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Assignment on an Australian designers written by
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Pajda Perina was born in the Czech republic. He migrated to Australia in 1998 and after 16 months in Queensland, took up a furniture design course at the School of Wood, Dwellingup on the other side of the continent Western Australia .
This is a school unlike any in his home country. A 2-year course here gave him all the skills he needed for good furniture design. There are very few schools like this around Australia or indeed the world and one day, Pajda would like to make more. Not only did he learn craftsmanship and design at this course, but also developed his own style of design. His philosophy is to make art that also serves a purpose as furniture and he achieves this very well. He uses smooth flowing shapes in a range of furniture and other products (knife). Occasionally he also includes sharp bits (Hall table) which still add to the overall effect of the design. The surfaces are highly polished and the character of the wood is emphasized. His most used building material is wood which is usually locally harvested. He uses some of the more obscure woods such as Sheoak (briefcase) and Jarrah (vases). The different colours of the wood are used as part of the design (placemats). Metals such as chrome or aluminum can be incorporated into the structure of the work (chair). When possible, he will use scrap material he already has and still make it look good (vases). There is no 'back' of any of his pieces in the sense that the back isn't to be seen. All sides of the works look good (Bed, chair). Pajda prides himself on designing aesthetic, functional and ergonomic furniture despite how artistic it is. For example the queen Bed has legs that curve inwards not only as an aesthetic feature to add to the overall design, but also to stop people stubbing their toe (Bed). The chair too is very ergonomic despite its beauty. He will often conceal joins unless they are good for the design. In the process of making his products, Pajda is not always given the design problem by a third party but is always very motivated to do it. He doesn't do a lot of market research because the design is a very customized one. There is little research into the product but instead he makes a lot of preliminary models to help see what it will look like and work out design methods. He makes scale models out of various materials glued together before even working out dimensions. This is a time consuming task when it may take scores of these models before he's happy. Once he is happy, he can draw the plans and start on the full-scale models. The chair alone required no less than 7 mock-ups before the product was built. At this point he can also test materials and methods for making the piece. This may seem like a very tedious process but the results are amazing. (chair) Pajda is very conscious of the environment. When he builds his products, the wood that harvest has only a small Impact on the chosen species. The species of wood are always common ones and native to the local area but not commonly used by others. Also the volume of wood is small and there is very little waste due to Pajda's use of scrap in some designs (vases). This style was greatly influenced by his lecturer at Dwellingup, Neil Erasmus. Neil's design is influenced by the American Shaker and Traditional Japanese styles as well as the Arts and Crafts Movement. This movement was a group who moved against the ugliness of a mass-produced society. He leaves small detail and joinery exposed and highlighted and fine contrasting details and inlays are featured. Tibetan architecture is also an influence on Neil's and so Pajda's work. Pajda has won a number of awards for his products. So the designs must be good. 2001 - Presented by Fine Wood Work Association of Western Australia in Perth his Queen size Bed received First prize in the Individual furniture. Also his wooden briefcase received first prize at the Lidded box category. The York Society Art and Craft Awards 2001 - Coffe table recieved Highly Commended award. 2000 - Presented by Fine Wood Work Association (WA) in Perth, First prize in the miscellaneous category - exhibition Easel. Second place in the Individual furniture - Hall table With all these awards under his belt, the future is looking pretty good for Pajda. He thinks that there is a future in this particular business. Mainly because some people have become sick of cheap uniform furniture from China and Indonesia. This is a very important design field that Pajda is involved in. there are very few designers like himself who can build such fantastic designs for individual clients. Most furniture is cheap mass produced stuff. You can't get anything out of the ordinary, in fact it defines the ordinary. Pajda designs functional, ergonomic furniture which is more aesthetic than the ordinary without being uncomfortable. His products are for a specific market. They are for people who appreciate art and like wood. The individual will love the great beauty and functionality. It could also change their social life as their friends always want to come over and sleep in their Bed or sit on their chair and so on. Beyond this, He doesn't Impact society as a whole very much because his designs are not for mass production. The products are for the individual and are a model for how furniture should be made but not very often is. What's more, being only a small time designer, most of society have no idea about him. All he does for society is provide a service. His dream is to get involved in a school like the one at Dwellingup but, having just gone there, he has no money left so he is building yacht interiors for ocean super yachts in QLD to subsidize his designing. At some point in the future he would like to start his own business full time in design and furniture building and what a great day that would be. In the mean time he will attend exhibitions and win competitions in a hope to get himself recognized and perhaps idolized. But who knows what the future may hold. All copyright held by author
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