people
John D. Waters
Over 20 years ago, I began as a trades’ assistant in cabinet making. The range of roles I assumed over this period equipped me in all areas of the trade, including materials preparation, assembly, spraying, installation, etc. Soon after, I began to work professionally with a range of furniture makers in various styles and capacities, including notable Victorian furniture producers Bruce Grisold (Ramone’s Fine Furniture), Mark Tuckey (Ancient Modes), and Thomas Gannon. I consolidated my 'hands-on' experience by attending specialist courses at Melbourne School of Woodcraft, Coles School of Woodcraft and RMIT.
In the last 6 years I have worked at the Victorian Wood Design Centre workshop at the Meat Market, North Melbourne. The ‘open studio’ nature of the workshop has exposed me to a vast array of independent woodworkers from all over Victoria – and, in fact, many international woodworkers. Furthermore, I have been involved in a number of exhibitions through my association with the VWA. Now, I coordinate the day-to-day operations of the workshop and am an active VWA Committee member.
I have developed a client base solely by custom designing and making furniture, varying from private residential, institutional to corporate commissions. This ‘word-of-mouth’ mode of bespoke work has spread with the recent presentation of the 2008 Victorian Premiers Design Award. This mark of distinction has encouraged me to broaden my scope to include regional and international propositions.
My reputation as a designer and maker of timber furniture is highly regarded by colleagues; clients and suppliers as I primarily work with recycled and salvaged Australian timber. I draw my inspiration from the character of the timbers, existing site attributes, Art Deco and Japanese styles – and, from the architecture, books, films, and music I am absorbed by. My aim is to set up a multi-disciplinary studio-workshop, producing carbon neutral furniture that will inspire and last for generations.
John D. WatersROSEADORA Furniture Maker/Designer
Jela Ivankovic-Waters
After several years, I returned to Melbourne to undertake postgraduate studies in horticulture. Although I had originally elected the course to consolidate my study and work experiences from the West, I did not anticipate establishing my own practice in landscape. The University of Melbourne’s Burnley campus offered scope to explore specialist interests, however, my principal interest in landscape design essentially demanded on-the-job training. Garden ‘jobbing’ soon led to requests to design and implement planting schemes garden refurbishments and then to comprehensive landscape planning. Such a variety of projects were interspersed with engagements as a horticultural program co-ordinator in various special care facilities and schools, namely Ascot Vale Special School and The Royal Children’s Hospital. Underscoring all these activities is a robust interaction with the client. As the custodian of the garden, the client is supported and encouraged to initiate and follow-through the cultivation of the site – be it a small courtyard garden, the sprawling grounds of an institution or broad acreage landscapes.
A healthy appetite for academic, literary and broader artistic/design interests have led to further studying and training enterprisers. Yet, after 9 years of designing, installing and managing a wide range of projects – of varying degrees of detail and proportion – a recent shift to undertake a Masters of Landscape Architecture has reaffirmed and invigorated my core interest in design. The accreditation process over 3 years presents a unique opportunity to train with concentrated intellectual rigour, creative expansion and technical exactitude.
Thus far, my horticultural study and work experience has afforded me colourful and meaningful insights into the intricate nature of the dynamic concerning culture and nature. It is also timely for me to contribute to broader social objectives. Along with all the inherent variables associated with crafting any landscape, now is a critical phase of facilitating the vast implications of our past with the future. ‘Climate change’ has heralded a myriad of problems that demand immediate and continuing action. Landscape architecture offers a sound creative proposition to the global, regional and local interactions within any given environment. Herein, lies my sense of purpose in training as a Landscape Architect - the delicate weaving of the personal, social and environmental threads, which endeavour to creatively balance and integrate humans with their environment.