In Profile with home design magazine

Story written by Katie Rorison ( Courtesy of home design magazine)

Captivated by the simple and unexpected in everyday life, industrial designer Seaton McKeon is primarily driven by product format and function, where design innovation is geared towards providing the “good life” for consumers. “Design is responsible for the reality of our everyday existence,” says Seaton. “As a designer I’m continually questioning how products can provide, communicate and facilitate.”
     After studying industrial design at the University of New South Wales, Seaton worked in collaboration with leading Australian design group Bluesky as a junior freelance designer. Gaining experience across industries such as retail, advertising, medicine and aviation, Seaton describes the work as a “massive learning curve”. His broad skill set is exemplified through his diverse product designs that focus on functionality and engineering, as well as incorporating streamlined aesthetics.
     The Blade Workstation system designed with ThinkingWorks (where Seaton is now an in-house industrial designer) and distributed through Stylecraft, has been Seaton’s most popular collaboration as the market for contemporary integrated workplaces expands.     
     Growing up in the Southern Highlands of NSW, Seaton appreciates the beauty of the natural environment. However, it’s his fascination with modern architecture that is particularly prevalent in his design style. “Modern Movements in Architecture by Charles Jenks and From Bauhaus to Our House by Tom Wolfe really opened up the idea of the ‘machine aesthetic’ for me,” says Seaton.
     This aesthetic is seen within Seaton’s creation, Orwell, which combines hard-tissue engineering with selective laser sintering to create regenerative tooth implants, and his interactive touch-screen shower for the future.     Seaton is careful not to disregard colour, which he describes as an area that is both “exciting and overwhelming”, whereas texture, he believes, has got to be “relative to application”. Seaton’s furniture favourites include Marc Newson’s Orgone chair for Löffler and Per Lutken’s glass work for Holmegaard.
     Seaton recently won the Northern Lights Design Competition with his Press Pendant design and this has spurred him on to continue working with furniture and consumer products for the near future. Ultimately, Seaton hopes the bigger picture will involve work with spaceships, yachts, biologically active products and in the medical industry. He believes working with a range of products and like-minded manufacturers is going to be the long-term key to finding his own “good life”.

Read more...
http://www.blueskydesigngroup.com.au/
http://thinking.info/
http://stylecraft.com.au/