Duncan Meerding UP CLOSE with

A discreet building tucked in behind a Dulux paint trade centre in a suburb of Hobart, Tasmania, is the unlikely location for a luminaire design studio that’s making waves across the world for its on-trend creations in waste wood.

What’s even more remarkable is that the designer behind awardwinning creations such as Stump, Duncan Meerding, is legally blind.

Meerding has just 5 per cent of his sight remaining but he believes that this disability informs his distinctive designs: ‘The vision of light emanating from the peripheries of the different objects reflect the alternative sensory world within which I design,’ he says. ‘I focus on form and texture, and my designs draw heavily from the vast natural beauty of the Tasmanian wilderness.’

‘Much of my work features organic curving lines inspired by the local landscape. Many of my designs highlight the highly tactile nature of the materials used, embracing their natural characteristics, such as the bark that still clings to the objects in the Cracked Log series.

‘The relationship between light and shadow and light dispersion are also integral to my design process.’

Each Duncan Meerding design is created with a focus on longevity. By combining traditional hand-made techniques, modern manufacturing technologies and small-scale production, each object is built to last. Sustainability and care for the environment are present in every step of the design and manufacturing process.

The majority of timber used is sourced either from waste materials or else from faster-growing, robust timber varieties. As the practice has grown, care has been taken to insure that it stays true to the core principles of environmental sustainability, ethical practice and the relationship between the maker, the object and the customer.

‘Nature’s been involved in inspiring the designs,’ says Meerding.

‘This is particularly the case with the things like the Cracked Log Light range. Here I've actually physically got something that nature's created and embraced what happens to logs if they're left in the elements.

‘I’m also embracing something which is often associated with flaws in the design and in the manufacture and made that a feature of the design.

‘A lot of my designs concentrate around how light goes through and around objects rather than the detailing.’ He speculates that that this may be a subconscious bias due to his partial sight and the fact that his vision is concentrated around the periphery.

Meerding, who studied furniture design at the University of Tasmania, also believes that making the items as well as designing them brings a different perspective.

‘There’s a bit too much of people sitting behind a computer and coming up with a pretty picture and then getting it made, and it breaks.

‘Sometimes having actual materials in front of you adds a bit of strength to the design process.

‘Making something also means you have that connection to the actual final object. For me it's really important where that object came from and how it was made.’

Meerding is increasingly getting recognised for his work and his unique perspective. Last year he was a guest teaching fellow and lecturer on ‘Architecture Beyond Sight’ at The Bartlett School of Architecture and Design at University College of London.

He regularly walks in the bush and hikes in the Tasmanian mountains, places where he reflects on the ‘primitive’ aspects of his work. His personal credo, too, is informed by his deep attachment to the natural landscape and his commitment to sustainability is equally primal.

‘We are actually on a tightly balanced ecosystem and we have finite resources and if we destroy it, we have nothing left. There’s isn’t a plan B.’ ■