The most enduring product design is of its time, and yet timeless. Broached Commissions create collections that are both of these things, and then some.

The concept for the new company's limited-edition contemporary collections is set in the past and based on a different event in Australian history. This historical reference point is then fused with the latest manufacturing processes and materials to create objects with a past that work in modern conditions and contexts.

The three founding members of Broached Commissions - Trent Jansen, Adam Goodrun and Charles Wilson - work collaboratively with guest designers (currently Lucy McRae, Max Lamb and Chen Lu) and curator, John McPhee, to research, discuss and design each piece in the collection.

Their first exhibition, Broached Colonial, opened in Melbourne last week and studied the period from 1788-1840, just after the industrial revolution started to permeate Australia. The final objects represent a range of responses to the period, these include Lucy McRae's 'Prickly Light' – a leggy lamp with a harsh second skin – and the 'Briggs Family Tea Service', a tea set made from porcelain and bull kelp inspired by the marriage of free settler George Briggs to Woretermoeteyenner of the Pairrebeenee people.

By connecting such history with beauty and functionality, Broached Commissions create objects that simultaneously reach back into Australian past while remaining relevant in the present. Each represents a deeper story and, therefore, is of greater significance to their user.