PATRICK SHIELDS

PONDER. A moment of pause and reflection. Come see ponder in the amazing melting pot of pure creativity that is 100 chairs by the amazing @friends.associates . On from: 14th - 22nd. Opening night extravaganza: 16th May

Melbourne design week is right around the corner people!! Im super excited to share some of the pieces I have been working on in two amazing shows. Synthesis by @_studio.shields @synthesis.mdw 100 Chairs by @friends.associates MDW is Australia’s largest and leading annual design festival and takes place from 14–24 May 2026. With over 400 amazing events across the city there is a lot of great stuff to get around! This showcase of everything design wouldn’t be possible without @ngvmelbourne and @creative_vic . #ngv #melbournedesignweek #creativevic #creativestate

|| SYNTHESIS || An immersive interior installation curated by Ruby Shields @_studio.shields featuring over 40 artists, designers & makers. Set within the Bishop’s Parlour at Abbotsford Convent, Synthesis explores how we live with design. Colour, material, light and scent held together, not in isolation, but in relationship. At its core, Synthesis is about collective authorship. This isn’t about objects on plinths. It’s about what happens when everything comes together. Many voices, one interior language. Opening Night ~ 16th May 6pm Featuring works by: Amy Vidler, Anne U, Angela Hayes, Astrid Salomon, Bel Williams, Bolaji Teniola, Cameron Green, Carl Broesen Studio, Craig Shanahan / Mood Workshop, Curtis Bloxsidge & 2am Close, Culture Cush, Dean Norton, Em Frank, Femme Brutale, Fools Glass, Georgia Harvey, Hannah Nowlan, Indigo Tolhurst, Jenny Jones, Jordan Fleming, Kelly Brown, KOEH Studio, Locki Humphrey, Marlo Lydia, Martyn Thompson, Max Copolou, Melvin Josy, Nicole Lawrence, Objects for Thought, Patrick Scott, Patrick Shields, Ro Noonan, Saturday Yard Work, Studio Dokola, Studio Kaytar, Studio Tops, Subject Matters, Sundance Studio, Tantri Mustika, Thannie Phan, Theodosius Ng, Thomas Maxam, Zoe Diacolabianos. Melbourne Design Week is an initiative of the Victorian Government through Creative Victoria. Explore the full program: designweek.melbourne

Ponder is an extension of Studio Shields’ ongoing exploration of material honesty, reuse, and narrative-led making. The piece is constructed entirely from salvaged Oregon timber, sourced from construction waste, no new timber introduced and no attempt to disguise its former life. Oregon is a timber of inherent contradiction: light and dark, soft and dense, orderly and unruly. Rather than resisting these qualities, the chair leans into them. The grain is celebrated, interrupted, and re-stitched. Joins are intentionally visible; natural lines are broken and reformed. The chair does not pretend to be carved from a single heroic slab; instead, it proudly reveals itself as a composition of once-discarded offcuts, brought together through hand-making and intuition. The form is organic and sculptural, achieved through hand carving rather than precision machining. A high-backed throne with an adjoining side table, a companion piece designed for slowing down. A chair for reading, pausing, resting a glass. A place to ponder. @_studio.shields @friends.associates

🔥🔥

Some process shots from our bed head build. “Were dreams subside” Aluminium Reclaimed timber 3m x 1.1m We started where we always start, with timber that has lived another life. This timber came from @revival_sustainable_practice , Admittedly it has taken me a while to get to making this piece, I signed a custodianship years ago, but I feel like it was well worth the wait. There was a lot of milling to bring the grain out of the old weathered outer layer, and red gum inlays to disguise the bolt holes. I’m still yet to learn how to tig so the aluminium side tables were a collab with our fabricator, who formed and laser welded the pieces together. This piece was a joy to work on.

Featuring our most ambitious sculpted piece yet “Where Dreams Subside” ~ a three-metre timber bedhead made its debut on @vogueliving last week! Crafted from reclaimed wharf timbers we signed custodianship with @revival_sustainable_practice before they closed their doors. This bed head follows our ethos of reimagining reclaimed materials, rather than erasing its past. The old bolt holes were inlaid with red gum “flowers”, offcuts from our light Peep shown at 100 Lights, they are used not as plugs, but as little blooms scattered through the field of timber. Little moments of delicacy inside something so masculine. Pat made three separate jigs before landing on the one that gave the router its rhythm. We tested curves, depths, passes, chasing movement that felt organic, like grass swaying in the wind or ripples in a lake. It was sculpted as one monolithic form, then sliced at either end so the returns carry the same tactility as the face. No flat afterthoughts. The aluminium bedsides were a last-minute pivot (cue mild panic pre-shoot!). But that tension is the point ~ warm, storied timber meeting cool, industrial metal. We brought Jarrad in to form soft curved aluminium companions. They give the work a contemporary edge. It nearly broke us moving it, over 90kgs, just the two of us wrestling it into position. But the weight is the magic. It anchors the room with unapologetic solidity. Light grazes its surface and the carving comes alive ~ the perfect backdrop to dreams. It’s not just a bedhead. It’s a piece of art!! Pictured alongside the bedhead - The hibiscus flower that Pat picked me the first night we kissed, a collection of @mahousesupplystore treasures and beloved Resident Dog by @nicoleengland gifted as my leaving present in advertising. Interior Design & Decoration @_studio.shields Carpentry & bespoke bedhead @patrick_shields_ Photography @gemmola Stylist @jessicaalice_design

•THE VIEW• Saving the best for last from our trio tile @vogueliving feature. Sharing your home at this scale is equal parts wonderful and terrifying. What you see in the images is the polished moment. What you don’t see is seven years of grit behind it. There were no builders or joiners. No tilers, painters, floor finishers or plasterers. No drawing set, no neat details resolved on paper. Just Pat and I in the shed, at the dining table, figuring it out as we went. (An electrician. A reluctant plumber. That’s it). This house is Christmases spent sanding instead of celebrating. The night before our wedding, repainting the kitchen in Moroccan clay because I couldn’t live with green. It’s arriving home from work and picking up a nail gun or trowel. It’s our arguments, doubt, exhaustion, and choosing to keep going anyway. It’s our tears and sweat - laying c-grade timber floors in summer heat. It’s the moments we cried in the kitchen because we just wanted it all to stop. It’s the sacrifices we’ve lost count of and the times we won’t get back. The images are beautiful, yes. But these walls hold far more than styling. They carry our mistakes, our persistence, our bold moments, our experimentations, our growth. But most importantly, our vulnerabilities. Every inch is hand-touched. Every decision earned. Every moment agonised. Seven years is a long time to work full time whilst renovating a half built house and living in it. There will never be another project like this. We made this house, and in the process, it made us. To everyone who has sent messages, sent kind words, commented and shared our work, thank you. The response has meant more than Pat and I can articulate. Sharing this home is sharing our deepest moments. This isn’t just a house. It’s been our whole world for so long. And now we finally get to live in it. Full Vogue article link in bio. Interior Design & Decoration - @_studio.shields Carpentry & bespoke pieces - @patrick_shields_ Photography - @gemmola Stylist - @jessicaalice_design Words in article - @saskiatillerscoles

•THE VIEW• We’ve got the most incredible news. Studio Shields’ debut project, The View, is featured on @vogueliving It’s not often I’m lost for words but… honestly, this moment has me thrown. The View is our home, built on instinct, resourcefulness and a deep love for craft. The colours echo the landscape beyond our windows; ingrained rather than applied. Every surface carries a memory of experimentation, curiosity and hands-on learning. A home truly shaped by just the two of us over seven years. My deepest gratitude to @beccaratti for supporting and believing in me at such a pivotal moment of my career. No words can articulate how much this means. And a huge thank you to the talented @saskiatillerscoles for taking my rambles and writing such a beautiful article that tells our story and conveys personality ~ cloud dancer be gone! The biggest thank you of all to my other half @patrick_shields_ ~ your persistence, patience and presence has held this project up. Seven years feels like a lifetime when you’re living and breathing it seven days a week. You are incredible, and this house is a true representation of your talent & craftsmanship. A huge thank you to @gemmola for capturing it so beautifully, and to @jessicaalice_design for refining my bowerbird nest. To the makers and artists who trusted me with their work, thank you. You all gave our hard work that extra sparkle. For you, I am forever grateful. Our home is a living tapestry of who we are and who we are becoming and it’s only just the beginning. Full article link is in our bio 🤎 As Miranda says ~ That’s all. Interior Design & Decoration ~ us Carpentry & bespoke pieces ~ @patrick_shields_ Photographer ~ @gemmola Stylist ~ @jessicaalice_design

•P E E P• Less than a week to go & install on Tuesday - ahh!! Our lil Peep will be out in the world! We’re so excited to be launching into lighting and product design with something we’re both so proud of! A huge thank you to @friends.associates for including us in the 100 Lights Exhibition. We can’t wait to see the amazing designs of the talented people who are showcasing on Saturday! Thank you to the @ngvmelbourne for recognising the significance Melbourne Design Week has ~ it is an amazing space to launch small businesses and connect with the industry. To see new designers, new ideas and be filled with inspiration. A huge thank you to @jay_jermyn for testing & tagging Peep - we appreciate you & your much abused license number! An even bigger thank you to my creative partner in crime @patrick_shields_ who continues to learn new things and never says no to wild ideas! Now, just a little about our dear friend Peep ~ Peep by Studio Shields is a sculptural light that celebrates the quiet poetry of craft. Hand-carved from solid red gum and paired with vintage rippled glass, Peep blends nostalgia with contemporary form. By day, it’s contemplative. By night, it glows, casting dappled light that reveals the curves of its making. Inspired by window panes, Peep is a study in memory, material, and the beauty of imperfection. Because we’ve used reclaimed materials, Peep is an edition of 2 ~ however, we will be taking orders in the near future for one off friends of Peep. Looking forward to seeing you all on Saturday night 6pm at 2 Wreckyn Street, North Melbourne.

•W I P ~ P E E P• Introducing Peep — our first foray into lighting and product design at Studio Shields. It’s a space both Pat and I have long dreamed of stepping into & we’re so excited to be debuting at Melbourne Design Week @ngvmelbourne in the 100 Lights Exhibition by @friends.associates Peep is made from reclaimed materials, salvaged with soul and reimagined into something that feels both contemporary and full of memory. The frame is hand-sculpted from a solid piece of red gum timber, and the glass, a treasure my dad picked up at an estate auction and lovingly hoarded for “the right moment” (clearly, it runs in the family) these two materials add the kind of delicate character you can’t fake. The shape is inspired by window panes. Think of it as a gentle nod to nostalgia, glimpses into the past. But also a wink to now, the grid we all live within, scroll through, curate. We wanted to honour the intention of the original materials while giving them a contemporary twist. As one friend has said “It makes me feel like I’m standing in a forest at night looking towards a cute little house that’s all warm and happy inside” We believe good design should tell a story and invoke a feeling. Peep isn’t just a light, it’s a study in form and texture. It’s that warm feeling of knowing you’re stepping into a space that’s loved and made with loving hands. Peep is a little moment of magic. We can’t wait to share more with you. This is only the beginning! SS

I am a sucker for holding onto materials with potential. This shelf was made from old OB joists that came off a job I did a while ago. This timber was generally used as framing and was installed green which means it drys out over time leading to the timber warping and bowing. It is overlooked as a resource because it takes a lot of machining to make it usable as furniture grade timber. When you take the time the end result is gorgeous.