Meet the maker: Chelsea Lemon
Canberra is home to a multitude of designers and craftspeople who strive to display authentic design – work that shows the personality, values and journey of the artist.
Local artist Chelsea Lemon’s chosen media is timber. Her work showcases a new approach to traditional woodworking and gives a new perspective on furniture design. She creates beautiful and functional timber pieces that can be viewed as an art piece when not in use. They are intriguing to look at, allowing the viewer to form a connection with her work.
‘I would describe my style as organic in its approach’ Chelsea says. ‘The natural qualities of wood are beautiful, containing different grain textures and colours.’
Chelsea has a particular love of parquetry and plants. ‘I walk in bush land and rainforest to collect plant specimens or take photographs. I sketch the plants and transform the sketches into geometric forms which I print onto paper. Each shape is traced onto timber veneer, then cut, sanded, and glued to form a timber translation of my drawing.’
Her designs are influenced by Canberra’s surroundings and the local design community has had a great impact upon her career.
‘I am lucky to have grown as a designer within the Canberra region. There is a strong sense of community within the design field. We support each other and work together on projects,’ she says.
Highlights of Chelsea’s recent career have been her Granger table - a meticulously hand-crafted plane made up of geometric splices of wood - and her Wave and Curl Serving dishes, showcasing a variety of timbers in striking statement piece table bowls.
Chelsea was the designer in residence for the 2018 Design Canberra Festival. She graduated in 2015 from the ANU with Honours in a Bachelor of Visual Arts, majoring in Furniture Design. She received the 2014 Designcraft: Craft + Design People’s Choice Award for her Triangulation Chair as well as the Craft ACT Exhibition Award to showcase her chair in the 2015 ‘Emerging Contemporaries’ exhibition.
https://craftact.org.au/collections/chelsea-lemon