Retailer parts with Yindi Manufacturing..

 

Officeworks has expanded its range of office supplies by partnering with Yindi Manufacturing, an Indigenous company that supplies office furniture and plastics. 

 

The collaboration will introduce locally-produced chairs upholstered with patterned fabrics designed by Aboriginal artist Jedess Hudson. 

 

Yindi Manufacturing’s Butchulla Collection is ranged exclusively online at Officeworks 

 

Ramone Close, founder of Yindi Manufacturing, said: “We are not just building chairs, we are sharing culture with not only our community but also with non-First Nations community. 

 

“The journey to our partnership started with a thought and a dream to have a chair in Officeworks and here I am two years later,”  he said.

 

The range of ergonomic chairs sold through Officeworks starts from $269 is made in Queensland, features a three-lever mechanism, Australian-moulded seat foam and Indigenous-made under-seat plastic. The chair upholstered by Brendan

Ward-Anning, a Yidindji man from Far North Queensland, who is managing director of Yindi Manufacturing.

 

Officeworks head of sustainability, product safety and corporate affairs, Fiona Lawrie, said: “By integrating collaborations such as our partnership with Yindi Manufacturing into our operations,  we aim to foster a greater understanding of

 

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander history, customs, and culture, while enabling our customers to have access to products that promote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander businesses and traditions.” 

 

Later in the year, this partnership will see the expansion of furniture chairs that will display a range of First Nations designs and fabric by the Dream Weave Collective.