In Focus: The Sprout Coat Stand
April 2024
“A freestanding coat stand with an arboreal inspiration”
A collaborative creation between SKEEHAN Studio and Thor's Hammer. Seamless lap joints emphasise the elegant interplay of grain direction with sprout-like coat holders nestling into the uprights — a fusion of modern design and fine joinery.
So how did this collaboration come about?
This week we chatted with Tom Skeehan about how this unique design collaboration came about. SKEEHAN is a local design studio with a strong history and background in furniture design that have grown their services to become a respected broad design consultancy serving clients across Australia and abroad. Alongside this growth Tom was looking for ways to engage with more local manufacturers.
For Thor’s Hammer, the Sprout Coat Stand, along with other smaller products now available as part of the Thinking Small collection, provide opportunities within the business to make use of smaller quantities and lengths of reclaimed timber from local demolitions (that sadly we often have to to turn away). Our new 5 axis CNC also gave new opportunities to produce new designs more accurately and efficiently.
For both Thor and Tom the result of this collaboration is a design that speaks to a core idea that is at the heart of Thor’s Hammer - a respect for the beauty, use, strength and versatility of recycled Australian hardwoods.
Because both business are based in Canberra, Tom was a regular visitor to the workshop during prototyping. This was an amazing opportunity to speed up the development and fine tune the design together - with Thor programming improvements into the CNC on the spot. It was a really fruitful and hands on design process.
Tom Skeehan has captured the beauty of our native gum trees in the Sprout Coat Stands by careful attention to the form and shape of the joints, and the contrast of the grain directions. The smooth, rounded lap joint makes the coat hooks appearing to ‘grow’ out of the central stand. The final product is equally a nod the subtle beauty of Australian trees, and to traditions of fine furniture design.
Photo: Simon gluing the “sprouts” (coat hooks) into the rounded rebates - the machining was finely adjusted until we achieved a perfect fit. This Sprout is in recycled spotted gum
EVERY SPROUT STAND IS UNIQUE.
Standing like a forest of trees in the gallery above our workshop we have a range of Sprout Coat Stands on display showing the beautiful colours and variation of recycled Australian hardwoods.
FEEL FREE TO DROP in for a look!
BROWSE SOME OTHER ITEMS BELOW OR THE FULL THINKING SMALL COLLECTION HERE
CLOVER CHEESEBOARD & KNIFE SET
“I feel like I know a lot of people who love cheese and would be excited to receive the Clover Cheeseboard and accompanying stainless steel knives by Ferro Forma. It’s a really intelligent design and I like how the knives nest within the interconnecting segments of the board. Functionally it’s cool that the board can be divided to pass different cheeses around.”
—Thor, Founder & Director
Zag Stack
“Top of my list is the Zag Stack. I can’t think of anyone who wouldn’t have a use for it. They are really sculptural and interesting - great conversation pieces. And of course Thor’s intended use for them as monitor stands makes sense too. They’re great drawer or tabletop organisers and you can fit any number of items in the zig zags. Zag Stacks are literally the perfect present for the person who has everything, or is otherwise tricky to buy for.”
—Simon, Joiner
Green Wood Plant Stand
“I really like the look of the Green Wood Plant Stand, made by Jan Saltet. It’s simple and elegant. My wife loves indoor plants and they give a good atmosphere to our home. I’d want to give her a nice plant stand with a new pot plant, perhaps. Yes, that would be a lovely gift.”
—Nobby, Joiner
Photos by Rohan Thomson.