Meet the maker: Andy TT

For Sydney-based designer and maker Andy TT, creation begins with feeling. “I grew up watching my mother and father work with their arms,” he recollects. “My mum was a seamstress and my dad a welder. There was a quiet resilience in the best way they formed supplies – an intuitive understanding of how issues come collectively.” That intimacy with course of and imperfection instilled in Andy TT a deep respect for the gradual, the human and the handmade.

Initially from Adelaide, and after graduating in Inside Structure from UniSA in 2016, Andy TT’s path wound itself by nationwide structure studios, client-side design roles and furnishings procurement. But behind the precision of these environments lingered a rising restlessness.

“I began to really feel a disconnect – specifying high-end furnishings and finishes on paper however by no means really touching or understanding them,” he displays. “I needed one thing extra speedy. To grasp a fabric’s temperament, its resistance. The slowness and tactility of creating felt like coming residence.”

That quiet return has since developed right into a physique of labor that sits between structure, design and exhibition. By Gentle – an exhibition co-curated with designer Calum Hurley – Andy TT explores how areas can maintain individuals, relatively than merely current to them. Initially launched at Melbourne Design Week in 2024, Gentle has continued annually, most lately showing on the inaugural Adelaide Design Week – a return to his roots. His works additionally featured in one other maker exhibition, Movement.

“Gallery areas can really feel intimidating,” he explains. “We [Calum and I] needed to create someplace that felt like being invited into one thing – to a spot the place guests can arrive, take a breath, and really feel welcomed.” The exhibitions usually embody tea or a drink, mild gentle, and ambient sound – creating an environment meant to linger past the objects.

“There’s no single course of,” Andy TT says. “I begin with the story I’m attempting to inform and let that information every part (with every exhibition, object or set up). It’s a relentless dialog between idea, materials and expertise.” That reflective rhythm extends into considered one of his latest works, Final Types – an immersive collaboration with meals creators and occasion designers reimagining the hospitality expertise as all-encompassing design.

Recently, his focus has softened once more – towards water. “I’m lastly leaning into my childhood love of water options,” he describes. “Creating objects that allow water be water [in its truest sense] – to ripple, to gradual every part down.” If there’s a thread that runs by all of his work, it’s considered one of connection. “Whether or not it’s making, internet hosting or curating,” Andy TT says, “it’s about creating areas the place individuals really feel seen, cared for, and comfy. That’s what good design ought to do.”