The 2015 Australian Furniture industry Awards were once again a great success in showcasing Australia’s furniture design talent. The awards acknowledge excellence, encourage innovation and design within the industry and celebrate the success of the Australian furniture sector.
Britton Timbers won the Timber Supplier of the Year Award, but principal Shawn Britton said the most gratifying aspect of the awards was seeing how Britton Timbers’ specialty species were used.
‘Two of our customers and one of our RMIT students won awards, which was a thrill for us, but it was their innovative use of our Tasmanian Blackwood, American Walnut and Cambia timbers which had everybody talking.’
AFIA judges OAM Babette Hayes, Dr Brandon Gien, Chief Executive Officer of Good Design Australia, Cameron Baker, Deputy Chief Executive Officer of Manufacturing Skills Australia (MSA) and International Judge, Zilahi Imre, Vice President of the International Alliance of Furnishing Publications (IAFP) praised the year’s standard of this year’s entries.
They were fulsome in their praise for Michael Hays’ 2.3m x 1.1 m Luther dining table crafted from Britton’s Cambia, saying it was ‘an elegant and minimalist design with exceptional finish and detail.’ Michael won the Excellence in Dining Furniture Award, the criteria for which included design and aesthetics, ergonomics, quality of materials and finish, workmanship, durability, sustainability and value for money.
RMIT Student Andrew Beveridge won the Creative Vision Award for his FORMU coffee table, which featured a solid Blackwood top. The Creative Vision Award recognises pieces that successfully tie together the main elements of design whether or not the piece is fully completed.
The judges said Andrew’s FORMU table ‘linked function and form while maintaining simplicity. The cleverly designed curved metal legs double as magazine racks large enough to hold large books to records.’
‘The judges just loved it!’ was the catch-cry at the awards when Earl Pinto won the award for Excellence in Occasional Furniture.
Earl’s ‘Simon’ coat stand is a solid timber freestanding coat / hat stand with ‘antlers’ designed to hold coats and hats and umbrellas. Britton Timbers supplied the American Walnut, which featured an oiled finish.
The judges saw the Simon Coat Stand as a simple, elegant and refined piece that was ‘beautifully made.’
Shawn Britton says Britton Timbers was proud to win the AFIA Supplier of the Year award which recognised excellence in all aspects of customer service, timeliness of deliveries, goods as ordered, quality and pricing of goods supplied, customer liaison and technical follow-up and support.