WEBSITE UPDATE
We have made some updates to our website to help make designing with and specifying our products easier than ever. You can now view our range of applied metals in a comprehensive range of textures, ageing and surface effects. We also feature designs that have been created through carving, routing and 3D printing processes. When you click on the tile a larger view will appear with all the specification details, it’s as simple as dragging and dropping the image into your schedule! And to help for custom pieces we have also included a specification guide for all our surfaces on our new Technical page. Of course, the website can't feature every way our surfaces can be used and as always get in touch if you would like to work together to create your own unique surface design.
For those who haven’t visited our website for a while, the site has been updated with a Media page which includes Q + A’s with a number of magazines providing insights into our business and design thinking. We have also added the Our Team page featuring the designers and other key people behind the scenes so that you can get to know us better!
Of course, we wouldn’t miss the chance to also update the photos in our Gallery with the latest and best of Axolotl. We hope you enjoy having a browse.
2018 YEAR IN REVIEW
As the year draws to a close we would like to take the opportunity to thank our clients, staff and friends for your continued support and wish you all the best for the festive season and the New Year!
2018 has been a positive and busy year at Axolotl with two new products launched, Cement Paint and our new Terrazzo surface - a world first at only 0.5mm thick.
Some of our highlights of the year include the completion of a number of exciting projects such as:
- The award winning The Collectionist Hotel where leading artists and designers including The World is Round, Amber Road and Willis Sheargold created a riot of colour and eclectic design across 39 unique rooms with the use of the Axolotl Paints Metta, Chroma and Micaceous ranges.
- The Pacific Club Bondi by Dreamtime Australia Axolotl Timber Wash & Chroma throughout the whitewashed interior.
- The Glasshouse by Nina Maya, with bronze entry door, rear garage door, vanities and Axolotl Paints throughout.
- Works on prestigious hotels including the Shangri-la Cairns, W Hotel Brisbane and Pan Pacific Melbourne.
- Material support to Amber Road for their exhibit in the 2018 Rigg Design Prize.
- Beautiful artworks for The ACT Law Courts, the Coroners Court, Harbord Diggers and Waverley Mall with artist Jade Oakley.
- The Banksia fire-pit artwork for Barangaroo’s Naidoc week celebration with artist Bibi Barba.
- Marcus Piper ‘Fracture’ artworks for the New York Affordable Art Show.
Axolotl also sponsored a number of events this year including the IDEA awards for the ninth year, the Good Design awards, Habitus House of The Year, and GZ Design Week in Hong Kong.
We were a Supporting Partner of Sculpture by the Sea, Bondi for a second year sponsoring four exhibiting artists, we sponsored Matthew Sheargold’s exhibition ‘Hyperkulturemia’ where Axolotl Paint was used in every artwork, the UTS DAB graduation showcase, and UTS fashion honours student Agnes Choi’s ‘Triumph in the Skies’ piece from her honours collection which was also the winner of the Swarovski crystal sponsorship.
To top it all off this year Axolotl was also awarded the Leading Architectural Product Supplier by Apac Insider, the most Innovative Multi-disciplinary Australian Design Firm from Lux Life and both Spectrum and Axolotl Paints were a finalist in the ADEX awards.
We are already working on new projects and products that will be debuted in 2019 as we continue our commitment to being ‘The Future of Surface’.
HYPERKULTUREMIA
'Hyperkulturemia' is a psychosomatic disorder that causes rapid heartbeat, dizziness, fainting, confusion and even hallucinations when an individual is exposed to an experience of great personal significance, particularly viewing art. ‘Hyperkulturemia’ is also the title of the sold out exhibition of sculptural paintings by Matthew Sheargold exploring memory and experience through colour, lighting, and geometric studies.
Sheargold is an award winning designer who draws on over 20 years experience working as an interior, furniture and product designer to inform his artwork. Fighting a constant battle to loosen up, his work is structured and restrained, using shapes, forms and symbols as efficiently as possible to tell a story. Drawing from fond memories and random moments, Matt's work seeks to explore the essence of the journeys we take and just how much detail our mind needs to remember them.
The exhibition was sponsored by Axolotl Paint with all the artworks using paints from the Chroma and Metta ranges.
Sheargold says, “Metta has a beautiful matt texture which worked brilliantly as the base for my works. Combined with different sheen levels of the Chroma range, Axolotl Paints were the ideal medium”.
Whilst your next design project may be a simpler expression than Matthew’s paintings, the superior pigmentation and depth of colour of Axolotl Paint will elevate it to be a work of art in itself.
You can find more images of the ‘Hyperkulturemia' exhibition here.
SCRIBBLY GUM BY JADE OAKLEY
The Scribbly Gum artwork floats along the side of a suspended ceiling in the new ACT Law courts building and can be viewed from the street, reception level and mezzanine.
The artwork is a reference to the local landscape and an artistic response to the curvaceous wall. The combination of white washed timber and light, as well as the immense scale give the artwork a sense of refinement and gravitas appropriate for its setting. LED lighting strips are used to create a visually dynamic artwork, as bright points of light appear to slowly weave their way through the curvaceous maze of scribbles. The gradual, glowing movement creates a sense of time passing and a feeling of calm, like watching a fire or shadows passing over the landscape.
“As an artist I am struck by the use of the Scribbly Gum in civic planting as you enter Canberra. The patterns themselves are beautiful graphics and unmistakably those of the Scribbly Gum, even when appropriated, enlarged and reproduced. Bringing these patterns into the interior of the court creates a sense of place, a link to the local landscape. The Scribbly Gum also lends the artwork a light touch as it reminds us of the wonder of nature, and nature’s ‘sense of humour.’ The whimsical patterns on the scribbly bark bring to mind childhood, and time spent in the bush. It is a reminder of our native land, the place that grounds us and links us together. It is a symbol of the culture and landscape to which we belong.” Jade Oakley.
Scribbly Gum was a 14-month process from concept and design development, through to installation. AAP Art projects, the art division of Axolotl, were instrumental in the design process working closely with Jade Oakley to ensure suitability for construction, installation and engineering.
The unique artwork canvas with no straight lines provided the first challenge. To overcome this we brought the installation team Stratti Build in to the project early on. The wall was surveyed on site via cherry picker and drawn on CAD. Over twenty templates were then produced from a datum point on the wall to allow for the successful mapping and installation of the artwork.
Scribbly Gum is made up of over 100 individual panels up to 3360 x 1560mm in size, and is split over three depths.
Each layer has been sanded and treated in the Axolotl factory with Axolotl Timber Wash Interior Roan paint with varying opacities.
Images of Scribbly Gum's design development can be found here.
Artist: Jade Oakley
Project Management: Creative Road
Design and surface treatment: Axolotl
Manufacture: Polygenic Design
Engineering & Lighting Design: Northrop
Installation: Stratti Building
Professional Photography: Ben Wrigley
SCULPTURE BY THE SEA, BONDI 2018
Axolotl are once again proud to be Supporting Partner of Sculpture by the Sea, Bondi for 2018.
This year we provided material sponsorship and artisan support to a further four artists - Michael Le Grand, Lucy Barker, Jim Flook and Rhiannon West. Each selected based on the quality of their concepts and our capabilities to assist with their diverse aesthetics. It has been an exciting and challenging process supporting each artist to realise their vision, and reinforces our own commitment and passion to support the arts.
The 22nd annual exhibition can be enjoyed on the stunning coastal walk between Bondi and Tamarama, until the 4th November. It is the world's largest free public exhibition and transforms the coast into a 2km long outdoor gallery, featuring over 100 sculptures by Australian and international artists.
If you are an artist looking for an experienced and passionate partner to facilitate your art projects, Axolotl, through our specialist AAP division can offer a range of services. We have experience designing and fabricating in an extensive range of construction materials as well as offer a range of unique, proprietary surfaces. To get in contact email art@axolotl.com.au or phone 02 9666 1207.
Michael Le Grand
GUARDIAN
Sculpture by the Sea, Bondi 2018
Materials: Mild steel, Axolotl Bronze Rust Patina
Guardian is the balancing act of found and shaped metal objects formed to establish a nominal totemic orientation.
OUTLET
Sculpture by the Sea, Bondi 2018
Materials: Electrical cable, wire frame, Axolotl Bronze Florentine Patina
A dense and complex tangle of discarded electrical cables in an intentionally ambiguous form. Outlet is constructed in a lozenge shape that could be a missile, a seed, or perhaps a lump of human detritus rolled by the sea and washed up on the rocks. With connotations of consumption and entrapment, its worm like tangled surface is visually perplexing in its complexity.
Jim Flook
SWERVE ONE
Sculpture by the Sea, Bondi 2018
Materials: Mild steel, paint
Contemplation of unfolding and unpredictable swerves of life's complexities.
Rhiannon West
FLIGHT
Sculpture by the Sea, Bondi 2018
Materials: Stainless steel, dichroic glass, mild steel, paint, Axolotl Stone
A playful and inviting sculpture for that ‘Instagram moment’. Reflective and
vibrant; dichroic lenses form the “tips” to the wings which reflect and refract the light.
RIGG DESIGN PRIZE
The prestigious Rigg Design Prize launched on Thursday at the National Gallery of Victoria to rave review. The triennial event celebrates Australian design and architecture, this year focusing on the field of Interior design and decoration.
Ten renowned interior design studios were invited to design and create a purpose built interior responding to the theme of ‘Domestic living’. Each exhibit highlights the important role interior design plays in shaping our lived environments, manipulating the senses, telling stories, and communicating our values and attitudes.
Axolotl are proud to support our friends at Amber Road in their entry to the 2018 Rigg Design Prize. We are forever in awe of the team’s creative take on interiors, and fearlessness of colour and texture. Amber Roads exhibit Take it Outside is the perfect example of this, and explores the transitional space between the indoors and outdoors. Axolotl sponsored Take it Outisde, providing the mirror glass walls and floors which reflect the brilliant star studded sky, and white washing iconic Aussie objects such as the mozzie coil, terry towelling, thongs and even a can of VB to capture the Australian outdoor experience.
This years Rigg Design Prize featured a stellar line up of design studios including Arent & Pyke, Danielle Brustman, David Hicks, Flack Studio, Martyn Thompson, Scott Weston, Sibella Court, SJB and Hecker Guthrie who took top honours and won this years Rigg Design Prize with their exhibit The table is the base - honouring the humble table.
Be sure to check them all out, entry is free and The Rigg Design Prize is open until 24 February 2019 at Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia at Federation Square.
Photography by James Greer.
PRINT REBORN
Axolotl introduced 3D printing in 2017, continuing its tradition as leaders in design innovation. Since then, it has partnered with architects and interior designers to create architectural artworks as well as originating exciting new products like Axolotl Terrazzo and Spectrum.
We were excited to be featured recently in an article on new online magazine HouseLab, about Axolotl's capabilities in 3D printing. Read it for yourself below.
The possibilities of 3D printing on any material are endless. A detail of a Nickel printed pattern by Axolotl.
When media became digitised the world screamed “print is dead” but, in fact, combining digital technology with age-old printing techniques has created an entirely new dimension to architectural surfaces that can be personalised across almost any application.
Our connection with printed matter is more than coffee table books and the Sunday paper, it's like buying the LP when you can download the album on Spotify. It is tangible, textured and large format.
The 3D printed entry to Nina Maya Interiors' The Glasshouse Photographed by Nicole England.
Take the bronze entryway to Nina Maya Interiors’ recent project, The Glasshouse, in the Sydney suburb of Paddington – and yes, you’d be forgiven for thinking it took an artisan hours, painstakingly etching the pattern. In fact it is 3D printed and like a true artist’s work it is completely a one-off – the skill of the modern digital artisan remains equally important as the traditional artist.
That is the great thing about this new technology, combining the feel of the old with the potential of the new, and really the possibilities are endless when you combine an idea with those who know how to make it become reality.
Making our way to the rear of The Glasshouse, this comes to light with a three-panel bronze cortex gate acting as a functional feature wall. Another example of how we can approach surfaces differently, and the texture is as engaging as the finish. These new approaches to printing and surface treatments bookend the home and also showcase the possibilities we have to hand.
The application of this technology isn’t just limited to doors, nor is it limited to metal. Today we can print on virtually any substrate from terracotta to glass, including concrete and timber, with an added dimension of up to 150mm meaning it really does come down to your imagination.
3D printed doors are just the beginning of what this new technology can offer. Left: Grand Designs by Chris Knierem - Design Construct (Photograph by Belinda Knierem) Right: Smith Residence in New Zealand by Di Smith (Photograph by Di Smith).
By engaging a graphic designer or artist in the process, any pattern can be achieved to create a statement piece in the home that is truly yours. HouseLab co-founder Marcus Piper recently pushed the boundaries of this thinking with his Differences series exhibited at the Australian Design Centre.
Printing on aluminium plate, the graphically-geometric series showed how 2 and 3-dimensional printing can hang together as one – playing with light to create depth in what would otherwise be a flat plane.
'It’s like printing an enormous magazine cover and they look different from every angle!' says Piper, who has been designing magazines for the last 20 years and is now endlessly excited about the potential of being able to produce artworks up to 1600x2400mm.
Difference 03 and Difference 01 by Marcus Piper, printed and 3D printed on aluminium at the Axolotl showroom.
And really size is the only limitation here – be it a garage door, a contemporary take on a pressed-tin ceiling or a poolside glass facade it comes down to the mark you want to make, as combining these multiple printed panels opens up a world of opportunity.
So, what lies ahead in surface technology? The sky is the limit but it ultimately comes down to finding the right team who understand the potential and can make the most of it in a way that suits a home. One thing is for sure, print is well and truly alive and it is definitely going places.
THE TAKE HOMES
1. Engaging a graphic designer or artist who understands the process can achieve incredible results.
2. 3D and surface printing can be applied to almost any substrate across applications from doors to bed-heads.
3. Being able to apply metal, concrete or stone finishes with 3D printing can make for a cheaper, lighter-weight outcome, perfect for joinery or feature walls.
4. The options and combinations that can be utilised with this new technology is seemingly endless, something your architect or interior designer will be able to advise on.
WRITTEN BY HOUSELAB
BONDI WHITEWASH
Last month Bondi scored its newest hospitality gem with the opening of all-day eatery The Pacific Club Bondi Beach.
Making its home within Campbell Parade's Pacific Building, the chic bistro and beach club boasts an enviable team of well-known hospitality luminaries to help bring it to life.
Harvest Newrybar's Bret Cameron is heading up the kitchen, an expansive wine programme comes courtesy of award-winning sommelier Chris Morrison, and 2016 Australian Bartender of the Year Michael Chiem is lending his talents to the cocktail list. The space itself is the work of internationally renowned hospitality designer Michael McCann, from Dreamtime Australia Design.
“Our lifestyles call for dining that is an extension of the way we live. With the open planned kitchen as its centrepiece, the ‘home away from home’ environment has drawn on whitewashed palettes, warm wooden textures, and finished with the polish of marble,” says McCann of his vision.
The whitewashed palettes throughout the restaurant were provided courtesy of the Axolotl Paint range, with TimberWash Interior in Roan used on the walls and ceilings. The colour imbues a clean minimalist aesthetic that makes the very most of its beachside locale. With its idyllic waterfront location we think The Pacific Club is definitely worth a visit.
Photography by Richard Mortimer.
CEMENTING ITS PLACE IN DESIGN
The award winning Axolotl Concrete has expanded the potential for concrete surfaces in design since it was introduced in 2011. One recent project which has really stood out to us is this Sydney residence designed by Handelsmann + Khaw, using the Slate Pseudo Smooth Axolotl Concrete.
Axolotl's Slate treatment is incorporated throughout the design on the balustrades and cabinetry, complemented with subtle brass accents. The design is restrained, whilst leaving an impression that is nothing less than ‘wow'. It’s no surprise that this project was shortlisted in the 2017 Australian Interior Design Awards, a finalist in the Belle Coco Republic Interior Design Awards and was voted House & Garden Top 50 Rooms.
Axolotl’s Slate Concrete brings a rustic beauty to the project and is available in Pseudo Smooth texture shown here, as well as Lunar surface texture. It can be applied onto just about any substrate as well as designs with complex shapes and sizes.
"We used the Axolotl finishes to imbue the warm minimalist style of the home with a subtle sense of luxury. The colour and texture of the Slate Pseudo Smooth concrete coating contrasted beautifully with the white walls, oak joinery and paonazzetto marble bench tops." - Tania Handelsmann of Handelsmann + Khaw.
Handelsmann + Khaw's client states; "The Axolotl finishes throughout came up beautifully. We are thrilled with it all!"
For more information on Axolotl Concrete please visit our showroom or website, or call the office today.
Photography by Felix Forest.