NV: How did your design for the Bound Table originate?
LHi: I’ve always been really drawn to quite simple [almost archetypal] geometric forms – like when you ask a child to draw a house and they draw a box with a triangle on top. So, I like breaking a design down to that kind-of cliche outline and then playing with it. With the Bound Table, the form started out as a really straightforward idea: just a tabletop with a plinth. From there I began expanding and refining it, reducing the plinth, adding elements back in, to see how far I could push that basic relationship. For New Volumes, that process evolved into a more sculptural, monolithic piece, where the cord detail (wrapped around the column) is absorbed into the terracotta body so it reads as one singular form, and the glass top sits above it, creating this nice contrast between something very smooth and something more rough and matte.
NV: What kinds of investigations did you undertake as part of your design development process?
LH: I did a lot of experimentation in 3D, especially with how sunlight interacts with the form. The program I use allows me to simulate the angle and quality of sunlight based on time of day and year, and location on the planet. That let me see how different forms and materials responded to changing light conditions.
I viewed the materials under different types of sunlight so I could refine the form according to how the light moved across it – particularly because I really wanted to use a marrone terracotta. With such a dark material, I didn’t want it to feel too subdued; I wanted it to actively play with the light as it moves over the surface.
Beyond that, there was a lot of back-and-forth between form and manufacturing. I tend to design the form first and then work out how to make it, but with the casting process I had to be very mindful of how the piece could actually be produced and assembled. That created a push-and-pull between my ideal form and what was feasible in manufacturing.
NV: Tell us about your experience of working with New Volumes on this project?
LH: Working with New Volumes to develop the Bound Table for production has been really exciting, and it’s very much the direction I want my practice to head in. From the beginning, it was a genuinely collaborative process, working with [Creative Director] Thomas Coward and the team to refine details like the glass top and the ribbing detail, and getting feedback from those who really understand the material and how it behaves. New Volumes occupies a really respected space in the Australian design scene; they feel really new and fresh, but with this overarching sense of identity that I would like to a heritage brand. Seeing my work sit alongside the work of designers who are real icons of Australian design is pretty mind‑blowing.
Locki Humprhey’s approach to object design focuses on minimal intervention, craft and sustainability. Their process is driven by both intuition and intention, an exploration of material, colour, texture, proportion and the potential of recycled materials. Championing Australian manufacturing and designing for deconstruction, Locki’s contemporary furniture and lighting challenge convention by balancing craft and innovation. The resulting pieces feel both familiar and refreshingly new.