Writing about the ideas behind design. Think about it.
By Penny Craswell
A five-metre high pig made with a criss-crossing three dimensional structure fitted with LED lights is one of a number of lighting installations created this year in Sydney to celebrate the Chinese year of the pig.
The sculpture is by Chinese-Australian artist Qian Jian Hua (Justin) and its exoskeleton is made of steel. Justin Qian was born in Nanjing, China and moved to Australia in 1991 after Tiananmen Square.
Read moreLocated at Breakneck Gorge, less than two hours from Melbourne, this house for short stays features a distinctive folded exterior that is clad in Corten steel. The dwelling is part of a group of buildings on the property that include a homestead, another short-term rental and agricultural outbuildings.
Designed by multi-disciplinary Melbourne firm Robert Nichol & sons, the house was dubbed Oikos (meaning “home” in Ancient Greek) thanks to its owner’s Greek heritage.
Read moreDesign duo Jonathan Biet and Sophie Bain from So Watt in Sydney’s Marrickville have put out a beautiful timber Christmas tree decoration this year that also supports a good cause.
The So Watt Smith Family Plywood Christmas Tree features a simple slot-together design paired with the quality of a beautifully-finished Birch Plywood. It works well as an ornament to complement your main tree, or can serve as a small Christmas tree with lights for those of us who sometimes prefer a more minimal Christmas. Read more
Julia Drouhin is a performance artist with an unusual way of hearing the world. She finds radio static ‘relaxing’, makes records out of ice and chocolate, and delights in recording the ‘mundane’ noises that surround her. Born in France, Julia’s art practice changed significantly when she moved to Tasmania in her adult life.
The landscape, soundscape and community of the isolated island inspired Julia to expand her art practice to incorporate her body, a new circle of collaborators, as well as the new sounds she encountered. Julia’s art is fuelled by a curiosity, playfulness and desire to open people’s ears to hear the world a little bit differently.
Thank you to Women of the Island for permission to publish this incredible film here.
Guest contributor and European correspondent Lara Chapman visits ‘GEO-DESIGN – Alibaba. From here to your home’ at the Van Abbe Museum in Eindhoven as part of a collaboration with the Design Academy Eindhoven (DAE) for Dutch Design Week.
Wednesday, 7:39pm: Click. A new tab is opened. Tap tap tap. A few keys are pressed. Enter. Scroll. Select. Click. Tap tap tap. A query is typed. Ping, a reply is received. Click. An Item is added to the basket. Click. Details are autofilled. Click. *Ping*. Confirmation email is received at 7:47pm.
Friday, 10:19am: *Ding Dong.* A Door is opened. A “pen” scratches on glass. A package swaps hands.
This scenario seems unremarkable, possibly even mundane. The cycle of search, browse, purchase, repeat, is constantly taking place online. However, for research designer Martina Muzi, e-commerce is an “incredibly urgent topic”. The ease of our interaction with e-commerce platforms belies a complex and sophisticated infrastructure that is entangled with areas such as political diplomacy, psychology, logistics, algorithms and new forms of labour. E-commerce is shaping our everyday behaviours in subtle but undeniable ways. Furthermore, its forces are invisibly shifting and re-defining contemporary geopolitics.
At the exhibition ‘GEO-DESIGN – Alibaba. From here to your home’, nine multidisciplinary design researchers examined China’s largest e-commerce website Alibaba.com from diverse angles. Held as part of an ongoing collaboration between the Van Abbe Museum and the Design Academy Eindhoven (DAE) as part of Dutch Design Week, the investigation-led project was conceived and curated by Martina Muzi and Joseph Grima. The selected designers, who are all alumni of DAE, had just two months from their briefing to the exhibition and undertook an intensive process of research, concept development and realisation. Read more
A large metallic facade has been installed stretching over the curved surface of the first floor podium of a new building at 300 George Street in Brisbane. Kinetic artist Alexander Knox worked with Urban Art Projects (UAP) to realise the work, which is called The Sound That Light Makes.
Spanning 2660 square metres and comprised of over 2500 pieces of press-formed and 3D-laser-cut-aluminium, the work is designed to emulate the reflections of light on water. Read more
When Danish ceramicist Karen Kjældgård-Larsen was in her final year of university, she had an idea for a pattern that was not only ingenious, but also would make her one of the most successful designers for historic Danish brand Royal Copenhagen.
Kjældgård-Larsen had grown up with Royal Copenhagen porcelain, in particular the classic Blue Fluted pattern her grandmother owned – this iconic pattern was designed for the Danish royal family in 1775 and is still in use today. Read more
Three large dome-like woven structures have been installed in a seating area at Westpac’s Sydney headquarters as a physical manifestation of the bank’s Reconciliation Action Plan. Conceived and designed by Yuwaalaraay woman Lucy Simpson, these “Reflection Pods” are as part of the bank’s new interiors by the design team at Geyer, who worked with Simpson to realise her concepts.
Initially Simpson had envisioned that local artists would weave the Reflection Pods, but in the end, the structures were woven by artists from Elcho Island Arts and Milingimbi Art and Culture thanks to a collaboration with Australian design brand Koskela. Koskela already has a history of working with the artists from Elcho Island Arts on their Yuta Badayala series of light shades. Read more
Australian designer Flynn Talbot has designed the installation ‘Full Spectrum’ as Australia’s exhibit at this year’s London Design Biennale (4-23 September), which explores the theme of ‘emotional states’.
Responding to the outpouring of love and positive emotion from last year’s Marriage Equality vote and legalisation in Australia, Talbot has created a circular screen of rainbow colours made with 150 hanging fibre optic strands. Read more
There is no doubt that the world of architecture and interiors has been under the calming, ordered influence of modernism and minimalism for a long time. Especially in Australia, the majority of designers prefer clean lines, simple colour palettes and form follows function – there’s even a magazine about it. But if you sometimes like breaking rules and shaking things up a bit, Maximalism may give you the licence to follow your patterned dreams.
Maximalism is a direct response to Minimalism – it layers bold pattern and colour on top of each other. Fabulously expressive, Maximalist interiors and designs offer the designer to get really creative – to explore play and to indulge in an orgy of extremes.
The Drake Commissary in Toronto includes the work of a number of artists in an evolving exhibition called “Fast Forward”. Most spectacular is a huge mural by artist Alex McLeod called Ancient Hills, which spans 10+ metres and depicts an incredible fantasy landscape created using 3D modelling tools. Other works include textile works, sculptural pieces and video art.