New Principles
March 23 @ 10:00 am – May 4 @ 4:00 pm
New Principles
Alex Guthrie, Emile Drescher, Jeremy Evison, Josephine Jelicich, Raimana Jones and Ted Synnott
23 March – 4 May 2024
Opening: Saturday 23 March, 2-4pm
New Principles is a collection of contemporary furniture from emerging and established makers based in Tāmaki Makaurau. The exhibition includes the work of Emile Drescher, Jeremy Evison, Alex Guthrie, Josephine Jelicich, Raimana Jones and Ted Synnott.
New Principles showcases makers who have distinctive traits in their work that define their individual practices. They seek out new methodologies to integrate into their work, while having foundations rooted in traditional craft and design practices.
This exhibition brings furniture into the public eye not as accessories to a room, but as a highlight. In embracing the high level of craftsmanship that has been developed to create each piece, New Principles elevates furniture to objects of fine art.
These makers continue to make highly resolved and intensively crafted furniture in a time where cheap mass-produced furniture and goods are easily accessible, which often compromise on quality of materiality and design.
The exhibition is a glimpse into the ideas, materials, and processes, currently being explored by a selection of Tāmaki Makaurau’s emerging contemporary furniture makers.
New Principles is accompanied by a piece by Te Whanganui-a-Tara based designer Tim Larkin titled I Don’t Share (One Hundred Metres Blue). Larkin’s contribution is a less function-driven approach to furniture-making, blurring the lines between furniture and sculptural object.
About the Artists
Alex Guthrie
Alex Guthrie is a designer and furniture maker based in Tāmaki Makaurau, who splits his time working in commercial architecture and designing and crafting furniture for private commissions.
Driven by a desire to see more craft sensibilities in objects and built forms today, he is pursuing furniture with a desire to become a highly adept craftsperson.
Ted Synnott
Ted Synnott is an Tāmaki Makaurau based designer of objects and spaces. His work utilises simple forms, aiming to create objects and environments that are enjoyable for people to use.
Jeremy Evison
Jeremy Evison is a multi-disciplinary designer working across product design and the built environment. His approach reflects an interplay of form and utility to design considered products, furniture and spaces. He produces eponymous work in addition to working with clients in a range of industries and contexts.
Raimana Jones
Raimana is an architectural and furniture designer with hands-on experience in metal fabrication and woodworking. His work embraces the constructive and poetic aspects of materials, blending formal expression with functionality. His affinity for materials serves as a guiding principle in his design process.
Josephine Jelicich
Josephine Jelicich is a furniture maker and designer with a background in art based in Tāmaki Makaurau. She is not interested in the commercial side of furniture, but is focused on carrying out the traditional craft, exploring her own designs, making special commissions and teaching woodwork.
Emile Drescher
Emile Drescher was born in 1991 in upstate New York and has lived most of his life in Aotearoa. He is currently making things out of wood and has a small business taking commissions on bespoke furniture.
Emile lives in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland with his partner Harry, their daughter Ida, their two dogs Ada and Red, and Pepi their cat.
Tim Larkin
Tim Larkin is a furniture designer, object artist and model-maker who primarily works with wood. He has a Master of Design with Distinction from Victoria University of Wellington and currently works at Massey University Wellington as a Technical Demonstrator. Larkin has exhibited his works widely and his furniture is held in collections at The Dowse Art Museum and Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa. In 2018, his work I Don’t Share (One Hundred Metres Blue) received a Merit Award at the Parkin Drawing Prize 2018.
