Zema Designs Featured in McGrath Magazine

No Allan Key Required

Inspirational furniture business Zema Designs is Transforming the industry with its distinctive interlocking pieces.

by Michelle Rafferty

Amy Cunningham doesn’t get much sleep, when inspiration hits. “It is usually is when I am just starting to nod off that I get ideas,” she laughs. But getting out of bed to write them down truly is a labour of love for this furniture designer who last year took a leap of faith and started up her own studio called Zema Designs – her nickname Amez, spelt backwards. Her business specialises in functional,environmentally friendly furniture which fits together without any screws. Amy says it’s her  reaction to the current kit form concept of design and the dreaded Allen key!

All of her work is made of interlocking pieces and plywood for durability. She especially likes to concentrate on making furniture to suit small apartments or spaces in a backlash against the abundance of large Balinese style pieces flooding the market, which aren’t practical for  these spaces. “People often just have furniture to fill a room, then throw it away and start again when they move,” she says. “I don’t agree with that mentality. My furniture is simple, I don’t design anything that is  fashion based, I design to last.” One of her distinctive designs aims to put on display possessions precious to its owner. Amy has always been fascinated with the items people choose to keep and compared to those they throw away.

Her furniture embraces the concept of connection and links closely with the other side of the Zema business – interior design. Also working for real estate and interior photography shoots, she focuses on using her furniture and the objects already available in the client’s home to create an individual and striking look. “I am not like other interior designers who come in and rip everything out,” she says. “I work with what is already there and I think that is my point of difference because it is more cost effective and a few  small changes can make all the difference.”

She has come a long way having finished her Bachelor of Design at the UNSW in 2005 and  working in a range of design roles, most recently with multinational company Westfield. Recently she  participated in Springboard, a program which has backed her ambitions to go out on her own as well as nurture and mentor her through the business process.

She now has plans underway to  vistit Milan and New York for the design experience. However, that’s not before finishing her current projects. Right now she is working on a hall table with a small footprint, ideal for inner city spaces and developing her hat stand for market. “The ideas came to me because I just could not find a hall table or hat stand that I liked,” she says. “That is how most of my ideas come,  I identify a need or gap in the market and design accordingly.” 

The designer is committed to the idea of keeping as much of  her furniture Australian made as possible and is in talks  regarding larger production runs for her pieces, which at the moment all are  custom produced.  

Belle Feature

april/may issue

Belle ‘Shining Stars’ Feature

Amy Cunningham

Hot because…. She brings form function and beautify to simple plywood. “My furniture designs are bases around the concept of connection. They are simple, elegant, adaptable, and made to last.”

What’s inspiring you right now? Pieces that can be pulled apart and rearranged easily without the use of a fixing device. The more flexible a piece of furniture is, the more likely it will be retained when a new fashion arises.

I love this chair (Butterfly Stool) I’m pictured with because… it was a present from my parents, and because I adore its sweeping curves. It’s elegantly simple yet complex at the same time. Every time I walk past it, I feel inspired to create something similarly exquisite.