Showcasing exceptional design and exploring design ideas, this blog approaches design from an ethical standpoint.
Content includes architecture and interiors (particularly houses, restaurants, hotels and public buildings), furniture, lighting and objects, design exhibitions and books, plus architecture pavilions and art installations, and more.
In making thematic links, The Design Writer aims to provide a deeper, more nuanced understanding of why design matters.
The Design Writer is a blog by me, Penny Craswell.
I have written three books for Thames & Hudson: The New Sustainable House (2024), which features homes from around the world that are sustainable, Reclaimed: New homes from old materials (2022), which includes homes from around the world made from salvaged and repurposed materials, and Design Lives Here: Australian interiors, furniture and lighting (2020), which features 21 homes in Australia and one piece of furniture or lighting in the house also by an Australian designer.
About me
I am a writer, editor and curator with a specialisation in design, interiors, architecture and craft.
Former roles include Creative Strategy Associate at the Australian Design Centre and Co-Director of Sydney Craft Week (2017–2021), Communications Manager at architecture firm Woods Bagot (2012–2015), Editor of Artichoke magazine (2010–2012), Deputy Editor of Indesign magazine (2005–2010) and Assistant Editor of Frame magazine in Amsterdam (2005).
I currently write for Green, Houses and Never Too Small magazines as well as The Saturday Paper, and have had my writing recently published in The Design Book: Big Ideas Explained Simply (2024) and stories that want to be told: The Long Lede Anthology (2024).
I have written freelance articles since 2001 and have been published in many design and art magazines, including Architectural Review, Artlink, Architecture Australia, Assemble Papers, Azure, Belle, Frame and NGV magazines. I have also written for The Guardian, The Sydney Morning Herald and The Canberra Times.
While at the Australian Design Centre I co-curated the exhibitions ‘Obsessed: Compelled to make’ and ‘Made / Worn: Australian Contemporary Jewellery’, and in 2023 I curated an exhibition ‘Speculation Nation: Making Utopia’ at Craft and Design Canberra and convened a panel discussion ‘Nature’s Lab: New Materials in Design’ at the National Museum of Australia .
I have also been on the jury of a number of awards, including the Frame Awards (2021) and NSW Architecture Awards (2016), and I was a Curator of TEDx Sydney (2018–2019).
I am a well respected voice in Sydney’s design and architecture industry and have presented at many events in Sydney and around Australia. I have also been interviewed for radio and podcasts.
In 2017, I completed my Masters in Design (Hons) at UNSW Art and Design by research and have taught design history at UNSW as a casual tutor.
Design Lives Here was launched at Design Canberra and Uro Bookshop (digital), Reclaimed was launched at the Powerhouse Museum as part of Sydney Design Week 2022 and The New Sustainable House was launched at Gleebooks.
My books have been featured in BBC, Monocle, The Times, Dwell magazine, The Local Project, the Sydney Morning Herald and Vogue Australia.
Work with me
Please contact me to discuss writing commissions, editing, speaking or curatorial projects on pcraswell [at] gmail [dot] com.
The Design Writer graphics
Thank you to Danny Wehbe for The Design Writer’s graphics. The logo plays on the idea of the lightbulb moment – thinking about design as well as looking at it – while the lightbulb filament shape forms a dW for Design Writer.
Submit content
Please send images and texts about architectural, interior projects and objects, products, exhibitions and books to me for consideration. Email Penny at pcraswell [at] gmail [dot] com.
The Design Writer launched on 30 March 2014 and is advertising (and advertorial) free.