Remington Matters
Founded on a love of making, Remington Matters and Angus McBride’s thriving practice spans Perth and Adelaide. Here, the pair reflect on 10 years of design, collaboration and staying true to their craft.
TLP How did the two of you start working together, and what key values or ideas were important in shaping Remington Matters in those early years?
AM We were living in Fremantle, Western Australia, when we first heard of each other through friends of friends. Rem invited me to the workshop to check out his new machine set-up and once I saw the space, I was hooked. In the early days, it was pretty freeform, just hands-on exploration without any 3D modelling. Demand started to grow really fast, and our clients also began giving us more creative freedom and entrusting us with concept design. What’s remained constant over the years is the way we work together and our shared passion for getting stuck into raw materials and the physical act of creating.
TLP What have been some of your landmark career moments since then?
RM I can still remember my first paid commission – the feeling of someone backing my design ambitions. It’s still surreal seeing our pieces in some of the most beautiful projects across Australia, specified by designers we’ve long admired. A major milestone came just last year when we were commissioned to produce more than 350 furniture pieces for Coopers, the legendary family-owned brewery in Adelaide. It was a huge effort made possible by our talented team of makers.
TLP Expanding from a solo practice to operating workshops in both Perth and Adelaide is no small feat. What are some of the challenges you’ve faced as a growing business?
RM After establishing ourselves in Perth, I moved home to Adelaide to set up a mirror studio and workshop, leaving the reins of our WA operations to Angus. This approach has allowed us to grow in tandem, with each studio excelling in product design and development. Setting up the studio in Adelaide was daunting, but I’ve been fortunate to build strong relationships with the city’s architecture and design community. Adelaide’s proximity to Sydney and Melbourne has also facilitated our growth into new territory.
TLP As your portfolio has grown across residential, commercial and civic projects, what have been some of the most unexpected opportunities or surprises along the way?
AM One of the biggest surprises has been the evolution of our Wobbly collection. We started making these sculptural pieces eight years ago out of a desire to explore the potential of woodturning and the natural beauty of timber. We had to source a rare 1950s lathe to create the stacked, circular shapes that define the collection. What we didn’t anticipate was the response, which continues to this day.
TLP You are well-known for your innovative design and focus on local manufacturing. Can you tell us about what you have in the pipeline?
RM We have been exploring cross-disciplinary collaborations as a way to push our practice and learn from people we admire. A recent example is our Pinnacles collection, where we worked with a local ship manufacturer known for their advanced industrial processing of aluminium. This approach is something we are excited to keep building on. At the moment, we are developing a new collaboration with a foundry in WA, exploring ways to repurpose offcuts from our aluminium cutting process into new products.
TLP A decade in, what is the future of Remington Matters and what areas are you most excited to focus on next?
AM We have worked hard to get to a place where both studios are well-equipped, creating space for us to focus on creativity, growth and seamless collaboration. We’re developing some new concept-led collections that allow us to explore new ways of thinking, particularly in material reuse and hyper-local design. We’re also looking forward to continuing to build on our relationships with the Australian and international design communities to help bring new ideas to life.
