Transformation: Craft ACT annual members exhibition

Jochen Heinzmann
Associate Member / Wood
Biography
Growing up in a family with a second
generation joinery business, Jochen
was always surrounded by the creative
possibilities of crafting items from timber.
“I always loved working with timber, even
from a young age”, says Jochen. So in
2013 he quit his engineering job and
started tinkermade with the garage as the
workshop.
The aim of tinkermade is to fuse traditional
woodwork craftsmanship and modern
design and manufacturing techniques to
create unique items which complement
modern living spaces.
Artist Statement
The Papillon Lounge has been created
in response to a client brief for a set
of lounges for a modernist house in
Canberra, and it has been created in close
collaboration with the client of the project,
Randev Mendis. The brief was for modern
leather lounge with echoes of some of
the great modern furniture designs of the
previous century.
articulation, as alluded by the naming.
The shell-and-cushion structure of the
seat and backrest is reminiscent of the
Eames lounge chair, transformed into a
less technical form by reducing the shell
shapes to their essential functional form
and replacing structural metal parts with
timber ribs. The cushions are significantly
firmed up, providing a more plump and
wrinkle free surface, albeit with the salient
two large buttons per cushion. The seat
features an uncharacteristically strong
gradient for a lounge, inviting the sitter
into a deep and relaxing seating positing.
The looped armrests and open frame in
solid timber, in a midcentury Scandinavian
style, are again a less technical alternative
to a metal base, make this design
approachable both visuallyand tactile.
In the context of the commission work the
Papillon lounge has been made in a two
seater and a three seater configuration,
with the two seater configuration selected
for the exhibition. A single seater lounge
chair version is a possible later addition to
this series.
The vision for the lounge was for an
open frame and segmented seat and
back lending the design lightness and
Image: Jochen Heinzmann & Randev Mendis,
Papillon lounge. Photo: Courtesy of the artist
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