Amelia Fagence crafts bespoke timber furniture pieces
For this New Zealand artist, being a maker means contributing to her various passions: art, design and furniture making.
“I am inspired by the concepts of play and balance, and enjoy creating my work in a range of scales.”
With creative parents growing up – her mother a full-time artist and art teacher, and her father a glass and stainless steel artist – Amelia’s introduction to the arts came early in life.
“All creative mediums were within reach when I was growing up,” she says. “My upbringing within a family of artistic parents and creative older siblings has always been the driving force behind my creative path.”
Initially pursuing architecture and working for several years as an architectural graduate and then a professional architectural model maker, Amelia now uses much of what she learnt from her formal training to craft furniture pieces from locally-sourced natives and sustainably-sourced exotic timbers.
Pushing the boundaries of form and function
“The architectural work and my formal architecture training has contributed to a critical design eye and the method of thinking I use throughout my process. The model making has fortunately, and maybe unfortunately, made me a bit of a perfectionist – particularly with the finer details,” says Amelia. “It has been the catalyst for precision work and taking on smaller handcrafted projects.”
The artist also likes to explore and push the boundaries between form and function – between art and furniture, and precision and fluidity: “I am inspired by the concepts of play and balance, and enjoy creating my work in a range of scales.”
“I love being tactile and using my hands everyday. Being immersed in a project and chipping away at it every day is also incredibly satisfying.”
In contrast to her previous work in architecture, Amelia enjoys the freedom furniture making allows. However, it still fits in with her passion for spaces and contributing to interiors.
“Being a maker means I can exist between the fields of art, design and furniture making,” she says.
“Being immersed in a project and chipping away at it every day is also incredibly satisfying.”
Sculptural furniture pieces
While her favourite timber to work with is constantly changing depending on the project currently underway, Amelia says the mystery of black walnut is always exciting.
“Its beauty is a complete secret until the very end when I oil it and its lush, deep colour comes to life,” she says.
“I’m also a big fan of beautiful natives as they are grown in New Zealand and often have interesting grains. I get excited when I have access to local sources such as fallen logs or dried timbers that have been tucked away for decades in woodworkers’ garages.”
As for her favourite creation?
“My current favourite is a solid timber daybed that I made for a recent collection of furniture pieces to be exhibited at Public Record in Auckland.”
A playful piece where the base (two solid timber spheres) has multiple configurations, it invites the user to experiment and interact with the design.
“I imagine the possibility of my furniture pieces evolving over time, where the owner may come back to me in a few years’ time and commission a new sculptural form to add to their existing piece,” says Amelia.
Auckland, New Zealand
