ADAM GOODRUM
BORN 1972
SYDNEY, NEW SOUTH WALES
LIVES SYDNEY, NEW SOUTH WALES
Sydney-based designer Adam Goodrum is one of this country’s finest and also one of its most prodigious. Since graduating from an industrial design degree at the University of Technology in 1993, Goodrum’s professional trajectory has been impressive. Winning the Bombay Sapphire Design Discovery Award in 2004 may have thrust him into the spotlight but it was a collaboration with Capellini, Stitch chair, 2008, that sealed his reputation.
His portfolio is a mix of bright, bold objects, furniture and installation work, all with a sense of earthiness. Goodrum’s style is confident without being ostentatious, and highly sophisticated without taking itself too seriously. He’s intelligent and sensitive and it shows in his materiality, the detail and craftsmanship of each and every piece, and his uncanny knack for knowing exactly what the consumer wants.
Concrete Benches for Ovolo Nishi (formerly Hotel Hotel), New Acton, Canberra, 2014
Concrete
Goodrum’s concrete benches pepper the grounds of NewActon, Canberra’s popular cultural precinct and home to Ovolo Nishi (formerly Hotel Hotel). The seats were originally commissioned by Hotel Hotel’s developers, Molonglo Group, and reflect the decorative language of Walter Burley Griffin and Marion Mahony Griffin, the founding architects of Canberra. In this respect, they also tie in with the research Lou Weis of Broached Commissions conducted when producing a suite of single-edition pieces for Hotel Hotel, to which Goodrum also contributed.