If you haven’t yet heard about Melbourne Design Week yet… consider this your memo!
For many years, Melbourne didn’t have its own design festival. Last year, this long-standing oversight was remedied, thanks to funding from Creative Victoria, and a diverse program presented by the National Gallery of Victoria.
Now in its second year, Melbourne Design Week returns next month with an expanded program of over 160 events across Melbourne – including building tours, installations and exhibitions, international speakers, workshops and panel discussions, and much more. There is a LOT to cover… but today we share our top picks.
This is by no means an exhaustive list; over the coming weeks we’ll be profiling specific events in greater detail, and during the festival dates (March 15th-25th) we’ll be on the ground covering events daily via Instagram stories.
We’re also excited to be hosting our own TDF Talks series as part of Melbourne Design Week, but we’ll share more about that this afternoon!
Take a tour of the colourful Medibank building in Melbourne, designed by HASSELL architects, through the Open State tours, presented by Open House Melbourne. Photo – courtesy of the NGV.
The Australian Islamic Centre in Newport, designed by Glen Murcutt. Take a tour via Open State tours, presented by Open House Melbourne. Photos – Tobias Titz.
Presented by Open House Melbourne, Open State offers tours of 20 notable Melbourne buildings – we’re especially excited to suss out the colourful Medibank building in the Docklands, the striking Australian Islamic Centre in Newport designed by Glenn Murcutt, and The Dream Factory – a former Rubber Factory in Footscray which is now the impressive headquarters of Lonely Planet.
Open State tours are free, bookings essential.
The Oblica showroom, Cult storefront, Halcyon Lake showroom are all stops along the way of the Denfair Design Loop. Photos – courtesy of the NGV.
Curated by the team at Denfair, Melbourne’s boutique trade event for contemporary design, Design Loop is new program of instore exhibitions and events at various design showrooms across Melbourne. Participating stores include Cult, Space Furniture, Halcyon House, Christopher Boots, Mark Tuckey, Tait and more.
Denfair Design Loop is free, and runs from March 15th-25th. Register via the Denfair website.
Works by Dale Hardiman and Elliat Rich as part of ‘Designwork 02’ at Sophie Gannon Gallery. Photos – Sean Fennessy.
We’re big fans of forward-thinking Melbourne gallerist Sophie Gannon, who over the past two years has expanded her focus from Australian contemporary art, to commissioned design pieces.
For Melbourne Design Week, Sophie Gannon Gallery presents Designwork 02 – two adjacent solo design exhibitions by Dale Hardiman and Elliat Rich.
Dale’s exhibition, entitled ‘Common Resources‘ uses discarded objects to create distinctive new design pieces. Elliat’s show, entitled ‘Other Places‘, draws on her experience travelling through Central Australia (she is currently based in Alice Springs), with a series of vibrant sculptural objects created from dowel rods, artificial hair, and other unexpected materials.
‘Designwork 02’
Sophie Gannon Gallery
2 Albert Street
Richmond, Melbourne
Open March 7th–24th
Tuesday to Saturday, 11am–5pm.
‘Peaches’ by Maddie Sharrock and ‘Sprouting Vase’ by Nicolette Johnson. Photos – courtesy of Artefacts.
Curated by local designer Jonathan Ben-Tovim, Artefacts is an exhibition that brings together the work of 11 Australian object makers who push the limits of what design can be.
We’re particularly excited about this show, because it includes some of our favourite local creatives, like Maddie Sharrock, Sean Meilak, Fred Ganim and Nicolette Johnson, among others.
Artefacts
SPACE@COLLINS
Level 1, 278 Collins Street
Melbourne
March 15th–25th, bookings not required.
The Melbourne Art Book Fair at the NGV and an interior spread from ‘Statement and Counter Statement’ by Experimental Jetset. Photos – courtesy of NGV.
Featuring the world’s most creative emerging and established publishers and writers, the NGV-hosted Melbourne Art Book Fair has become a popular annual event for lovers of the printed page!
This year, the Art Book Fair falls within the Melbourne Design Week program, offering a diverse program of book launches, events and panel discussions.And yes, there are also books for sale, of course!
The Cornish Family Prize for Art and Design Publishing will also be announced at the far, with one awarded publisher taking home the coveted $15,000 prize for Art & Design Publishing.
Melbourne Art Book Fair
NGV International, Great Hall
180 St Kilda Road, Melbourne
Friday, March 16th to Sunday, March 18th
Free event, bookings not required.
Interior of the Walsh Street House by Robin Boyd. Photos – Eve Wilson.
Presented by the Robin Boyd Foundation, House of Ideas presents a rare insight into their namesake, revered Australian architect Robin Boyd, featuring a unique exhibition showcasing Boyd’s lesser-known projects.
Curated by Melbourne University Professors Philip Goad and Alan Pert, the exhibition will be hosted at Boyd’s Walsh Street House, the home he designed for his own family in 1967.
House of Ideas
290 Walsh Street
South Yarra, Melbourne
Dates and booking details not yet live! Stay tuned.
Sculptural Installations by GERONIMO, Jihan Zencirli. Photos – Christopher Sullivan.
We’ve been following US-based GERONIMO for a long time… so we were pretty excited to see that the insta-famous installation artist will be in town next month! Jihan Zencirli is the designer behind this LA-based brand known for her IMMENSE installations featuring gigantic clusters of helium free, biodegradable balloons.
Jihan will be bringing her whimsical work to THREE Melbourne locations in partnership with Hub furniture for Melbourne Design Week 2018. Her ‘Diminishing Elation‘, an installation exploring themes of wonder, curiosity, and joyful optimism.
Diminishing Elation
Hub Furniture’s NEW showroom
16-28 Duke Street, Abbotsford
The Hub General Store
36 Cambridge Street, Collingwood
Hub’s Former Showroom
63 Exhibition Street, Melbourne
Free event, bookings not required.
The editor-in-chief of the world’s most influential architecture and design website Marcus Fairs will make a keynote presentation as part of Melbourne Design Week 2018. Photos – courtesy of Dezeen and Design Indaba.
As founder and editor-in-chief of Dezeen, the world’s most influential architecture and design website, London-based Marcus Fairs is a big name in the international design world. So, we’re pretty excited to see Marcus deliver a keynote presentation at Melbourne Design Week 2018!
Marcus will draw upon his years at the forefront of design publishing to reveal how he sees design shaping the world around us, as well as design’s potential to enable positive transformation.
Marcus Fairs of Dezeen: Designing a Better World
Presented by Telstra and the NGV
NGV International
Great Hall
Wednesday March 21st
6.30pm–7.30pm
Tickets $25, bookings required
Tim Ross brings his passion project for architecturally-significant buildings to Melbourne Design Week. Photos – courtesy of The Mid Century Project.
Everyone’s favorite design enthusiast (slash author slash TV producer slash comedian), Tim Ross, will be BACK in town for Melbourne Design Week 2018.
With a contagious passion for design and architecture, for the last five years, Tim Ross and his talented mate Kit Warhurst have hosted a series of inspired comedy shows in architecturally significant buildings, both in Australia and overseas.
In March, they’ll be welcoming visitors to the ICI Building in East Melbourne for The Mid Century Project. This iconic building will be transformed for this limited season with a series of mid-century modern inspired installations using film, sound, furniture, and art.
The Mid Century Project
Bates Smart Gallery
ICI House
1 Nicholson Street
East Melbourne
March 15th–25th
Tickets $69.95, bookings essential.
Tectonic Grounds is an interactive sculpture created in a collaboration between United Make and the Melbourne School of Design. Photos – courtesy of Melbourne School of Design and United Make.
‘What if architecture could interact with us? What would it say?’ These questions form the inspiration for Tectonic Grounds, an interactive sculpture created in a collaboration between United Make and the Melbourne School of Design.
Part sculpture, part architecture, this exhibition explores contemporary advances in digital fabrication, computing, and rapid laser-cut prototyping, to create an interactive spectacle!
Tectonic Grounds
Melbourne School of Design Building (133)
University of Melbourne
Corner of Masson Road and Spencer Road,
Carlton, Melbourne
March 15th–23rd
Free, bookings not required.
