Adam Markowitz, a Melbourne-based architect and furniture designer, established markowitzdesign – an interdisciplinary design studio in 2014. With a background in architecture, Markowitz has studied design & craft in Melbourne (The University of Melbourne), Hobart (The University of Tasmania), The Netherlands (TU Delft), Denmark (The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts) and the Center for Furniture Craftsmanship, Maine USA. The studio’s work – reflecting the intersection of modern digital processes and traditional methods of craftsmanship - is marked by a sustainable, non-disposable approach to design; intending that the designed products should last generations, and not end up polluting the planet. Markowitz has taught Architecture and Design at the Melbourne School of Architecture, and Design at the Center for Furniture Craftsmanship, Maine USA.

Q.1. What attracted you to furniture design? What are the most important criteria in designing furniture?

In architecture, it is a long and often meandering process, with many different parties pulling your design concept one way or another (town planning, engineers, builders, authorities etc). It is a fraught process delivering your concept from the start to the finish. With furniture making, the only thing between my ideas and the finished object are my own two hands. There is something very fulfilling in this combination of both the hand and themind in a single pursuit.

For me, the most important criteria in designing furniture are:

- Is it functional?
- Does it address the human body?(this is a corollary of the first point!)
- Will it last?
- Finally, is it beautiful – and does it connect you to another human being?

Q.2. Do your architecture and furniture design fundamentally emerge from the same creative space in your head? Explain the design thinking process of both.

Yes and no. The creative zone is the same, and the goal is the same - making things for humans. But the scale and input can be quite different –the method of putting together the puzzle is the same, but the puzzle pieces are often different and may not go together in the same way. Architecture often is for humans to be within – it is often concerned with the relationship between spaces, about light and circulation, sightlines, temperature, sound. They are bodily concerns but defined by the scale. Furniture deals more intimately with human bodies

-How does it feel to touch, to sit and lean, to open? Of course, there are many crossovers – the Venn diagram of ‘architecture’ and ‘furniture’ has a lot of overlap.

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