KEEP: Reimagining Furniture in American Hardwoods

The American Hardwood Export Council (AHEC) and six of Australia’s leading architects came together for KEEP – a design project exploring craftsmanship and materiality as a response to the throw-away culture of today.

WORDS Gina Dionisio PHOTOS Tim Robinson

Curated by design writer and editor David Clark, KEEP challenged a cohort of Australian architects to design functional objects that celebrate the beauty and resilience of American hardwoods. Much like AHEC’s South African Future Heirlooms projects with Always Welcome and more recently Houtlander, the architects were tasked with crafting objects from three sustainably harvested American hardwoods: red oak, hard maple and cherry.

Kennedy Nolan | ‘David’ Console — American Cherry

Approaching the brief, architects Rachel and Patrick from Kennedy Nolan chose to anthropomorphise their console. The David Console has a distinctly animal-like quality, with a head, tail and flank – each rendered in different finishes of the timber: scraped, gouged, laminated or coated.

Virginia Kerridge | ‘Pax’ Table — American Cherry

Virginia Kerridge’s table interprets a traditional woodworking technique that uses butterfly joints to connect two pieces of split timber. Here, brass joints span a recessed groove that follows the natural grain of a central timber section. Cuts at either end are secured by butterfly joints on the vertical edge, finished in timber.

The table can be detached from its slotted base, which also disassembles for flat-packing and easier transport. The angular legs are stained a deep red, with brass strips at the base that occasionally catch the light. Pax takes its name from Virginia’s dog and also refers to both the table’s ‘X’-shaped base and the Latin word for “peace” – a fitting name for a piece that brings people together.

Lineburg Wang | ‘Pedal’ Lamp — American Cherry

Lynn and Michael from Lineburg Wang were intrigued by the idea of creating an object that initially appears as a solid block of timber but reveals its complexity upon closer inspection. They aimed for a movable piece – exploring balance, counterbalance and operability.

The final design draws inspiration from the everyday foot pedal mechanism of a pedestal bin. Pressing the pedal opens the “block” of timber at the top, activating a hidden light source. All mechanisms of movement and opening are concealed within. A subtle curve on the lamp’s face becomes noticeable only up close and is revealed in shadow when the lid opens.

Richards Stanisich (with Meg Ashforth) | ‘Lamella’ Chair — American Maple

A lamella is a small, thin, plate-like structure – a term commonly used in biology, and one that also refers to armour. Kirsten and Jonathan’s chair design draws inspiration from Japanese medieval armour. Hundreds of timber tiles were painstakingly hand-sewn together, taken apart and reapplied in a time-intensive exploration of how best to drape them.

A chance encounter with Meg Ashforth, a renowned costume designer known for Mad Max: Fury Road and a fellow enthusiast of Japanese historical armour, led to a collaboration. After a further six weeks of hand-sewing and making, the result is a piece of furniture that unites design, craft and art.

Edition Office | ‘Twin’ Bench — American Red Oak

Edition Office originally designed furniture pieces for the renovation of a rural Victorian home by Melbourne modernist architect Paul Couch. The house, oriented around four water tanks, included furniture designed to sit within these repurposed spaces.

The Twin Bench extends that series – a seat for two that allows generous personal space. Architects Aaron and Kim also drew inspiration from late 20th-century photographers Bernd and Hilla Becher, whose images of industrial architecture influenced their exploration of structure.

Fascinated by the structural language of timber water tanks, they moved away from creating form through plastic materials and instead investigated assembly – particularly the aesthetic that emerges when a curve meets a straight structure, or when joints seem to “slip past” one another. The bench’s back expresses this most clearly.

Neil Durbach | ‘Small Slide’ Table — American Red Oak and ‘Einstein’s Hat’ Vase — American Red Oak and Cherry

Neil Durbach’s Small Slide Table is a developmental prototype, a playful reimagining of a conventional sliding table. Here, the slide moves only a few centimetres – just enough to reveal a metallic finish in the gap and cast “shadows that seem to be like smiles”. The plan form echoes a geometric cross-section of a tree.

For the Einstein’s Hat Vase, Neil drew inspiration from the classic Aalto Vase, which he collects obsessively. The 13-sided outline is based on a geometric shape discovered by mathematicians in 2022–23 – an aperiodic tiling that can be assembled endlessly without repeating. The internal contour of the vase is more fluid. This piece is an experimental prototype in timber – a material not typically suited to holding water. Its evolving design will eventually feature a highly reflective metallic interior. | ahec.org

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