This coffee table, commissioned for the Judith Neilson Institute of Journalism and Ideas, originated from Tzannes’ design concept rooted in the proclamation of Australia’s Federation.
One of Alec Tzannes’ early commissions was the Federation Pavilion in Centennial Park, which was built in 1988 on the site where Australia had been first proclaimed a country in 1901. Since then, Tzannes has held a facsimile of the Federation Pavilion plaque in the studio or the studio garage.
The plaque lists everyone who worked on this significant Bicentennial commission (1985-1987), including the client, the design team, the builders (including subcontractors) and the administration from companies involved. Their names are all listed around the edge of the plaque. In the middle of the plaque are the names of other important people of the day.
Around 2017, Tzannes considered designing a glass-top table for its own studio reception area, on which to mount the plaque to showcase and protect it from damage. Soon after, Tzannes was commissioned to design the Judith Neilson Institute for Journalism and Ideas, and a glass top reception table was one of the bespoke pieces of furniture required for that project. Consequently, the earlier concept evolved into a bespoke piece of furniture for the project, named the Neilson table after one of the most important champions of contemporary architecture in Australia – Judith Neilson AM.
This table is structurally supported by a seamless ‘ribbon’ of brass that effortlessly cradles either the glass top or the plaque option. The design creates a flowing, open, visually light spatial form with purity of structure, expressing the richness of the unadorned brass. The craftsmanship executed by the fabricators makes the table appear deceptively simple, with the brass structure defining the leg profiles in a continuous, flowing band, even though innovative craft skills were required to deliver the design.
The Institute received the first finished table distinguished by a glass top, along with its Tzannes-designed custom timber joinery and brass reception desk. A second version of the table also resides in the Tzannes office reception, housing its cherished facsimile of the Federation Pavilion plaque.
