The exhibition is a diverse showcase of more than 2000 artworks from 41 Australian creative heavyweights and emerging stars. Now in its 18th year, Artisans in the Gardens is a nine-day celebration of the natural world across the mediums of sculpture, ceramics, hand-blown glass, photography, jewellery and textiles.

Chilton is exhibiting a cabinet featuring a solid maple carcass, laminated maple doors, sonokeling Indonesian rosewood back panel, drawer-front and door handles, and piston-fit drawer with half-blind London-pattern dovetails.

“This petite cabinet has many influences, largely drawing inspiration from the natural world including from my time training in UK under David Savage, my upbringing in Sydney and not just the Japanese art of bonsai, but my appreciation for the restraint and scale of Japanese design in general,” Chilton said. 

“As with traditional bonsai, this cabinet seeks to capture the miniaturised proportions and purpose of a traditional fine furniture cabinet, such as the piston-fit drawer with half-blind London-pattern dovetails.

“Like in nature, there are few straight lines to this piece. It's asymmetrically flared carcass is reminiscent of the buttress roots of Australia's Morton Bay fig trees.

“The piece is purposefully ambiguous and could work as a single bedside table next to a low futon in a minimalist bedroom layout, or sit atop a surface as a showcase piece to hold valuable items. Like the art of bonsai, the new owner should cultivate a new direction in life for it.”

The cabinet took about three months to design and complete. 

“As with all my designs, it required many sketches of concepts that lead to dead ends and even when I had found a kernel of something valuable it required much iteration, testing and prototyping of details to get to the final form,” he said. 

“My biggest challenge was to create something beautifully simple, however I always find the 'simple' part the most challenging as it is invariably harder to take away or distill from the design than it is to add or embellish.” 

Curator Lucette Moore and her team have spent almost a year assembling the collection from across Australia.

“All works are for sale with prices ranging from $50 upwards. It’s the perfect opportunity to purchase a significant artwork from a sought-after name or a talented emerging artisan well on their way to prominence.”