my studio.
The DIA has been a massive supporter of me from graduation and still. A resource of substantial depth, they have connected me with several industry leaders I have turned to for advice and as I grow my businesses. Alice Blackwood interviewed me for Indesign Magazine after the DIA GOTYA and asked if I was working on anything else. The illuminated timber sculptures I was making in my backyard shed became the article’s focus, and lighting took off from there. Workshopped took my products on soon after and have always looked after emerging and established Australian designers and makers. And I’ll never forget Kate Stokes, who I called for advice early on. “Come down to the studio for coffee; let’s chat” she said. The Australian creative industries and education communities are inclusive, generous, world-class, and rapidly growing global recognition. I feel lucky to be a part of it.
DIA: Tell us what you are currently working on at the moment?
EL: Our creative community, Mycelium Studios, is constantly evolving to respond to the current pandemic climate and workplace evolution. I manage the Industry Partnership with RMIT in the R&D of Mycelium based Bio-Alternative Products and Materials, and help out with a 2nd year RMIT class in the same field. I am also preparing Mycelium based works for a 4-year touring European Biomimicry Exhibition, starting end of this year. The industrial design studio continues to grow with new products releasing at the end of this year and some sculptural artworks that are slowly taking shape.
DIA: How do you approach multi-disciplinary thinking in your designs?
EL: I employ design thinking processes and multiplanar thinking across everything I do. It is vital to the dynamic, unorthodox business model of co-working and building creative communities. An anthropological, user-centred approach is necessary to respond to the requirements of a vastly diverse community—ensuring you create an environment that is inclusive, accessible, flexible, modular, one that motivates yet provides space to break out. And one that encourages collaboration whilst providing solace for those that need privacy. We do our best to provide facilities that support our tenants in growing their businesses. Still, as we learn more about them and their unique abilities, we must evolve to be further inclusive. Developing a community is not only thinking but listening, understanding and responding. From a product design perspective like lighting design, collaborations with a diverse variety of fields are integral to innovation, understanding architects’ spatial and environmental considerations, resigning to the restriction of electrical engineers, or sharing in the obsession of materiality with fine jewellery makers.
DIA: How has design in your field been impacted during/ post-pandemic? How can a pandemic inform design?
EL: At Mycelium Studios, the impact has been devastating as we see many brilliant people having to leave as they can’t afford rent. We do our best to support them as much as possible. It’s heartbreaking. Our landlords, Moreland Council, the Victorian Government and Creative Victoria have been very supportive and helped us scrape through and support our community. At Copper Design, we have been impacted by the requirements of a CovidSafe workplace, having to redesign the workshop and process. Still, we are very fortunate to have been allowed to continue to work—albeit at a reduced capacity. Projects have been cancelled and delayed, and it is sad to see businesses in the hospitality and retail sectors having to fold.
The pandemic informs design with a workplace revolution underway, as the necessity of fixed long term leases is no longer evident. Not just flexible locations, but the workplace must be flexible and modular too, which reveals the need for a workplace interior product revolution, for example, acoustically treated “pods” have boomed, and furniture that provides privacy.
We are learning to live with the virus. All hygiene systems will become the norm, masks could become a standard clothing accessory, manufacturers could switch over to medical protective gear in a breakout, and UV treatment lighting used to disinfect our desks at night. I could go on and on. It’s an evolutionary step, and design plays an integral role.
DIA: What’s in your future? What’s next?
EL: I am passionate about the evolution of co-working and creative communities and supporting the growth of creatives. The Industry Partnership with RMIT is hugely rewarding already. I love teaching, and what’s better than encouraging the youth to save the world via designing with nature, not against it! We aim to incorporate some of the resulting projects in our submission for the European Biomimicry Exhibition. What started as my artistic outlet—and still is—lighting and illuminated sculpture has taken on a whole new purpose. I feel the role of illumination within a space has never been more valued or respected. We are regularly commissioned to design unique pieces for projects that are integrated into the environment and respond to the needs of the space, rather than lighting being thrown in as decoration. It’s an exciting time in the field.
DIA: Your dream project?
EL: Directly communicating with nature to inform how design and humanity can co-exist with all life on this planet.
DIA: What’s your favourite Pantone colour?
EL: A dark green of some sort, like Bullit’s Mustang.
DIA: If you could comment on the recent Designers Australia Awards presented by the DIA, what would you say?
EL: I feel fortunate to be even considered for the award and will use this recognition to support the design community however I can. I have much to give back to the community that has built and kept me in my career, and I thank everyone for their help.
Edward Linacre
Designers Australia Awards 2021, President’s Prize recipient