Like Butter is a design and fabrication business owned and run by industrial designer Jem Selig Freeman and sculptor Laura Woodward. Like Butter has gained a reputation for its approach to design and fabrication that is based on flexible and lateral thinking, strong aesthetics and considered detailing, in order to achieve the simplest and most effective solutions for the project at hand. We achieve this through process, pushing our materials and our machines to their limits. Like Butter has functioned across multiple industries; from its own furniture and lighting products, to one-off commissions for significant design and fabrication projects, to public art installations, through to film and animation production. The common thread? Learning through play, and ‘just making stuff’.
Guided by our vision statement, we’re committed to sustainability and circular economy principles. We proudly use locally sourced, Australian-grown Hoop Pine (57% of all of our material usage) and responsibly managed hardwoods (14%). We’re aiming to progressively use more reclaimed timber and lessen our reliance on virgin stock.
We’re on a mission to minimise material waste through better design and process, and reduce our carbon footprint to zero. Where a legacy product falls short, we’re phasing it out or redesigning it better. Where investment is needed, we’re backing our vision. Production is now largely solar powered, with our new factory in Castlemaine equipped with 33kWh of roof-top generation. This mission is also why in 2020, we pledged to donate 1% of our total revenue to a tree planting or tree protection not-for-profit, as part of Sawdust Bureau’s Treemaker initiative.
We’re a team of designers, sculptors, musicians and makers. We learn by playing with materials and machines. We’re driven by pushing process to the limit and refining each detail as we gain experience. And we care about leaving a positive lasting touch on the planet, through design. Want to learn something from us? Check out our Instagram @likebutter.au which is where Jem shares workshop processes and production updates.
https://likebutter.com.au/