Former Healesville resident and exUpper Yarra Secondary College student Ben Liney with Little Birdy, the chair he designed and exhibited in Italy earlier this year.By Dion Teasdale
FORMER Healesville resident Ben Liney is set to hit the big time in the international design arena.
Mr Liney, 22, has recently returned from Italy where he exhibited a chair designed as part of his university studies.
The chair, a curvy black leather lounge seat titled Little Birdy, impressed leading international designers and has been snapped up by an Italian furniture manufacturer.
In his final year of a Bachelor of Industrial Design degree at RMIT University in the city, Mr Liney exhibited the chair at the Milan International Furniture Fair earlier this year. “The Milan Furniture Fair showcases deigns and designers from around the world and it was an amazing opportunity to travel to Italy and exhibit my work on the world stage,” he said.
“An Italian company saw the chair at the fair and I’m currently in negotiations with them to manufacture the chair.”
Mr Liney, who lived in Healesville until the beginning of this year and attended Upper Yarra Secondary College, said he drew inspiration for the design from living in the Yarra Valley.
“I spent a whole semester working on the design of the chair and tried to reflect in it part of who I am and where I have come,” he said.
“The curvy forms of the chair reflect the countryside I grew up in and the fact that I grew up close to nature and natural forms.”
Mr Liney said he was excited by the idea that people around the world might end up sitting on his design.
“The chair is a single seat laid back centrepiece lounge chair that looks good in open spaces,” he said.
“If it is manufactured, I think the chair that will end up in large personal homes, foyers and offices.”
After exhibiting Little Birdy in Milan, Mr Liney travelled throughout Europe and completed a design internship with Marcel Wanders Studio in Amsterdam.
“Marcel Wanders Studio is one of the big names in the furniture and interior design world and it was terrific to work with them,” he said.
Now back in Melbourne, Mr Liney is working on his final year assessment tasks at RMIT and is looking forward to working in the industrial design field.
“Once I’ve finished the course, I’m keen to continue working on furniture and home wares designs and I’m keen to be part of the local design industry,” he said.
