Behind Duncan Meerding’s distinctive designs is difference, in perception and perspective. The Tasmanian furniture and lighting designer’s work is a reflection of his technical skills, natural environment and his unique sensory world.
A genetic eye disease reduced the Bachelor of Arts alumnus’s peripheral vision to less than 5 per cent.
“My vision does directly inform my designs,” Meerding explains.
It’s evident in his cracked log lamps, made from salvaged wood with shafts of light slicing through the natural gaps in the timber.
“Light shining through dappled forest canopies and how light interacts with objects has been current throughout my work,” he said.
His design process accounts for his low vision with assistive technology, such as talking machines and tape measures.
“Not being able to draw using Computer Aided Drawing (CAD) is probably the biggest challenge.”
It also brings benefits.
For instance, when Meerding couldn’t create the form he wanted on the computer for a new light, he experimented directly with the materials. His exploration led to the design of his well-known flatpacked propeller pendant light.
Meerding’s designs have global appeal with showings in Europe and commissions for clients from Hobart to Oklahoma.
More recently he has been back in his North Hobart studio using his newly acquired skill of hand-cut dovetailing, a distinctive and ancient joinery method.
Beyond his own practice, Meerding is passionate about changing accessibility in design. He was a guest teaching fellow in the Architecture Beyond Sight program, a world-first University College London course encouraging more vision impaired and blind people to become designers.
It also challenges designers to think beyond the visual sense, inviting them to imagine and create spaces in new ways.
“It turns the concept of accessibility on its head from being an audit and compliance model to having it integrated into the design process,” he said.
“Accessibility in design is not just functional, it can be aesthetically engaging.”
Meerding is also passionate about sustainability; he opts for recycled or reclaimed materials and fast-growing timbers, but also shuns fast-fashion in furniture.
“I want to design furniture that lasts, not just in terms of its rigidity and strength, but also to ensure it has a lifespan beyond trends.”
Written by Lucie van den Berg for Alumni Magazine Issue 55, 2024.
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Top of page: Propeller copper polished underside | Photo: Cesar Carvasco Molina