Category Archives: Unique Pieces

Wesley College Mace

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The Wesley College Mace has been created as a symbolic statement to mark the sesquicentenary of Wesley College in 2016. This milestone in the history of the College is being celebrated and commemorated in many ways. The Wesley College Mace is intended to be one of the lasting and more tangible legacies of 2016 as it will be symbolically and literally passed onto future generations of the Wesley College community.

It was agreed that the Wesley College Mace would need to reflect the symbols and traditions of the school, as well as reinforce Wesley’s well-known reputation as an innovator. The final design for the mace is a clear and symbolic statement and, through its bold, bright and modern look clearly signals to all that Wesley College is forward looking and has since the opening in 1866 honoured the school motto everyday – Sapere Aude – “Dare to be Wise”.

The Wesley College Mace is a bold, highly-finished and striking piece of contemporary design that pays homage to the traditional form of a mace, and yet presents as a piece of modern art. The mace is a metal club-like staff of one metre in length that elegantly tapers outwards from the tip of its base to eventually branch out in a tree-like form that cradles a glowing light source. The striking design reminds us of the story of the tree of life or read another way the guiding light through the journey of life. The Wesley College colours of purple and gold are unmissable. The staff has a gleaming gold patina that is broken only by incised decorative elements. Purple is represented in the bulb device that is both cradled in, and seemingly bursting out of the branches of the tree. This purple-coloured acrylic light source glows suggesting energy and life.

 

Melbourne Design Week 2015 Exhibition Space

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A temporary exhibition space constructed out of shipping containers for the 2015 Melbourne Design Week.

In 2015, Charlwood Design was invited by Ideas on Design to create an exhibition for the Melbourne City Square that highlighted the Victorian winners from several of last years design awards.

The brief was to create an eye catching, easy flowing exhibition space that utilized shipping containers to house the work.

The resulting exhibition was conceptualized and designed in a matter of days, and, with the help of Gavin Bufton and the Ideas on Design team, was neatly put together and installed into the space in a matter of weeks.

Photos courtesy of Sarah Anderson.

Juilliard Lift No.3

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Lift No.3 was developed for the St James Building re-development on the corner of Bourke and Williams St in Melbournes CBD.

Charlwood Design developed a concept based off a twisted, altered reality public transport fitout. The cage like stainless steel bar network is as intricated as it is detailed, with in-rail custom lighting specially designed and developed by Charlwood Design.

A window looks out into the Elevator shaft, where a lift riders can watch a large mural by artist Reka zip past. The stark white paneling hugs the walls, with beautifully curved corners and stainless steel trimming finishing the edges.

A completely custom COP panel was design and machined out of a solid block of aluminum, with custom buttons using the buildings font were machined out polycarbonate and polished.

Charlwood Design worked closely with the Kone Lifts to assure that all design aspects could safely be included whilst still meeting local standards and codes.

Brisbane International Tennis Trophy

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Following the success of the design of the Newcombe medal Charlwood (in collaboration with R-CO brand identity) was enlisted to create a unique trophy for the Brisbane international tennis open for Tennis Australia. The striking design is crafted from machined and polished aluminium sitting atop a Perspex base.

The perpetual trophy will have winners name’s engraved each year. The design was also developed into a slightly smaller players trophy and a unique, elegant trophy for the runner’s up. Fabrication and delivery of all the pieces was also managed by Charlwood.

Solar Tower Concept

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Charlwood Design was engaged by Enviromission limited to create a vision for a future “hope solar tower” – a solar, thermal power station for the Smithsonian Institute Design Triennial exhibition in New York. In conjunction with R-Co we developed a scale model of our concept inspired by the complex network of roots beneath a tree. The highly detailed final model was produced in machined aluminium and acrylic.

The tower operates by collecting the sun’s radiation to heat a large body of air under a glass collection area, which acts as a giant greenhouse. Based on the principle that heat rises, this air flows towards the center of the collector through electricity generating turbines and out of the tower’s central chimney. A single 200-megawatt solar tower is estimated to produce enough electricity to power approximately half a million households.

Newcombe Medal

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Charlwood design in conjunction with R-Co designed the inaugural Newcombe medal, awarded to Australia’s most outstanding elite player at the first Australian Tennis Awards.

Charlwood also created a unique presentation case to protect and display the medal. We saw the medal from sketch through to its creation through cutting edge production techniques. The result was a striking, elegant and modern piece of design.

Queen’s Baton

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Charlwood Design was selected to design the 2006 Commonwealth games Queen’s Baton which was used to carry the Queen’s message by thousands of runners from Buckingham Palace to Melbourne, passing through 71 Commonwealth countries. 71 lights on the front of the baton represented nations of the Commonwealth that the baton visited on its journey to the games.

It featured world first digital and communication technology and a distinctively modern look, with the tension and form of its slender frame reminiscent of an athlete’s body. Charlwood conceived the theme of the relay, designed the baton, supplied the technology and managed the manufacture. It was a complete ‘turnkey system’, and ran for a year flawlessly.

To find out more about the Queen’s baton relay please visit the official website of the 2006 Commonwealth games.

Time Capsule

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Charlwood Design was approached to design and manufacture a custom time capsule for Manningham Council to mark the opening of MC² (Manningham City Square) community centre.

Inspired by an acorn as a tribute to the oak trees that once stood on the site the final design utilises an intricate, laser-cut, stainless steel frame to showcase the contemporary production techniques available. This is contrasted by the simple internal capsule, plated in copper to represent the warmth of nature and the precious contents inside. The original intention was to bury the time capsule underground. As Charlwood’s design emerged, however, the Council deemed it “too precious and beautiful to conceal” so Charlwood was also commissioned to create a unique display for the capsule at the entry point of the MC² community centre, complete with a countdown timer. The result is a striking piece of contemporary design and a focal point of community pride for the next 50 years and beyond.