Six of Australia\u2019s most awarded architectural practices have used American red oak, cherry and maple to design heirloom-quality furniture as a direct challenge to disposable design culture, with the resulting works unveiled today at Cult Design\u2019s Abbotsford showroom for the opening of Melbourne Design Week. KEEP: Forever Objects Designed by Six Australian Architects runs at Cult until 8 June 2026, following the show\u2019s 2025 Sydney launch.<\/p>\n
The exhibition has been curated by former Vogue Living Australia editor-in-chief David Clark, and is presented by the American Hardwood Export Council (AHEC) in partnership with Melbourne furniture retailer Cult Design and Evostyle. Clark has commissioned new works from Edition Office, Kennedy Nolan, Lineburg Wang, Neil Durbach, Richards Stanisich with Meg Ashforth, and Virginia Kerridge \u2014 with each practice asked to translate its spatial thinking into the intimate scale of furniture, working only with red oak, cherry or maple.<\/p>\n
The Melbourne run is the second Australian staging of KEEP after the show\u2019s 2025 Sydney debut, and the latest move in a design-sector campaign AHEC has run across more than 50 international markets over three decades. The trade body represents thousands of American producers \u2014 from family-run sawmills to major flooring manufacturers \u2014 and has promoted more than 20 commercially available hardwood species to designers, architects and furniture makers worldwide.<\/p>\n
KEEP pieces range from sculptural seating and tables to lighting and experimental objects \u2014 each translating an architect\u2019s spatial thinking into the intimate scale of furniture. (Photo Credit: Graham Alderton, supplied by AHEC)<\/p>\n
The resulting KEEP pieces range from sculptural seating and tables to lighting and experimental objects. Each work has been positioned as a direct challenge to throwaway furniture culture, asking what makes an object worth keeping.<\/p>\n
\u201cHistorically, and in other places, it is more commonplace for architects to design furniture, for their own projects or for companies by commission,\u201d Clark said. \u201cIn the nascent Australian furniture industry, it is less so.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said the exhibition is designed to test what Australia\u2019s most accomplished practitioners might produce outside their usual spatial brief. \u201cI thought it would be interesting to see what prominent and successful architects might design outside their usual focus, and perhaps, in the process and conversation, what they might bring to the texture and layers of the Australian design ecosystem,\u201d Clark said.<\/p>\n
Among the line-up is Brisbane practice Lineburg Wang, established by Michael Lineburg and Lynn Wang in 2018. The studio took out the AIA Queensland Architecture Medallion in 2023 and the Eleanor Cullis-Hill Award at the AIA National Awards in 2024 \u2014 placing it among the youngest practices in the show.<\/p>\n
Each architect commissioned for KEEP has worked exclusively in American red oak, cherry or maple \u2014 translating spatial thinking into the intimate scale of furniture. (Photo Credit: Graham Alderton, supplied by AHEC)<\/p>\n
The three timber species at the heart of KEEP \u2014 red oak, cherry and maple \u2014 were selected for their performance, expressive qualities and environmental credentials. According to U.S. Forest Service Forest Inventory and Analysis data published by AHEC, American red oak grows at 60.6 million cubic metres a year against a harvest of 31.9 million, lifting net standing volume by 28.7 million cubic metres annually.<\/p>\n
Cherry adds 5.4 million cubic metres of net volume each year, and soft maple adds 20.4 million. Each of the three species featured in the show is part of a forest resource where annual growth significantly exceeds harvest \u2014 the sustainability framing that has anchored AHEC\u2019s design-sector messaging in Australia and globally for more than a decade.<\/p>\n
\u201cKEEP is a reminder that the things we choose to live with can carry meaning and memory,\u201d said Rod Wiles, Regional Director of the American Hardwood Export Council. \u201cThese works are made to endure, not just in use, but in the stories they can hold.\u201d<\/p>\n
Installed at Cult Design\u2019s Abbotsford showroom at 16\u201328 Duke Street, KEEP invites Melbourne Design Week audiences to slow down and consider the value of the objects they choose to live with. The Design Week programme runs from today until 23 May, with the exhibition continuing for a further two weeks at Cult until 8 June 2026.<\/p>\n
The show\u2019s central premise \u2014 that an object\u2019s worth lies in how long it can be kept \u2014 finds a thematic echo in the descriptor that Melbourne practice Kennedy Nolan uses for its own architectural work: creating enduring settings for life. For more on the exhibition and the species featured, visit americanhardwood.org or follow @ahec_anz.<\/p>\n
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Jason Ross, publisher, is a 15-year professional in building and construction, connecting with more than 400 specifiers. A Gottstein Fellowship recipient, he is passionate about growing the market for wood-based information. Jason is Wood Central’s in-house emcee and is available for corporate host and MC services.<\/p>\n
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