What do a carbon fibre chair, a lawnmower and a blood glucose monitor have in common’ They have all been awarded the Powerhouse Museum Selection as part of the Australian Design Awards program and subsequently acquired into the Museum’s collection.
Since 1992 the Powerhouse Museum has recognised excellence in Australian product design with its own award as part of the annual Australian Design Awards program. The Museum displays the winning products in the Success and innovation exhibition for one year. Some of the winning products and relevant design models and documents are added to the permanent collection of Australian industrial design.
The Australian Design Awards has its origins in the Good Design Label, first introduced by the Industrial Design Council of Australia in 1960. The Australian Design Awards later took over from the Good Design Label as the highest Australian industrial design accolade. The Australian Design Awards, now a division of Standards Australia, conducts the annual awards program to recognise and reward excellence in Australian product design and innovation. A panel of design experts assess around 200 products with a range of applications such as medicine, transport, building, mining, sport, leisure, homes and offices. The criteria used by the judges to select products for an Australian DesignMark for ‘good design’ or an Australian Design Award for ‘design excellence’ include innovation, functionality, visual impact, ease of manufacture, environmental impact, safety, ergonomics, and value for money.
In 1990 the Powerhouse Museum entered into an agreement with the Australian Design Council (which later became the Australian Design Awards) to present the Powerhouse Museum Selection as part of the annual Australian Design Awards. The first Powerhouse Museum Selection was made in 1992.
The Powerhouse Museum Selection is an important part of the Museum’s collection development strategy. It allows curators to keep in touch with innovative designers and companies, and provides an opportunity for the Museum to acquire artefacts relating to the process of designing, manufacturing and marketing products in Australia. The annual exhibition of products gives the public the opportunity to appreciate the latest in Australian design and innovation, and recognises the important role of product design in enabling Australian companies to be competitive in local and international markets.
The Powerhouse Museum is the only Australian museum that actively collects and records contemporary Australian industrial design, and the Powerhouse Museum Selection is a key part of building this collection. When collecting contemporary design artefacts the Museum considers the entire process of product design, not only the final product. By collecting all aspects of a product’s lifecycle from the conceptual design and engineering development, to materials and manufacturing technologies and final use and disposal, the complex nature of design and its role in contemporary society can be recorded, providing a rich resource for researchers of tomorrow and inspiration for the designers of today.
The Powerhouse Museum Selection is made from the DesignMark finalists each year. The Museum’s selection criteria include good design, innovation, and the significance of a product to Australia’s material culture. Products must demonstrate innovation in design, technology or materials used. They must also show potential to become important in the life of Australians, be significant to Australian industry or provide an opportunity for Australian design to be recognised in the global marketplace.
The products selected by the Museum increasingly reflect the diverse range of Australian Design Awards entries. The first Powerhouse Museum Selection in 1992 included the HPM Fanlight and Surgeguard power surge protector, products that are still in the marketplace fourteen years later. Since then the selection has ranged from simple everyday items such as the Clark sink plug to specialised technologies such as the Mine Site Integrated Communications Cap Lamp. Design for sustainability has been of constant interest throughout the selection, represented by products such as the Kambrook Axis kettle, Rainbank pump controller and Caroma Smartflush toilet. Medical technologies have also featured strongly, from the Bionica ambulatory drug infusion pump to the ResMed AutoSet spirit flow generator.
The Powerhouse Museum is very pleased to be associated with the Australian Design Awards program, and values the support of the Australian Design Awards in developing the annual Australian Design Awards exhibition and other design programs at the Museum. As custodians of design and innovation, the Museum is proud to continue its support for outstanding Australian design.
The 2006 Australian Design Awards exhibition featuring the 2006 Powerhouse Museum Selection and finalists from the 2006 Australian Design Awards – Dyson Student Award opens 3rd July 2006.
Angelique Hutchison is Curator of Product Design at the Powerhouse Museum.
Australian Design Awards exhibition at the Powerhouse Museum
Australian Design Awards