16 | aspire

shape
retfihsshifter
M
arc Newson’s futuristic designs point to a man
who lets his imagination run wild and refuses to
conform to the norm. And why should he when
the world is his design stage and we can all
benefit from the beauty of his unique vision.
A design critic once quipped that the designer
had used his career to “live out his ‘Boy’s Own’
fantasies of speed and travel”. This statement
seems particularly apt when you consider that
He’s been tagged the boy who grew up on Sydney’s north shore, In terms of carving a career out of his natural
and spent his time pulling apart watches, curiosity for the way things work, it seems
as one of the globe’s those boyhood fantasies have gone way
radios and bicycles to learn more about their
greatest industrial mechanics, has since added his golden touch above and beyond anything even Marc himself
designers and has to Qantas aircraft interiors, a concept vehicle could have imagined. It’s unlikely he would
reshaped everything for Ford and a jet-sized ‘Space Plane’ for EADS have ever dreamed that the venerated Time
Astrium, a global leader in space transportation. magazine would name him as one of its ‘100
from glassware and most influential people in the world’, an honour
furniture to space Marc’s signature aesthetic is based around the bestowed to him back in 2005.
planes and luggage. use of biomorphism, epitomised by ergonomic
and flowing lines that are free of sharp edges TAKING FLIGHT
Josie Gagliano agrees and often call on the beauty of translucency Marc Newson was born in Sydney in 1963 to
that the Australian and transparency. He also uses bright colours to a mother of Greek heritage and an Australian
design maestro really is make bold design statements – orange, green father he hasn’t seen since the age of two.
in a class of his own. and yellow are favoured hues. Raised in the north-shore suburb of Gordon
by his mother, Carol Conomos, who had a
One of his most famous creations, the Embryo
strong interest in architecture and art,
chair, which he conjured up back in 1988, is a
Marc’s childhood was punctuated with stints
perfect example of Marc’s biomorphic forms.
in Europe and then Seoul, where his stepfather
He once described the chair to The New York
was transferred (Carol remarried when Marc
Times as “one of the first pieces where I hit
was aged 12).
upon a discernible style”.
At age 14, he headed back to Sydney on his
Along with furniture, product and aircraft design,
own to board at Trinity Grammar, in the city’s
that discernilbe style has since been applied
inner west. His first stop post high-school was
to the fashion arena – he has put his stamp
the Sydney College of the Arts, which rarely
on Nike running shoes, G-Star clothing, Lanvin
accepted students straight from school but
sunglasses, Samsonite luggage and a Parisian
obviously spotted something special.
shoe boutique for Azzedine Alaia.
“I studied jewellery and silversmithing at college,”
he recalls. “Instead of designing a piece of
jewellery as my final project, I designed a chair,”
says Marc, who was clearly busting through
boundaries and redefining the rules even then.
“I thought it was the same as a piece of jewellery
 aspire | 17

marc newson’s
futuristic
designs point to a
man who lets his
imagination run
wild and refuses
to conform to
the norm.
 i am inspired
by the new
technologies,
materials and
processes i meet
in the course
of my work. I am
also inspired by
popular culture
– wherever I
happen to be …
– it is ‘worn’ by the body, after all. The tutors
agreed. I proceeded to design other pieces of
furniture and travelled to Japan, which I found
incredibly inspirational.”
It was in Japan that Marc’s career really took
off. A chance meeting with Teruo Kurosaki,
owner of cool design company Idée, soon led to
his Embryo chair – originally commissioned by
Sydney’s Powerhouse Museum in 1988 – being
put into production.
The chair proudly stood alongside the
outstanding works of renowned French product
designer Philippe Starck. Italian companies
such as Alessi, Cappellini and Flos were duly
impressed and had the young designer adding
his flourish to everything from cutlery and
chairs to lighting.
Further good fortune favoured Newson when
– just a year out of college – he received a
$10,000 Australian Council grant to showcase
his talent in an exhibition at Sydney’s well-known
Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery in Paddington.
One of the six pieces he came up with was the
now infamous aluminium Lockheed lounge –
one of which recently sold at Phillips de Pury
in London for over one million pounds.
“I had this image of a fluid aluminium form.
The shape was sculpted out of a piece of foam
– exactly the same way you would create a
surfboard,” Marc says of his original creation.
“The only way I could get the aluminium on was
by hammering out little pieces of metal and using
rivets to attach them. That’s where the airplane
metaphor came from, so I called it the Lockheed
lounge [in a nod to the American aerospace
company, Lockheed Corporation].”
The lounge created a serious stir and eventually
a total of 15 (including prototypes and an
artist’s proof) were produced. Philippe Starck
acknowledged his admiration for his young peer
by purchasing one of the Lockheed’s for the
lobby of New York’s Paramount Hotel.
Following the exhibition, Marc’s career went from
strength to strength. One company the designer
is thrilled to be associated with is Qantas. “As
creative director of Qantas Airways, I have
designed aircraft seats and interiors, including
the complete interiors of their entire A380 fleet,”
he says with pride.
Marc’s impressive contribution to Qantas recently
saw him take out top prize at the Australian
International Design Awards (AIDA). Of his
work, AIDA said: “When it comes to style, Marc
Newson’s retro-futurist approach and superb
vision showcases a very unique aesthetic, with a
sculpted carbon fibre backshell to give a visually
stunning appearance – representing a Qantas
design first. It also brings a unique natural
element to the overall appearance, as [Marc has
used] a material that is not normally exposed but
rather is used in the aircraft airframe.”
Proving AIDA’s observation that “a fascination
with aircraft is a common thread for Newson”,
the designer recently formed a second company
entitled MN Aerospace to “tackle all the design
work for private jets and boats that I have been
commissioned to do in recent years”.
As Marc sees it, “There is no doubt that the
aeronautics industry is behind the technological
development of design, in terms of materials,
software and engineering.”
FUTURE FANTASTIC
As well as aeronautics, Marc gets fired up
by people, places and things. “Generally I am
inspired by the new technologies, materials and
processes I meet in the course of my work. I am
also inspired by popular culture – wherever I
happen to be in the world,” he explains. “And I’m
inspired by those designers/artists who went
before – people like Enzo Mari, Ettore Sottsass,
Bruno Munari and Achille Castiglioni. And I
have great admiration for the work of Jonathan
Ive [head of Apple’s creative team and the man
behind the iPhone] and Jasper Morrison [creator
of the Air-Chair] in the field of industrial design.”
One has to ask when he actually gets time to
dream up his designs. “It’s usually when there is
total quiet and the phone can’t reach me. I often
find the environment of an aircraft cabin is a
perfect place for me to think and let the ideas
run free,” he laughs, adding that jobs currently on
the drawing board include “private jets and boats,
high-end jewellery, continuing work for Qantas
and many more confidential projects”.
 aspire | 19

Clockwise from top

left: Inspired by the
golden era of air travel,
Marc designed Qantas’
super-stylish first-class
lounges in Melbourne
and Sydney; fashion
with a Newson edge;
the Hemipode HDP33
platinum/grey gold
watch; smart salt and
pepper shakers.
Above: Marc designed
the unique interior of
Tokyo’s Pod Bar in 1989.
Right: The bright and
funky TV Chair & Table01.
Opposite page: The
anthropomorphic Bucky II
Chair01 was designed in
1995 for the Paris-based
Foundation Cartier.
 aspire | 21

MASTER STROKES
Some of Marc Newson’s most
acclaimed designs include:
IKEPOD WATCHES: Designing
timepieces since the 1980s, Marc
designed a watch collection for the
Swiss-made Ikepod brand, which
showcases the notion of duality via
two time zones – one watch face is
visible and the other obscured.
THE LOCKHEED LOUNGE:
There are only 15 in existence and
this lounge recently cemented Marc’s
icon status by achieving the record
sale price of £1.1m (AU$2.2m) – the
highest price paid for a work by a
living designer.
THE EMBRYO CHAIR: The Embryo
chair’s beautifully fluid design is well
recognised now, but was considered
avant-garde when Marc first presented
it 20 years ago.
THE ATMOS 561 CLOCK: Marc’s Among all of the work demands, the globe-
long-held fascination with the trotting designer is also busy raising a family
Jaeger-LeCoultre’s Atmos Clock between homes in London and Paris. He recently
– an 85-year-old design masterpiece married British stylist Charlotte Stockdale, and
powered by minute changes in the pair has a two-year-old daughter, Imogen.
temperature – was rewarded when he As much as he would like his family to spend
was commissioned to design his very more time in Australia, Marc says he only
own version. manages to get home once a year: “I tend to
stick around Sydney to be with my family and
THE SKYBED: Marc’s first task as friends as much as I can – anywhere where
creative director for Qantas was to I can see the ocean is okay with me!”
design the Skybed – the airline’s
Business Class sleeper seat. This It’s clear that Marc Newson is hugely fulfilled.
was followed by the award-winning Asked about passions outside of work, he
interior of the Qantas A380 economy- cites classic sports car and is somewhat of an
class seat, with more work on Qantas aficionado on the subject – he and Stockdale
fleets to follow. have even entered two of his four vintage sports
cars (a Lamborghini, a Ferrari, an Aston Martin
SMEG OVENS: Marc’s range of and a Cisitalia) in Italy’s Mille Miglia annual
ovens, cooktops and hobs for Smeg vintage car rally. “I am also crazy about my knife
marked the first time the Italian collection and my collection of Samurai figures,”
kitchen specialist had collaborated he adds. “And I am passionate about sleeping.”
with a non-Italian. The concept oven
result was, typically of the designer, This talented, on-the-go man could probably do
an explosion of colour and style. with the rest, but it’s doubtful that he’ll be putting
his creative energies to bed any time soon.
FORD’S 012c CONCEPT CAR:
Commissioned by Ford in 1999 to
rethink the car, Marc developed the
021c concept car based on box-like
childhood sketching – he named it
after his favourite Pantone colour. as much as he would like …to
spend more time in Australia,
marc only manages to get
home once a year.