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Peter Costello
Peter Costello was born in Hobart in 1947. He trained as a violinist at the Tasmanian Conservatorium of Music in the late 1960s. His varied career since then has encompassed music, boatbuilding and furniture design. All three are powerful factors in his creative life. Costello studied at the Centre for Furniture Design, University of Tasmania, Hobart, and was awarded a PhD from the University of Tasmania in 2003. He lives and works in Oyster Cove in southern Tasmania and runs his own company, Costello Designs, through which he undertakes public and private furniture and design commissions.
Costello’s design philosophy is based upon sustainable, ecologically-sound materials and techniques and an almost ascetic functionalism. His furniture pieces are strong, light and portable. All his pieces are designed for small-scale industrial manufacture. Aspects of Costello’s past experience in boatbuilding are identifiable in his furniture design, especially in his unconventional use of hinges, rigging cables and laminated marine ply. These are seen in the ‘Snap’ Chair, which derives its name from the snapping sound made when the chair is unfolded and clicked into its upright position.
The manufacturing process for the ‘Snap’ Chair was complex. Costello negotiated carefully with several industrial manufacturers who were at first unsure how to tackle the more innovative elements of the design. Indeed, the production of this unconventional piece necessitated changes in the thought and practice of the manufacturers themselves. Initial problems were overcome and the chairs were successfully manufactured over several years in the 1990s, with a total of nearly 500 chairs being produced.
If it has two good ideas in the piece,
it’s one good idea too many.
Peter Costello
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