Maker - Mat Macmillan
Designer | Tauranga
'Maker' is about exploring top-end design, aesthetics and materials and bringing them together with meticulous craftsmanship. The aim is to celebrate an individual quality that commercial production techniques cannot mimic, resulting in items that possess real character and personality of their own.
Mat's life long love for wood work and furniture was inspired by his father and an old school London carpenter, to which he was an apprentice for. It was there he learnt how to use the hand tools and traditional techniques which have shaped his work today.
He was inspired by a wide variety of materials, styles and finishes while working for a shop fitting company, and is that is what encouraged him to to bring top-end commercial design principals to his small, hand crafted operation.
His old school techniques, intertwined with his love for the contemporary led to the creation of his lamps. These lamps are made from wood, which have been kerf-cut, allowing streams of light to sneak out between partitions.
Traditional skills give his designs an edge and allows techniques from a by-gone era to be present in the modern day, with each lamp made unique.
Maker's Mat Macmillan works on sliced and coloured wood for his amazing products collection. You will end up with something of lasting beauty and originality for your home, workplace or as a gift to mark a special moment.
Makers first collection is the iconic iO range. This beautiful range of lights was inspired by Io, a priestess in Greek mythology who was named after Jupiter's fourth moon. She represents beauty and light, as mythology says she was so beautiful she led Zeus astray.
These stunning products are created using a mix of traditional craft skills and digitally based production methods, balancing between the realms of human and digital fabrication.