Having visited Milan for the last 4 years, I have grown to look forward to the young designer events held at alternative venues across the city more than I do the polished commerciality of the vast official fairgrounds at Rho. … Continue reading
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A record 160 entries have been awarded Good Design® in the 2013 Australian International Design Awards and are in the running for a coveted Design Award® recognising design excellence when winners are announced later this month as part of Vivid … Continue reading
For the past month, the art museum at my university has been host to an exhibition of extraordinary beauty, fascinating experimentation, and craft technique of a skill that I thought was no longer found in the contemporary world. It was … Continue reading
Re Rag Rug is an experimental design and crafts project by two very talented Swedes, Katarina Brieditis and Katarina Evans. With backgrounds in textile design, product development and needlework, the duo were brought together through a shared interest in knitting, embroidery and … Continue reading
While there were a number of important furniture brands in Australia offering modernist designs during the 50s, 60s and 70s such as Danish Deluxe and Fler in Melbourne and TH Brown in Adelaide, Sydney’s Parker remains the most well known. … Continue reading
In 2013, Sydney Design, one of the world’s oldest running design festivals, decided to become more inclusive. As one of the few design festivals produced by a Museum, the festival is all about engaging audiences around design. What better way … Continue reading
The four winning propositions for the CAPITheticAL competition for a hypothetical Australian capital were announced on 14 March. The CAPITheticAL competition, for the design of a hypothetical Australian capital, announced its winners on 14 March at the Gallery of Australian Design. … Continue reading
Forms in Succession #5, porcelain sculpture created by Japanese potter Shigekazu Nagae dances beautifully in this video. The paper ‘look-alike’ form evokes the aesthetics of origami – the art of Japanese paper-folding. Made by using a slip-cast technique the material speaks … Continue reading
Frame and Moooi are excited to announce the ten finalists for the year’s biggest interior design award. This year, the Frame Moooi Award received 861 submissions from a total of 71 countries. The finalists were selected by juror Jana Scholze, … Continue reading
The past few years have seen a resurgence in design as a driver of innovation. This has been visible in the popular managerial press and also the scholarly debate in management and design. Many foreign organisations and governments have already … Continue reading
With the latest instalment of the Broached Commissions project, entitled Broached East, half way through it’s stint in Melbourne, David Harrison spoke with Lou Weis founder and creative director of the project before he jetted off to Dubai to set … Continue reading
A recent study in the US has found that crowdfunding is becoming a driving force behind building and community projects. Whether this is the case in Australia is still unknown, yet Mathieu Gallios’ Reincarnated McMansion project which has had difficulty … Continue reading
With the completion of 1 Blight Street, Ingenhoven Architects + Architectus in collaboration with the Dexus Property Group, have delivered Australia’s highest rated Green Star Building in Sydney. Winner of the 2012 National Architecture Award, the building is the first … Continue reading
With many designers lamenting the dwindling manufacturing landscape in Australia, David Harrison speaks with designers Gary Galego, Adam Cornish and Adam Goodrum about how they are working within these shrinking parameters. On the other side of the Tasman, Scott Bridgens, … Continue reading
Is Tasmania at a tipping point? Over the next two weeks The Conversation, in conjunction with Griffith REVIEW and the University of Tasmania, is publishing a series of provocations. Our authors ask where does Tasmania’s future lie? Has it reached … Continue reading
The Powerhouse Museum recently interviewed James Cameron, winner of the Australian International Design Awards 2012, who was in Australia to meet with manufacturers of his Deep Sea Challenger and for the awards ceremony. With this confluence of events, we were very fortunate to … Continue reading
2013 is well and truly upon us! As we approach the month of March, I’m sure many of us have settled into our respective plans for the year. I for one, have spent the last couple of months thinking about … Continue reading
Redefining the traditional mentality of ‘made-to-order’ manufacturing in Australia, a new breed of Creative Enablers are marrying their technical capabilities to the trajectories of leading designers, and broadening their product offering in the co-creation of new Australian design. Palamont Rotor, … Continue reading
Keith Hensel was principal designer at Breville, and previously a designer with Sunbeam and Nielsen Design Associates. For more than 20 years he had been involved in designing household products from lighting to kettles, toasters to toothbrushes. Hensel’s designs have … Continue reading
Is upcycling a supersized home into two or three sustainable dwellings a lofty idea? Not so believes artist/ architect Mathieu Gallios who has worked on his Reincarnated McMansion project since 2007. To realise his vision he has teamed up with Peter Smith, architect/ planning/ … Continue reading
Thinking globally and acting locally. How can we rethink, regenerate, rebrand, rework, reactivate cities dominated by singular economies for a vibrant and innovative future? The international design ideas competition, Transiting Cities – Low Carbon Futures, was open to designers from around … Continue reading
The Centenary of Canberra (1913-2013) is being celebrated throughout 2013 with a series of projects and events which acknowledge the unique nature of this planned capital. The prime goal of the Centenary was set in 2006 and seeks ‘to instil … Continue reading
After an international selection process, the title ‘European Capital of Culture’ has been awarded to the cities of Marseille, on the southeast coast of France, and Kosice, the second largest city in Slovakia. This sought-after European title was created in … Continue reading
Rohan Nicol is a Wagga Wagga based designer with a craft background and a new design enterprise, Lucelux, which launched in 2009. Bridging the gap between manufacturing and design in Australia, Rohan has established an alliance with local manufacturer Precision … Continue reading
The Design Museum London has announced the 2013 nominations for the Designs of the Year. Highlights include a number of designs that set new directions and trends and others that reflect our concerns for the state of the world present and future; … Continue reading
Last year Dhub published an article on Australia’s need to increase productivity with investment in integrated business strategy to strengthen the manufacturing sector. The proposal will increase the success of creative ventures such as those undertaken by designers while improving Australia’s competitiveness on a global scale … Continue reading
The third edition of the International Design & Communication Awards (2013) for excellent communication and creativity in the art world is now open for entries. The IDCA awards assess communications, design and branding strategies within the arts and museum sphere. … Continue reading
Many Australian manufacturers have acknowledged that innovation is key to their survival in an era characterised by increased global competition and a strong Australian dollar. The Australian Government has also acknowledged the manufacturing sector needs to reinvent itself to combat … Continue reading
Nicholas Karlovasitis and Sarah Gibson are the young business owners of industrial design studio, DesignByThem. As young designers who launched their own business after graduating from the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS) in 2006, Nick Karlovasitis and Sarah Gibson bypassed … Continue reading
A few years ago, Robbie Robertson and Alex Ritchie worked at the same award-winning company in London, Imagination, but it was not until they moved to Sydney that they first met while working at Landor Associates. Originally from Scotland, Robertson … Continue reading
Tamara Maynes has had a productive year, taking her Quilt Light to Milan Design Week and London Design Festival 2012 as part of the Supercyclers collective exhibition. I thought it an opportune time to catch-up with Tamara and find out … Continue reading
Studio juju are a young Singapore based studio established by Timo Wong & Priscilla Lui in 2009. Apart from developing their own projects under the studio juju name they have also been an integral part of the National University of … Continue reading
Like everyone over the past week we have also taken stock of the last twelve months. There are always some ups and downs but somehow we got through and all our design friends have helped make this a great year. … Continue reading
Sounding in another year of design focused events for 2013, the Powerhouse Museum presents internationally acclaimed Dutch visual artist Florentijn Hofman on 6 January. Hofman is creator of a wide range of mammoth sculptures based on everyday life and you … Continue reading
Melbourne studio Büro North designs everything from logos to signage and wayfinding systems. Many design studios also offer a multi-disciplinary suite of services, but Büro North differentiates by taking an ‘evidence-based’ approach to design, painstakingly gathering data to demonstrate the … Continue reading
It’s almost the end of the year, a time when we take stock of the past and forecast what we may do in the new year. The holiday break may just be the down-time we need to start thinking of 2013, … Continue reading
Down a Newtown side-lane in an old industrial complex sits jewellery studio SquarePeg. For all it achieves this small outfit has a big heart and lots of energy. On a recent visit, the founder of SquarePeg Studios, Brenda Factor, took … Continue reading
Do you like the colour green? That’s lucky because Pantone has given the green light: Emerald is the official Colour of the Year for 2013. Here is what it looks like: For more than a decade, Pantone has been selecting … Continue reading
Assistant curator Deborah Turnbull gives us the low down on the Powerhouse Museum’s inaugrual ‘What’s in the Box’ talk series. Continue reading
London-based Monocle magazine shares news about international affairs, business, culture and design and this month published their third global soft power survey – an index of how different nations are using their cultural influence. Drawing on US academic Joseph Nye’s notion of applying power by persuasion and attraction … Continue reading