For Sydney-based designer and creative David Caon, his young family,
and the life they’re building is what matters most. It’s a wholesome response to the question of his proudest achievement, particularly when there’s so many.

Creative Director of the multi-disciplinary Caon Design Office, owner of collaborative furniture brand BLOC, and co-owner of Laker with Henry Wilson, David is an industry heavyweight who continues to prove the sky is the limit – literally.

The force behind the 2017-launched, award-winning interior design of Qantas’ prestigious A380 and 787 Dreamliners, it was a multi-faceted project that even encompassed the tableware for the national carrier’s Neil Perry-led culinary offering (you may have heard of him).

 

 

You see for David, function and impact are paramount in all he does,
with this range a prime example. Not content with it only delivering on aesthetics, it also considered acoustics, touch and how each piece fits together. One of David’s “favourite” features is the lid that locks into the teapot; a small but meaningful decision, reflective of a collection designed with practicality and purpose at the fore. David’s influence is now widespread, with Qantas carrying up to 5,000 individual pieces of crockery, cutlery, and glasses on a single long-haul flight. And weighing in at 11 percent less than standard in-flight tableware, David’s work is responsible for an annual saving of 535,000 kilograms of fuel. Back on land, you’ll find his work evident in airport lounges in Australia and abroad, a journey that’s taken him to Perth, Hong Kong and Singapore.

“I’m obsessed with great functionality, and I value simplicity over decoration. If we can design something which is bulletproof in its functionality then it can be quite magical,” he tells BresicWhitney. “I also very much value collaboration and am inspired by working and discussing works with my colleagues and friends.” Among that network are internationally acclaimed designers George Sowden, Jerszy Seymour, and fellow Australian industrial design leader Marc Newson, the first two of which he worked in Milan, and the latter in Paris (which ironically, was where the collaboration with Qantas took off). It was somewhat of a full circle moment for David, who dreamt of one day working for a “cool guy” like Newson, after watching his documentary during a university lecture.

 

 

Adding to David’s global acclaim over the years was Conde Naste’s recognition of him as one of 44 People Changing the Way We Travel, among the likes of Sir David Attenborough, chef Massimo Bottura, and the three founders of Airbnb – Brian Chesky, Joe Gebbia, and Nathan Blecharczyk. David’s head however is not in the clouds. He’s an authentic and humble character, who spent his childhood in Adelaide, before studying Industrial Design at the University of South Australia. But with a penchant for sketching Italian cars since he could draw, and with parents of north-eastern Italian heritage, it was a destination that always called his name. And as fate would have it, it also had decades of design merit. “I love 50s-60s-70s Italian design. Whether that is furniture, interiors, or transport,
I find myself very drawn to that era,” David says.

Returning to Sydney to live in 2009, David has called Edgecliff home since – the Inner-City suburb on the cusp of Paddington, which lured him in with community and convenience. While a move is on the cards from his current home, he plans to stay local. “Paddington is the kind of area that you can just walk around, and it never feels like aimless wandering. Even living inner city, you can be at a body of water in a heartbeat,” he says.

Curating the family home in Edgecliff was very much a less is more approach for David, and one he plans to employ in his new residence too. “Being honest about what the structure was [of our home] and focusing on its positives, like its wonderful natural light, was key. Then it’s just about selecting the right pieces as they come along,” he says before revealing most of the furniture in the house was vintage.

So, what’s next for David? He’ll continue to focus on building Caon Design Office into an international force with its roots firmly in Australia, through a pipeline of products and projects, including those under his own brand.
But not before building a family life with great passion and purpose, in what is perhaps the greatest city in the world.