Watercooler Chats, With Arthur from Elliott Jones
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Meet Arthur, the industrial designer behind Elliott Jones Studio and new furniture brand, Plywood Series. He works out of a shared workshop in Collingwood, turning sheets of ply into considered, functional pieces.
When he’s not laying out jigsaws of material or acting as his own accountant/delivery guy/content creator, he’s fielding family requests for custom furniture, and politely declining cat trees.
We recently caught up with Arthur for a chat around the "watercooler".
Where do you work and what is your role?
I’m an Industrial Designer and I recently went out on my own to start a design studio and furniture brand called Plywood Series. I design and make all the pieces myself, working out of a little shared workshop in Collingwood - a suburb not far from the center of Melbourne.
What does your family think your job is?
My family thinks I build furniture for them! I do have a lot of prototype furniture in their houses.
What’s the most bizarre task you’ve had to do in your role?
My sister-in-law has two cats she’s obsessed with and just asked me to design a bespoke cat tree. Not a niche I'm looking to expand into.
If your job had a theme song, what would it be and why?
I’m terrible at song lyrics, so I’d go more on tune/vibe - something calm and contemplative, with the occasional burst of high stress and chaos.
What’s the most boring part of your job that you secretly enjoy?
Probably designing to get the most out of each sheet of material. It sounds boring, but figuring out how to lay out parts to minimise waste is like solving a jigsaw puzzle!
Tell us something surprising about your job.
If I’m doing my job well as a designer - it’s probably only 20% hands-on making. The rest is the computer-based design process, cutting, finishing, selling, delivering (and sweeping up sawdust).
Describe your job in one sentence, then explain why that description is misleading.
Furniture designer and maker - in reality, it also means accountant, logistics coordinator, content creator, delivery driver…
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What does your family think your job is?
My daughter swears I “sell sauce” and my husband insists I “just move boxes around.”