Rex Heathcote returned from London in 1980 to take over the family furniture business in Launceston, Tasmania. Rex Heathcote Furniture is a factory with a studio base.

Heathcote has considered ‘going global’ but has instead chosen to make high-quality furniture pieces using local materials and working with local employees. Larger items are made first and their offcuts provide materials for smaller pieces. Workers are drawn from the local community and trained within the company.

As well as designing items himself, Heathcote involves other designers as clients or as suppliers of ideas, and also manufactures designs under license.

You can see Heathcote's work in the new exhibition Smart works: design and the handmade, from 30 March 2007 at the Powerhouse Museum.

Smart works: design and the handmade

TAGS
+ Smart works: design and the handmade
+ Handmade
+ Mass-production
+ Studio production