Join designer Duncan Meerding and explore his creative practice that works directly at the intersection of Access and Design. This fascinating discussion will unpack Duncan’s renowned furniture and lighting design practice, allowing the audience to gain valuable insight into his process working as a creative practitioner who is legally blind.

Duncan Meerding is a furniture and lighting designer based in Hobart, Tasmania. Working with a range of materials, his designs draw heavily from the vast natural beauty of the Tasmanian wilderness. With a focus on form and texture, Meerding’s work features organic curving lines inspired by the local landscape.

The relationship between light and shadow and light dispersion are also integral to Meerding’s design process. Being legally blind with less than 5% of sight remaining, the vision of light emanating from the peripheries of different objects, reflects the alternative sensory world within which Duncan designs.

​Rather than focus on quick-moving trends, each Duncan Meerding Design is created with a focus on longevity. By combining traditional hand-made techniques, modern manufacturing technologies and small-scale production, each object is built to last. Sustainability and care for the environment are present in every step of the design/making process. The majority of timber used is sourced either from ‘waste’ materials or else from faster-growing, robust timber varieties. As the practice has grown, care has been taken to insure that Meerding’s practice stays true to the core principles of environmental sustainability, ethical practice and the relationship between the maker, the object and the customer.

This event is presented in collaboration with Accessible Arts.