RECORDING ACCESS | RAA In Practice - Trent Jansen discusses Ngumu Janka Warnti (all made from rubbish), a collaborative project with Nyikina man Johnny Nargoodah 

TRENT JANSEN

Trent Jansen is a designer based in Thirroul, Australia, and Lecturer at the University of New South Wales, Art & Design, Sydney Australia. Jansen gained his PhD from the University of Wollongong under renowned Australian art historian Ian McLean, and his Bachelor of Design from the College of Fine Arts, University of New South Wales in Sydney. He spent part of his undergraduate degree in the Department of Art and Design at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada.

After a period working under Marcel Wanders in Amsterdam, Jansen returned to Australia to set up a
design studio in Sydney, before moving his practice to Thirroul on the New South Wales South Coast.
Jansen applies his method of Design Anthropology to the design of limited edition and one-off pieces for clients including the Molonglo Group, Charter Hall and Mirvac. This approach is also applied to the design of products and furniture for manufacturers Moooi, DesignByThem and Tait. Jansen was one of the cofounders of Broached Commissions and is represented by Broached Commissions for Broached in-house
commissions.

“Trent has a great deal of respect for cultural heritage and is extraordinarily thorough in incorporating
cultural identity and history into his works ... his collaboration with Broached Commissions has the same kind of take on defining the Australian design identity as Droog has done for the Dutch design identity”
Marcel Wanders – Mezzanine, 2015.

In this session, Trent will speak about the project he undertook with Nyikina man Johnny Nargoodah ‘Ngumu Janka Warnti (all made from rubbish)’.

NGUMU JANKA WARNTI (ALL MADE FROM RUBBISH), A COLLABORATIVE PROJECT WITH NYIKINA MAN JOHNNY NARGOODAH 

Words by Trent Jansen and Johnny Nargoodah

Ngumu Jangka Warnti is the Walmajarri phrase for ‘all made from rubbish’. The design of this collection began with a trip to the local scrap metal yard, in a vague search for anything interesting. Johnny and Trent salvaged a selection of discarded aluminium mesh and used this found metal as the starting point for experimentation. Trent and Johnny designed these pieces as they made them, starting with a mesh substrate cut vaguely in the shape of a chair, and together beat the material with hammers, concrete blocks and tree stumps until it took on a form that they both liked. This beaten geometry was then softened by laminating New Zealand saddle leather to skin the mesh, masking its geometry and softening its idiosyncratic undulations.

trentjansen.com
instagram.com/trentjansenstudio

Trent Jansen is represented by Gallery All in the USA and China and Galleria Rossana Orlandi in Europe

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