August 16 - September 17, 2021

Opening event: Friday, August 20, 6-8pm

Biophilia Symposium: August 28

For SALA festival 2021 The Mill presents Biophilia: Call of the Wild, a group exhibition and public program featuring designers exploring connection to nature within built environments

Biophilia: Call of the Wild is a group exhibition that explores our innate human desire to be connected with the living world. Biophilia, from Greek translates as ‘the love of living things’, which Exhibition Curator and maker/designer Robyn Wood has used as a conceptual starting point. At its core is the principle to connect humans with nature and as a result improve wellbeing. In our urban setting we yearn to connect to the natural environment.

Held in The Mill’s Exhibition space, Robyn has brought together South Australian designers Enoki, Caren Elliss, Jake Shaw, Peter Walker, Sally Wickes, whose works connect humans with nature. These designers demonstrate a variety of thinking and approaches from within their contemporary creative practices. They express their ideas through sculpture, furniture, interior installation and experiences. The exhibition includes diverse materials, process and concepts, experiences evoking space and place (prospect, refuge, mystery and risk); natural elements-water: greenery and natural light; use of materials, textures and patterns; and botanical shapes and forms.

A symposium will be held at The Mill alongside the exhibition and will feature a line up of Adelaide Creative thinkers, furniture designers, writers, architects, artists and environmentalists exploring a range of topics around Biophilic design. Exploring themes of art, contemporary design, the need for nature in our human environment, well being, sustainable practices and science that intersect with the topic of Biophilia.

Presented with partners The Design Institute of Australia, Adelaide Sustainable Building Network and with support from City of Adelaide,Gilchrist Connell, Bank SA Foundation, and Arts SA

About the artists:

In considering this project I have looked at the repeated forms that occur in nature. The gentle undulations of sand along the shoreline, the ridge formations in cockle shells and the lapping of waves against the shore.
Describing herself as a designer/maker Caren Elliss is known for producing thoughtful, original furniture and lighting. Caren has a Bachelor of Industrial Design (Honors) and Master of Sustainable Design from University of South Australia. She undertook a four-month Industrial Design internship at AirDesign, Mexico and completed the Associate Program at JamFactory.
Caren has worked with Koskela, Estilo Commercial and Woodmark, and from 2016 -2018 was a Studio Educator in Product Design and a Workshop Instructor at the School of Art, Architecture and Design, University of South Australia.
Traces by Enoki is a cocooning interactive sculpture that will transport the viewer on a short journey to a place of sensory immersion. The installation will include experiential offerings of sights, sounds, smells and textures from the 5 artists personal memories and associations with nature to evoke emotional connections with the participant. Traces is the collaborative work of Susanna Bilardo, Cindy Chay, Amber Lewis, Ash McCammon and Jacky Spencer.
Enoki is a multidisciplinary design practice, we design our projects to work well now and in the future. We endeavour to enhance the experience of those that use, live with, or live in our projects. Every project, no matter how small, is explored, reworked and given complete attention, until a unique and inspiring design solution is achieved.
We endeavour to share, experiment, learn and remain open to changing direction throughout the design process. We choose to include each other and our clients in our thinking. We take responsibility in touching the earth as lightly as possible. We embrace and incorporate sustainable practices in our projects.
Jake Shaw's 'Forager’s Chair' is made from 100% Tasmanian Reishi mushroom mycelium and the hardwood timber on which it natively grows. The work reads as a resolved piece of furniture, but in actuality does not significantly deviate from the process of the mushroom growing in the wild. By emulating the natural conditions and environment of the mycelium, the work strives to be demonstrative of harmony between maker and material.
Jake graduated from the University of South Australia in 2019 with a Bachelor in Interior Architecture.With his background in interior design, Jake Shaw's work looks at the relationship between the built environment and human experience. Primarily composed of grown mushroom mycelium furniture and sculpture, his practice is led by explorations of new and sustainable materials, phenomenology, design as art, public art, and spatial experiences. His work seeks to challenge the idea that organic materials and textures are somehow unrefined in design and to pursue material subtlety with discipline and restraint.
In the bush, a branch, a rock, a log, can spontaneously become a place to rest and impromptu furniture. Perching is a series of objects that combine naturally formed branches with machined timber to provide support for the body.
Whether resting while standing, sitting or lying down, the body and Perching form a symbiotic relationship. This tactile experience elicits a connection with the natural world, encouraging reflection on the nature of wood and its origins.
Peters practice encompasses a range of activities utilizing wood including sculpture, surfboards and furniture. Peter gained a BFA in 1986 and an MFA Degree from the School of Art, University of Tasmania, Australia in 1993. He ran his own studio for 14 years in Tasmania, moving to Adelaide to Head the Furniture Design Studio at the JamFactory Craft and Design Center in the late 90’s. Peter has worked as Design Consultant for Chiswell Furniture, Designer Makers Tasmania Cooperative 1985, Co-Director of the 1991 Hobart Design Triennial and a partner of Dezco Furniture LLC. He is currently Program Director, Master of Design, School of Art, Architecture & Design. Prior to this Peter was Associate Professor at the Rhode Island School of Design USA, 2001-2011.
His work is represented in public and private collections, including the Australian Parliament House, Canberra and the RISD Museum, USA. Peter exhibits work regularly across Australia, Europe and USA.
The Kaurna name for Carriageway park (Park 17) is Tuthangga meaning “grass place”. Native grasses have miraculously survived in our Park lands and provide refuge for the rare grassland copper butterfly. This grass is the inspiration for this installation. The sun shines down on these precious strands of grass forming elongated shadows that stretch and move.
Grassplace installation is a series of slender panels that both define space and create a delicate sculptural backdrop. The screen design is a repeat pattern of strands gently curved reflecting grass gently moving in the breeze. Designed to make use of resources close to home it is made from steam bent Australian timber with a variety of natural coloured stains applied. Grassplace provides both prospect and refuge. We are protected and comforted by a place to hide but can peak through the open strands to seek a view. We are connected to our unique natural landscape by bringing these forms inside.
Robyn Wood is a South Australian designer working in a diverse range of disciplines from Furniture design, sculpture, installation and product. Maintaining a connection to nature in a contemporary context is important in her creative practise.
Robyn studied and practiced as a teacher before following her passion for design and returning to study as a designer. She has a Bachelor of Design Interior Design from the University of South Australia. In 2014 she established her studio working on furniture and interior installations.
She has worked on a wide range of international and local commercial and government interior projects, private furniture commissions, exhibition pieces and small production runs. Being hands on in her joinery work and experimenting with other media continue to be important in developing new work.
The ambience created by light filtered through foliage has a measurable influence on humans. Whether it revives awareness of our interconnection with the natural world or sense of shelter and sustenance, its impact is created as much through shadow as light.
green.light draws on the visual experience of plants and light in concert.
Sally Wickes is a sculptor, visual artist and industrial designer interested in exploring traditional, new and existing materials to create artworks.
Sally holds a degree in Visual Art (Sculpture) and a Graduate Diploma in Design (Industrial Design). She has also created permanent public artworks for several councils; received Arts SA and Helpmann Academy grants to undertake marble carving tuition in Pietrasanta, Italy; and has been awarded several prizes for sculptural work including in the Waterhouse Art Prize.
Visually, Sally's works are diverse as they are enriched by individual concepts and stories. She is inspired by nature and in turn hopes to inspire feelings of oneness and belonging, leading to acceptance of responsibilities that come with being part of a greater whole.