Melbourne Design Week
The Sheepskin Suite
ABBORTFORD CONVENT
14-24 MAY 2026
Sheepskin Reimagined
The Artists
Thirteen designers, one brief: reimagine a piece for the living room using sheepskin.
The work spans furniture, lighting, sculpture and textile - from the quietly architectural to the gently surreal.
"When we sink in to sheepskin, it feels like coming home." - Amanda Dorset, Wilson & Dorset Co-founder.
The Artwork
01 - Jordan Fleming
Smit Bench
Sheepskin and cast aluminium
1300mm(l) x 400-440mm(d) x 440mm(h)
$2600AUD
Smitbench draws on smit marking – the painted pigment used to identify sheep across shared grazing land. A black shearling band runs through the lighter fleece, with cast aluminium legs echoing the stance of sheep.
A study of
flock, land and pastoral connection.
02/03 - Tantri Mustika
Kunji and Kunjirama Lamps 2026
Stoneware Ceramic, Glaze, Natural Sheepskin, Brass
Small lamp: 580mm (h) x 250mm (w)
Large lamp: 1050mm (h) x 270 mm (w)
Small lamp: $2500AUD
Large lamp: $4500AUD
Tantri Mustika’s Kunji lamps are inspired by a word deeply embedded in her childhood. For as long as Mustika recalls, “Kunji” existed commonly within the shared language of her family and close friends as a way to describe an unmistakable feeling of blissful coziness. It wasn’t until much later that Mustika realised Kunji was not an official word at all, but rather an affectionate piece of shared family vocabulary
The Kunji lamps celebrate comfort, memory, and the deeply personal languages that shape our understanding of home.
04 - Dean Toepfer
Fleece in Blue
Indigo dyed sheepskins
1350mm x 1350mm
$3,750AUD
Fleece in Blue explores the transformation of raw material through a design-focused approach, positioning the sheepskin rug as both a functional object and a chromatic study.
Constructed from eight individual sheepskins, the work is organised into a repeating rhombus pattern that balances material efficiency with a strong graphic language. The geometric arrangement shifts the material from its organic origins toward a more structured and architectural surface.
At the core of the work’s identity is the indigo vat itself. Through repeated cycles of immersion and oxidation, the piece documents the tonal range possible from a single source of colour. Lighter shades emerge from a single dip, while deep, saturated blues result from several immersions, allowing the pigment to gradually build within the wool fibres.
Rather than concealing variation, Fleece in Blue preserves the evidence of process, organic affinity, and the rhythmic building of pigment across a soft, structural landscape.
05 - Locki Humphrey
Woven bench in wool
580mm(d) x 780mm(w) x 410mm(h)
Wool, cactus leather, sap latex, spotted gum, steel, brass, cotton, wax, recycled felt
$9900AUD
This modular bench seat by Locki translates their woven leather cushions into a broader, architectural scale. Each unit is defined by a generously sized woolen cushion, using natural sap latex in place of conventional plastic foam, and secured using a corset weave underneath.
Set within a powder-coated steel frame and softened by waxed Spotted Gum legs and subtle brass detailing, the flat-pack bench units are designed to connect along either edge, allowing the composition to shift and expand in response to the user’s needs.
06 - Bobby Clark
Holding Form
Sheepskin and thread
45cm L x 37cm w x 34cm H
$POA
A study in balance, tactility and restraint.
This stool combines rigid box-cut geometry with the softness and movement of natural sheepskin. Symmetry and clean structural forms contrast against flowing sheepskin, creating an object that feels both primitive and refined.
The work reflects on our enduring relationship with sheepskin, not as luxury, but as one of our oldest sources of warmth, protection and comfort. Through simplified form and natural materiality, the piece invites a return to instinct, touch and grounded living.
07 - Marta Figueiredo
Creatura Domestica
460mm(w) x 460mm(d) x 450mm(h)
Sheepskin (Rob Roy) & aluminum wax finish
$2600AUD
Creatura Domestica is a side table that sits somewhere between object and being. A raw aluminium shell holds and compresses a dense body of sheepskin, while the fur pushes upward, breaking softly through the structure and spilling gently over the top. This exposed softness becomes the work’s point of contact: a place for the hand to rest, stroke and slowly meander through the wool.
Part furniture, part sculpture, part companion, the piece holds together hard metal and animal warmth, restraint and softness, protection and captivity. It carries a sense of the animal presence still held within the material: something bodily, familiar and quietly alive.
Through this closeness, Creatura Domestica continues Marta Figueiredo’s interest in tactile encounters, bodily presence and objects that invite instinctive gestures of touch.
08 - Brahman Perera
Kumo Perch
Base 700mm x 700mm x 300mm + Cushion 700mm x 300mm
Materials TBC
$4000AUD
Kumo Perch explores the tension between heaviness and softness – suspended somewhere between a floor cushion, an ottawa and a prayer mat. A grounded timber form is paired with an oversized sheepskin cushion, creating a seat that feels somewhere between furniture and floor.
Named after the Japanese word kumo (cloud), the piece invites sinking, perching and lingersing – a low, informal space for rest and conversation.
09 - Beci Orpin
Little Tender
360mm (w) x 500mm (d) x 400mm (h)
Plywood, Wilson & Dorset sheepskin (Minaret + Matuki), 3D print, cord/light bulb.
$700AUD
When I first encountered the W&D hide range,
I was immediately struck by its textural cosiness. House-like structures have always appealed to me – dollhouses, architectural models, house-based folk art – I love the way they present domesticity into something intimate and holdable.
The house motif also appears frequently in my work. I wanted to explore that cosiness in a slightly surreal way, wrapping warmth around a small house form. This piece is a small home with coziness on the outside and a warm glow on the inside, a lamp form which can sit inside your big home. The polka dots came from playing with the hides’ contrasting textures and colours – plus who doesn’t love a polka dot?
10 - Anastasia La Fey
Bauhaus Boudins and the Golden Fleece
750mm x 800mm x 900mm (at widest point) each chair
Wilson & Dorset sheepskin (Cardrona), saffron, sheep leather, reclaimed boudins warmers lounge chair replica chrome frames, repurposed foam, bonded thread
$850AUD each chair
The “Bauhaus Boudins and the Golden Fleece” chairs are a homage to the original skins and an reimagining of the Bauhaus “form follows function” principle.
Anastasia La Fey’s first foray into to furniture design is an exploration of the possibilities of innovative, beautiful and functional pieces using a no-waste circular economy design model.
Not a single “new” material was used or purchased, but instead, natural, existing, found, repurposed and recycled materials are circulated at their highest value. The intrinsic value of the materials are not only retained but reimagined and elevated
11 - Kelly Thompson
Dolly
1650mm(w) x 750mm(d) x 420mm(h)
Sheepskin, 100%, PL Trevira CS fabric
$3,500AUD
12 - Rosanna Ceravolo
Shuggie
Short wool (Lindis), Shaggy wool (Mt Gold), leather detailing, premium foam, low e mdf substrate.
750w x 440d x 560h
$N/A
Shuggie is bold and playful, making his presence known through sheer assertion while unapologetically refusing to be typecast.
What is he? He doesn’t know, and he doesn’t care. Part ottoman, part perch, part zoomorphic throne, his soft, smiling contours will wrap you in a shaggy, warm embrace.
13 - Alta Interiors
Leila
1800mm (l) x 680mm (w) x 800mm (h)
American oak frame, leather webbing, GECA certified foam, feather & down, wool upholstery, sheepskin bolster & throw.
$12700AUD
Leila explores the female form at rest – a continuation of ideas first developed through Lola in collaboration with Melbourne-based artist Stephen Baker.
Evolving from that earlier work, Leila reinterprets those forms in an indoor setting. Shifting materiality and construction while holding onto the same soft, sculptural language.
Open to selling multiples.