Locki Humphrey

Fast forward two years, and Humphrey is taking home The (Emerging) Designer Award for Product Design, presented by Artedomus and The Local Project. “Locki’s work demonstrates a fresh exploration of unconventional and sustainable materials. This bold combination of creativity, craftsmanship and originality distinguishes Locki as a rising force in design,” notes juror Thomas Coward, who also serves as the creative director of New Volumes.

Unconventional is certainly an apt descriptor for Humphrey’s work – but it could also apply to their somewhat sideways entry into design. They began studying neuroscience and archaeology at university before deciding, in their final year, that it wasn’t the direction they wanted to pursue. Around 2017, they were running a live music venue in Sydney and picked up casual work in an upholstery studio. “I got to see this little peek behind the curtain before I even had been thinking too much about the idea of design,” Humphrey says.

This experience proved to be formative. Working on the deconstruction and prepping of furniture, as well as prototyping with designers like Tom Fereday and Koskela, Humphrey gained a practical, hands-on understanding of how objects are made. From there, they studied industrial design at TAFE before relocating to Melbourne at the beginning of 2020 – right as the Covid-19 lockdown struck. The timing, however, was “weirdly a blessing”. “I think I wanted a kick up the arse to get out of hospitality, and that was a good way to do that in having every single hospitality venue get shut down at once,” they say, laughing.

With this unexpected time to explore their creative side, Humphrey began teaching themself 3D rendering, creating designs and entering them into competitions and exhibitions. Unlike many designers trained in traditional sketching and model-making, this technique has remained a key part of their practice. “The way I ideate now and the way I concept furniture is still very much digitally… it helps me design a form without getting too hung up on the feasibility of it.” This drives the production of objects and furniture that feel unusual yet familiar, with playful proportions, material combinations or construction methods that deftly disrupt expectations.

A commitment to sustainability and reuse is also at the core of Humphrey’s practice. They aim to build all of their designs around three pillars of sustainability: recyclable or biodegradable materials, local manufacturing and designing for disassembly. “If I design something and it doesn’t tick those three boxes, then I need to either rework it or abandon the design,” they explain. “It’s nice to have a guiding compass to keep me on track so that I don’t end up with an unwieldy, unsustainable beast.”

Nowhere was this more evident than in ‘Oxide’, a solo exhibition presented at Craft Victoria as part of Melbourne Design Week 2025. The show formed part of the By/Product series, which challenges designers to repurpose discarded materials. Humphrey developed a collection of furniture – including a lamp, occasional chair, coffee table and wall work – constructed from remnants such as industrial steel and textile waste. It also introduced a new material into their repertoire: a leather alternative derived from prickly pear cactus, an invasive species in Australia.

Humphrey had previously discovered cactus leather through meeting with a designer in Guadalajara, Mexico. “I really like leather in general, but I have been vegan for years now. I’ve always had my finger on the pulse of research into alternative leathers just out of interest.” The material carries both cultural and environment significance, produced from food waste and embedded in local economies, while retaining the tactile and aesthetic qualities that make leather so desirable. As always, Humphrey pushes the bounds of form, with the Orville coffee and side tables fringed like the distinctive mask of country singer Orville Peck, while the Vault stool’s black cushion takes a leaf from high fashion with its corset-like closure.

For inspiration, Humphrey often draws from design history while remaining deeply connected to the contemporary Australian design landscape. “I really like to consume a lot of design history. I’ll see a certain form that I’ve never seen before and be like, ‘Oh, that’s interesting. How could that fit into this new material that wasn’t around then?’” The Melbourne design scene has also had a big impact on them in terms of community and support. “There’s a lot more people who are purchasing work from designers they’ve never heard of, and there’s a lot of sharing of knowledge across the industry. I think that’s just created a really robust and connected scene here.”