Design Principles & Materials

We’ve brought together some of Australia’s most accomplished designers, artisans and manufacturers to bring our ideas to life. MINIM’s pieces have been thoughtfully designed to endure in both materiality and style, use the most sustainable manufacturing approach, and express a contemporary Australian sensibility. 

Our Design Principles

Our approach to design, materials and manufacturing at MINIM has been inspired by Cradle-to-Cradle principles. In the cradle-to-cradle model, all materials used in industrial or commercial processes (like metals, fibres and dyes) fall into one of two categories: “technical” or “biological” nutrients. Technical nutrients are non-toxic and non-harmful synthetic materials that have no negative effect on the natural environment and can be used repeatedly without losing their integrity or quality, while Biological nutrients are organic materials that can be disposed of in any natural environment. 

We’ve developed six manufacturing principles that guide our design decision-making and help us to continually improve our environmental impact;

  1. Maintain visible and transparent manufacturing and labour standards

  2. Support independent designers, manufacturers, creatives and makers in our local community

  3. Choose product and packaging materials that can either revert back into a biological cycle or technical cycle

  4. Minimise our carbon footprint by endeavouring to understand emissions contributions along the production and develop chain and offset them

  5. Eliminate production and packing processes that involve serious toxins

  6. Minimise waste and energy consumption across our production process

Our Materials

Our designs draw on the vast and thriving Australian network of manufacturers and craftspeople. We are inspired by this community and delighted to be able to collaborate with studios and individuals from across Australia to bring MINIM’s products to life, in harmony with the instruments they act in complement to.

We’re often asked about our materials, their provenance and if it’s all above board–so take a read of the below to find out more.

Leather

We use vegetable-tanned saddle leather for the upholstery in our Sling Stands and Podium Stand. This leather is sourced from Italy and upholstered by leather workers based in Collingwood (Melbourne) and in Botany (Sydney). We love leather’s natural properties and the way it will patina with age, making for an enduring material that has character and charm. 

We use vegetable tanned leather instead of chrome tanned leather as it is processed with tannin extracts from renewable plant sources to give a natural colour with a much lower environmental impact, is completely hypoallergenic, non carcinogenic and is strongly wear and pull resistant. 

Our leather is produced as a bi-product of the food industry (not endangered or rare animals) and is not engineered, plastic or containing of chrome or other non-plant additives. This means it has variations, marks and other natural characteristics. This was a conscious choice for us, as we prefer the non-toxic and natural materiality of this leather and the way it will patina and change over time.

Being natural, vegetable tanned, drum-dyed leather, minimal upkeep is required. If the leather needs to be cleaned, please use a colourfast white cloth with warm water to gently wipe.

Stone

We use sandstone from an Australian quarry located near Sydney, handcrafted by a local Sydney stonemason for our signature Podium Stand. The sandstone is 100% natural Australian sandstone, a hereditary stone of the Sydney region. 

The diverse tones and shades of Sandstone make every piece in this collection unique. Working with a locally-based stonemason allows us to custom-create each piece to your unique guitar sizing and specifications, with the craftsmanship completed without any CNC machines or digitally assisted equipment in the production process. 

No petro chemical based stone products such as “Reconstituted” or “Engineered” are used in this product. The Podium Stand is upholstered with 100% naturally organic leather sourced from Scotland, upholstered in Sydney.


Steel

We use powder coated Australian steel sourced from local Australian practices in our Sling Stands. While we explored international supplier options, we opted for a local supplier due to transparency around the labour practices.

Of the various metal finishing options, we chose powder coating for its environmentally responsible production; the 100% solid paint has no fumes, dangerous gas, and there are no harmful solvents that contribute to greenhouse gas emissions. Powder coating also offers more efficiency for reuse than wet paints, with as much as 99% of the original product that can be used, and exhaust air from the coating booth returnable to the plant.