Blaklash, the 100% First Nations-owned and operated multidisciplinary design consultancy, has launched Elements, a new First Nations-led furniture company.

The debut collection, Deep Time, was designed by Blaklash Associate Director and Interior Designer Erin McDonald, and realised with industrial designer Tom Skeehan.

Created for residential and commercial spaces, the collection extends Blaklash's Country-centred design practice into dining tables, chairs, stools, armchairs and side tables, each shaped by cultural knowledge and material thinking.

Across architecture, interiors, place, public art, strategy and community engagement, Blaklash has long explored how cultural knowledge can shape the built environment. Elements carries that thinking into furniture, with objects designed to be lived with, gathered around and used.

“The idea grew out of our Interiors work,” Erin says. “We were designing custom furniture with strong cultural narratives, but through the project process those ideas would sometimes be pared back until the piece no longer carried its cultural meaning.

“Elements became a way to protect that intent, and to create furniture where the cultural integrity is part of the design from the very beginning.”

Blaklash Managing Director Troy Casey says the furniture company responds to a clear gap in the market.

“We work on so many amazing projects, telling Aboriginal stories through place and design, but we were yet to find a really sophisticated, unique First Nations furniture brand,” Troy says. “That's where Elements by Blaklash began.”

“A lot of what's on the market is labelled as Indigenous, but that's not always the case,” Erin adds. “We wanted to help educate the industry and create a product that genuinely reflects First Nations design leadership.

“The way I design, I think back to traditional knowledge and traditional technology; the first engineers, and how that links to design, architecture and the built environment.”

Giving form to meaning, and meaning to form🔗

To bring Deep Time to life, Blaklash partnered with Australian award-winning industrial designer Tom Skeehan of SKEEHAN Studio.

The collection began with workshops where Erin, Troy and Tom's team unpacked Aboriginal knowledge systems and the nuances of traditional technologies to shape what a First Nations furniture collection could and should be. This cultural meaning then guided intentional design decisions for each piece, all refined through sketching, prototyping and production.

“Deep Time is a collection grounded in traditional knowledge and meanings that were hard to explain,” Erin says. “Tom approached it with care and respect, helping bring the vision to life with real integrity.”

More than simply making quality furniture, the brief was to first and foremost translate cultural knowledge and design into objects that carry real meaning.

“From the very first meeting, there was a beautiful synergy in the way we thought and talked about things,” Troy says. “Tom could see what this collection meant, and why the process of bringing it to life needed to be handled carefully.”

“It was important for me to understand why Erin and Troy were creating the collection,” Tom adds, “and how we could build a framework around different materials and stories.”

Materiality sits at the centre of the Deep Time collection. Timber, steel, glass and textiles were chosen for how they age and how they invite interaction, with surfaces designed to evolve over time.

The driving factor for material choice was caring for Country,” Erin says. “We thought about how people used to live off the land and not take more than they needed. We chose raw, natural materials that can eventually be reused, recycled or returned to their natural state.

Elements is Australian-made, produced in workshops with partners who share Blaklash's commitment to craft, sustainable manufacturing and care for Country. “Supporting local jobs and the local economy is an important part of the puzzle,” Troy says.

The Deep Time collection has been developed with Evostyle for timber, TSA Metal for steel, Ensight for upholstery and Instyle / LoomTex for textiles.

“It's been a true collaboration across the board,” Erin says. “All of the factories we've worked with are family businesses in Australia, and some of that knowledge has been handed down for generations. That's really special to us.

“Usually, they just get a purchase order and make the piece. For us to come in, meet them, understand how they work and share the thinking behind the collection changed the dynamic. It became a relationship, as opposed to a standard manufacturing process.”

Inside the debut collection🔗

“I designed nine different pieces within the collection, and each of those pieces has its own meaning,” Erin says.

The Kin dining table is designed for gathering and sharing, inspired by places where food was traditionally prepared from the land. Its carvings and curved legs reflect the act of making, marked by hand and use over time.

“A lot of the inspiration was tools and process,” Erin says. “Grinding grooves, for example, are often where food was prepared, and people would gather near water as a resource. That made sense to translate into the dining table, because that's where people gather and eat.”

The Trace family includes dining chairs in timber and steel, as well as stools. The chairs are designed to embody resilience and renewal, with sculpted backrests that reflect the practice of traditional carving. In steel, Trace's soft curves reference the organic form of a coolamon, traditionally used to hold food and resources. The stool extends the warmth and character of Trace into a more adaptable piece.

The Echo stool and bench seat take their cue from scar trees and the coolamon form. Their curved timber legs and shaped seats carry those references through the design, each curve speaking to the continuity of craft and material understanding.

The Linger and Slate armchairs draw on traditional hunting tools, including the boomerang. Across both pieces, the forms reflect a making process where knowledge, material and movement are all carefully considered.

Two tables complete the collection. The Flint side tables reflect carved forms, while the Umber coffee table takes its tone from ochre pigments, wet and dry earth, and a seed pod-inspired leg form.

Together, the pieces show how Deep Time expresses cultural knowledge through furniture without reducing it to surface decoration.

“Aboriginal people have always been making things,” Troy says. “This collection looks at contemporary furniture design and traditional ways of making, and brings them together in a way that feels true to cultural practice, while still being contemporary and sophisticated.”

Elements was first introduced through Blaklash's installation, ALWAYS remember the rain, created for the 5th National Indigenous Art Triennial, After the Rain, at the National Gallery of Australia. With the official launch of Deep Time, the collection now moves into the market.

Looking ahead, Erin sees Elements as a long-term platform for future collections, deeper manufacturing relationships and greater economic opportunities.

“Success looks like having multiple collections, our own showroom and potentially multiple showrooms across Australia,” she says.

“I'd love to create collections that speak to specific Traditional Custodians’ cultures and places, because these are objects that can live on in so many different spaces.”

Explore the Deep Time collection at elementsbyblaklash.com.