Dale Hardiman

GOOD NATURED: design art architecture celebrates creative projects by designers, artists and architects working to design a better future. These practitioners are focussed on creating outcomes that are both beautiful and good for the planet.

About Dale Hardiman

Melbourne/Naarm based Dale Hardiman is a designer, co-founder of furniture and object brand Dowel Jones and collaborative project Friends & Associates. As a designer, he has a history of working with innovative and sustainable materials. His work questions and pushes traditional methods of practice. He also works to encourage collective creative practice, curating design exhibitions and events.

Dale explores the social, ecological, and political life of materials and systems. His projects interrogate the notion of place and how designed goods and systems are ultimately informed by people and communities exercising values behaviours and attitudes towards resources and supply chains.

“Over the past 10 years, producing work under my own name I've sought to explore primarily issues concerning the material supply chain, as well as the social, ecological, and political life of materials. Almost all the materials used now within my work have been sourced from resource recovery centres or from the curb side.”

Co-founded with Adam Lynch in 2014, Dowel Jones is an Australian design brand working with local manufacturers to create unique furniture, lighting, and accessories for Australian interiors and homes around the world using efficient production techniques and limited embellishment at accessible price points.

Friends & Associates is collaborative project founded with Canberra based designer Tom Skeehan in 2017. Friends & Associates was founded as a platform of collaboration and camaraderie to commission and instigate design outcomes by Australian design practitioners exploring topics relevant to current societal issues without the strain of market pressures. In various exhibitions creatives think about issues ranging from environmental degradation to intellectual property theft, including Welcome to Wasteland, Self Portrait, 26 Original Fakes and A World We Don’t Want.

As a leading practitioner in the field of exploratory waste and sustainable product design, Dale will share with our audiences the possibilities of reclaimed materials in designing innovative furniture and objects.

Connect with Dale: @dale.hardiman dale-hardiman.com

Dale's Projects

Kids Straw Stool by Dale Hardiman, 2011

Cook, Sit, Bio-Degrade, Grow. The Kids Straw Stool is made from a completely biodegradable material. Once it reaches end of life, it can be placed into nature and bio-degrade, and not only bio-degrade but also being made from Pea Straw and grass seeds, it will grow and help to promote health in the land, biodegrading in 5-6 weeks.

Welcome to Wasteland by Friends and Associates, 2019

Welcome to Wasteland presented projects, by creatives including architects, industrial designers, furniture makers and researchers, that explored the use of waste materials, offering visitors an insight into how leading practitioners are approaching Australian waste issues, not just with a sense of obligation but as an opportunity of crisis. Supporting the exhibition, was an entirely solar powered website.

Sharefolder Fantasy, 2022

People worldwide were invited to submit an image of a vase. A vase could be a container for holding flowers or for decoration: this could be anything from the exhaust on your car, to an open book, or a glass of water. Participants could take one minute or two months to make the work before uploading it to a dedicated website. The goal was to provide both participants and audiences an opportunity to observe the inflections of local materials, cultures, and customs on work from around the world. This project rejects the production standards and instant availability of consumer culture to invite expression and radical inclusivity.

Klag by Dale Hardiman, 2011

An experiment consisting of a new concrete substitute, Fly-Ash. A coal combustion by-product that leaves a huge waste disposal problem.

Foldy and Flower Foldy Table, 2021 by Dowel Jones

Foldy and Flower Foldy Table are produced in Geelong local to Dowel Jones, made from 100% aluminium and powder coated in colour. At its end of life, the powder coated finish can be easily removed and the aluminium can be recycled.

This collaborative design came together during the pandemic when Dowel Jones asked their Instagram community for feedback on its direction. Over the course of seven days the collection was designed, named, and produced entirely through social media.

This is an example of the three pillars of durability that Dowel Jones adopts in their work; physical – designed to last, aesthetic – durable or repairable, emotional – embedded value.

Dale's Good Natured Action

Dale has suggested a simple action that all of us can do to make an impact.

Share a photo on social media of a good natured moment in your everyday life. It could be something you see on your way to work or school, something in nature or a happy moment. Tag #goodnaturedmoment