Lauren Lea Haynes Studio photo
Hello Lauren! Tell us about your furniture brand, 'Lauren Lea Haynes', is Lea your middle name?
Hello, I have just recently ‘branded’ my studio and have decided to run with (for short) ‘LLh Studio’. It stands for Lauren Lea Haynes Studio which is my full name.
Your furniture designs are refreshing and unique, a new genre that is vintage yet contemporary, what inspires you and how would you describe your style?
Thank you, I am inspired by my new found passion for gardening and all the things that I am able to create through gardening and through learning of colour palettes and different plant species. It is something that brings me joy so I take elements of it and try to implement them into my work to bring the same joy out in those pieces for myself and hopefully others.
I am also heavily inspired by my childhood in Western Australia and all the versatile landscapes I lived amongst from the northern Pilbara and Karijini regions to the Great Southern’s beaches and coastal landscapes.
I am still developing a style, but I currently describe it as exploratory and experimental. I love learning about all the different materials we have here in Australia and how to use them sustainably.
You are incredibly multi-faceted with your designs and materials, (limestone, powder coated aluminium and upholstered seating). What other material would you love to work with next?
I would love to work more with different timbers next, I am currently prototyping a base for my chairs (and something new to go with them) out of Hoop Pine and hardwood veneers. I am really enjoying the process involved with laminate-bending veneers and finishing hardwoods like Tasmanian Blackwood and American Oak.
I read in a previous interview of yours, that you don't use power tools for your limestone sculptures. How long would a limestone piece generally take you?
No, I really enjoy the process of hand sculpting, I use basic timber tools for it as I learnt from the limestone sculpting course I did a couple of years ago. They generally take me about 8-16 hours from start to finish but it depends on the piece and what you want to get out of it. I sometimes enjoy just breaking them up and stacking them together, or using my offcuts and waste and arranging them. It has a real natural and raw effect and is so fun to look at, although I haven’t shared these with anyone yet but they would take me all of 10 minutes!
FOLI SIDE TABLE
Explain your design process from the beginning, how do you go from idea to finished product?
I start with a sketch, then multiple sketches and a lot of research into the materials, application and assembly. Once I feel confident in the research I 3D model the concept in CAD (Computer aided drawing) or CAM (computer aided Modelling) software. I then realise it through sometimes 1:1 cardboard mock-ups or 1:1 Templates of certain components and always a prototype which will then be adjusted and improved as needed.
What advice do you have for young aspiring creatives, what has worked for you and what hasn't?
I think I got lucky starting out in the pandemic with a lot of time on my hands, I decided to do the NEIS course which really helped set up my practice. I am still being funded by NEIS and it truly helped me get on my feet a little and be able to afford materials and to explore and play with things. I think being able to play-around with materials and explore processes and techniques is really essential to what I am doing and you could also carry that on with a more disciplined practice too.
It can at times be a struggle when outsourcing elements of your designs or all of your design and I have had some great learning experiences on communication with fabricators and building relationships.
I am still interested in learning more and I plan to enrol in short courses in welding, joinery and possibly enrol in Industrial Design.
What is your coffee order?
A filter-coffee at home. :)
DESERT PEA CHAIR ‘PILBARA’
As of right now (26th of October) update us on your current Llh Studio achievements and plans!
I am two weeks out of finishing up my Associate Degree in Furniture Design at RMIT so everything is coming to an exhibition at Marfa Gallery in Abbotsford on the 25-28th November, and I am very excited. I have been working on producing my recycled coaster sets and just received back the first two batches which look great and I hope to be able to share them soon. I am also looking very forward to a break over Christmas after moving studios to a new shared space with one other woodworker!
I won an award at Design Fringe last week which places me in a group of other winners who can now showcase their designs in Denfair mid next year.
So some more exciting things to look forward to next year too.