From drum ‘n’ bass to tables and chairs
Published On Thu 19 May 2016 by Grant Hill
A former DJ who discovered a passion for Scandinavian furniture will be exhibiting his own stunning designs at this year’s University of Dundee Art, Design and Architecture Degree Show.
Jon Christie co-owned the Pressure Records shop in Dundee and DJ’d in a variety of styles before a visit to his wife’s Danish homeland changed his life more than 20 years ago. He was blown away by the elegance of the furniture he encountered in the homes of his in-laws and his wife’s friends. Jon was also impressed by how the Danes’ placed huge value on the quality of construction as well as aesthetics and how these items were integral to their sense of home.
When he returned to Dundee, Jon began researching Scandinavian furniture and designers, immersing himself in the subject. It was his new passion that led him to the then-little known eBay site and a ‘Navy pendant’ that he recognised as a rare piece by Jorn Utzon, the Danish architect responsible for the Sidney Opera House.
Jon’s bid was not only successful but his knowledge of that period meant he recognised the piece’s true value and he was able to sell it on at a profit. It was the start of a journey that saw him spend almost two decades working for and with a number of international auction houses, regularly being involved in £50-100,000 worth of transactions in a single auction.
“When I took my first trip to Denmark with my wife I couldn’t believe the furniture I was seeing in people’s houses,” he said. “This didn’t look like any furniture I had ever seen before and I had never seen people take such pride in it either. I instantly fell in love with these beautiful, elegant, timeless designs.
“I came back and learned everything I could about the wonders I had seen and developed a real passion for furniture and lighting, especially mid-20th century or Modernist design. Before I came back into education I made my living from it but it got to the point four years ago when I felt I had to give it a go as a designer.”
Jon matriculated on the Interior Environmental Design course at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design, part of the University. His centrepiece tables and chairs, which blend traditional craftsmanship, modernist design and state-of-the-art 3D printing technology, is sure to be one of the most talked-about exhibits at this year’s Degree Show.
He continued, “The furniture I admire most has a high degree of craftsmanship, features beautiful natural materials and has proved timeless. My final year at university has been about creating furniture to be proud of. My project has looked at how 3D printed parts can be used to assist the maker by removing expensive, wasteful and time-consuming elements from the construction process.
“I didn’t know anything about 3D printing but through a lot of trial, error, sweat and tears I like to think I’ve become something of an expert and have now mastered the substitution of tricky woodworked parts with 3D printed joints. This means fewer complicated wooden components will be needed for the construction process in both large and small-scale manufacturing.
“I made the rest of the furniture using traditional crafts skills. Every single component has a function and that’s where the design brings the traditional skills and technology together. It is important to me that 3D printing isn’t seen as a replacement for these traditional skills but another tool for the maker to use to complement them.
“The potential of 3D printing is immense. It could potentially bring a boom for local manufacturing because parts don’t need to be mass-produced in different parts of the world. It is also much more efficient than other forms of manufacturing. With 90 per cent of materials used we can cut down on waste considerably.”
Jon is one of almost 300 graduands exhibiting at Degree Show 2016. The exhibition opens with the traditional Preview Evening for the students, their families and invited guests on Friday, 20th May and will open to the public the following day.
Admission is free and the show if open from 10am until 8pm (Monday – Friday) and 10am to 4pm (Saturday – Sunday) until Sunday, 29th May.
More information is available at http://www.dundee.ac.uk/djcad/degreeshow/.
A video of Jon at work and talking about his designs can be seen at https://vimeo.com/166923632.
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