Elisa Saarinen

Elisa recently completed her MSF40213 Certificate IV in Furniture Design and Technology. She also won the Lawn Award, where her design was chosen by her peers as the best in the class.

What are you planning on doing next?

I just finished my cert IV in furniture design and technology. My goal is to have my own design and manufacturing company and to work as a designer/maker. But at the moment, I'm going to work as a cabinet maker to make some money and look for different options for me.

Can you tell us about your design?

My style is very Scandinavian, light and clean but for this lounge chair I wanted to try something new and different. The inspiration and feel I wanted for the chair was kinda dark, masculine, cigar lounge, whiskey drinking vibe. And that's where the name Savu (smoke in Finnish) came from.  

For the materials I chose blackwood, black leather and brass. Half of the blackwood is recycled. For the cushions I used recycled leather and foam from old couch, I completely changed the design and rebuilt new cushions. The back cushion has loops that wraps around the brass pins and holds it in place. 

Why did you choose to study furniture design, and why did you choose Holmesglen?

I chose to study furniture design because I've been in building and furniture making industry for my whole life but I'm also very creative so I thought I want to also design furniture, not just build it. 

Holmesglen was the only place I found this course in Melbourne so that was the biggest reason why I chose Holmesglen. I really enjoyed this course and my teachers have so much knowledge about furniture making and design. My favourite part of the course was that it's really hands on and we spend most of the time in the workshop building stuff and learning new skills. 

You can see more of Elisa's work on her Instagram account, @elisasaarinendesign