Designer Interviews: David Moreland

I pinched this image of David from the Design Folio website.

New Zealand designer David Moreland is a clean minimalist after my own heart. He also heads his own company designing and manufacturing furniture and lighting, and has just released a new range of furniture in collaboration with iconic NZ fashion brand World - the Neon Wood range. So it was the perfect time to have a chat with him! 

Tell us the story of how you came to be a furniture designer... 

My interest in design started when I majored in 3D design at university. Over the 4 years of study my focus refined from sculpture to furniture as I found I enjoyed creating something useful to others. After that I was based in the Hawkes Bay for 3 years working for David Trubridge and a member of Cicada Studios [an incubator for furniture design graduates]. During this time I made all of David's furniture and developed and produced my 'Framed' range as well. Most recently I have been working for Simon James Design as head of production while simultaneously running my own business.

Moreland whanau portrait. 


What design/creative discipline would you most like to work in if you weren't awesome at what you're doing?
It would have to be music, which is probably more a creative rather than design discipline, but I have a huge passion for listening to music and going to see gigs.  

What have been your biggest challenges or frustrations during your career and what lessons have you taken from them?  

Setting up my business has been a big learning curve in many ways. Out sourcing all my manufacturing has meant I really need to streamline my designs for ease of production. For example the Step stool has developed into the S2 as it comes from one supplier instead of three, It also went from me having to do final assembly to none at all. I now spend more time developing products I'm sure I can make work long term with a minimum of hassle. It can also be quite a slow process to develop and release new designs, I often have many designs I want to get out there but simply can't do them all as it takes a lot of investment and time. This can be frustrating but it also means the products I do release have been refined over a long period which can be a good thing.

Pendant 45, available in Copper.  Mmm... Copper.

What advice would you give to other New Zealand product designers trying to make it?

If you're developing a product you have to think hard about who's going to buy it and for how much very early on in the design process. You might have a brilliant idea but if it's retail price is too high you might have to make changes or modifications right at the start to make it a feasible product in the market place.  

OK…what has been the hands-down best experience of your career so far, and why?
Without working for both David Trubridge and Simon James I might not be here wholesaling and developing my own designs. The practical experience from David and retail experience from Simon has been invaluable to say the least.

The S2 Stool range.

Where do you go or what do you do to get inspiration flowing?  

It's a slow and evolving process inspiration wise, it might be something as small as a screw one day, a material finish the next week and so on. A new concept takes a while to form, generally in my head for a long time before I even get pen to paper. I tend to get fixated on my next project, then almost collect inspiration little by little along the way. It's not like a bolt of lightning or something.  

What was the last thing you saw or experienced that got you really creatively excited?

Benjamin Hubert's Maritime chair is beautiful, it's such a soft, subtle use of oak. I really like all of his work actually, there's a real honesty to the material. It seems the material itself often drives the design.

P'raps my favourite Moreland design, his Knight Lights.

Name a designer you admire, and more importantly - why?

The Bourellec Brothers, simply because every product of theirs is exiting, fresh and new. They're not only unique designs compared to other designers, but more importantly their own previous work. They constantly and seemingly effortlessly lift the bar.  

What is your dream for your career – where would you like to take it?  I'm not entirely sure, I suppose my one day If my own collection could sustain a livelihood that would be great. But one of the things I really enjoy about having a full time position is it takes the pressure off the business, I can have bumper months and quieter months and that inconsistency is ok. Of course a phone call from Vitra wouldn't be a bad thing..............  

What are you working on at the moment? 

The 'Neon Wood' Shelving range is about to be released. This combines a lap jointed shelf, sideboard and side table design, treated with colour ways created by World. These are a more unique, statement pieces as opposed to commercial products. Something I've been developing since early last year, I'm really excited for them to finally get out there!

Here's a few images of the just-released Neon Wood range.