A puzzle of timber veneer at Melbourne Design Week’s Synthesis exhibition

For Synthesis, Studio Shields brought together established names alongside emerging talent, dissolving hierarchy in favour of dialogue. All of the pieces were arranged as layered domestic vignettes that invited visitors to sit, linger and imagine the spaces as their own.

Grounding the foyer was a piece we’re proud to have helped bring to life: a reception counter conceived by Studio Shields, designed and made by Mood Workshop, and clad with a selection of our Eveneer Raw ALPI veneers.

The brief began with a single, evocative reference. “My brief to Craig was stained glass window, vibes from the Bishop’s Parlour,” designer Ruby Shields recalls, a nod to the opulent carpets, fireplaces and leadlight that give the historic rooms their character. For Ruby, the exhibition itself was an exercise in taking something profoundly traditional and historic, then imagining how it might feel dressed entirely in contemporary Australian design.

Craig Shanahan from Mood Workshop answered the brief by drawing on the language of the building, including glazing beads and timber mouldings – the most traditional of details – and giving them a contemporary refresh. The stained glass translated into a counter face composed of individual veneer pieces, each one cut on the CNC machine and laid up by hand. “A little bit like a puzzle, or paint by numbers,” he explains. The process is what earned the piece its name – Rompicapo, Italian for puzzle – and the affectionate nickname, Rompy. Solid American walnut, laminated and shaped, introduces the soft curves that lend the whole piece its sense of play.

The material conversation is where the collaboration comes to life. Across the workshop, leaves of ALPI veneer were laid out and considered side by side until the palette settled on a vibrant pop of ALPI Sottsass Red, matched with ALPI Dune for a luminescent quality, as well as the distinct stripes of ALPI Japanese Cedar and a grey veneer from Elton Group’s ALPI archives. The strong colours and patterns are balanced by the warmth and solidity of walnut, finished in a satin hard wax oil.

For Ruby, choosing Elton Group was an easy decision. “There are no other veneers like them – the colours, the grain patterns, the textures, everything.” It’s precisely this breadth that allowed a single piece of joinery to hold tradition and play, structure and softness, all at once.

Synthesis by Studio Shields was at Abbotsford Convent as part of Melbourne Design Week.

Photos: TBA