The Design Writer

The Pacific Sisters is an artist collective based in Auckland combining costume, fashion, performance, dance and filmmaking in their work, which is rooted in Māori, Pacific, and Queer identities. This year, as part of the Biennale of Sydney ‘Ten Thousand Suns’, their work is on display at the Art Gallery of NSW from 9 March to 10 June.

The Pacific Sisters is a Tāgata Moana art collective that emerged from the fringes of mainstream arts and culture in Aotearoa New Zealand in 1991. Members are: Lisa Reihana, Rosanna Raymond, Ani O’Neill, Suzanne Tamaki, Selina Haami, Niwhai Tupaea, Henzart @ Henry Ah-Foo Taripo, Feeonaa Wall, and Jaunnie ‘Ilolahia.

Pacific Sisters advocate for the environment, Indigenous, POC and Queer rights and body sovereignty. The collective is an active and influential part of the wider Moana arts community, nurturing and mentoring younger artists, as well as inspiring and supporting each other’s individual art practices.

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By Penny Craswell

The future of housing was the topic of discussion at the Master of Design conference Mo.D/24 held recently in Hobart by Australian building company Metricon. 

The company, which builds homes in four states of Australia – Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland and South Australia – chose to hold their inaugural conference in Hobart – a chance to get away from the everyday and gain a new perspective.

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By Penny Craswell

A cost of living crisis combined with the growing realisation (or certainty in some cases!) that we don’t need more ‘stuff’ makes gift-giving tricky, but I’m still here for quality, low cost, ethical gifts to cheer up your festive season. As I always advise, consider giving to charity, there are some great initiatives at this time of year, like World Wildlife Fund’s Adopt a Koala, UNHCR’s Empowering Gifts, World Visions’ Charity Gift Card, The Smith Family’s Gifts from the Heart and plenty more.

1. Buy these beautiful candles made with natural Australian beeswax collected from bees and bee-keepers throughout regional Australia by Queen B. queenb.com.au

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Text by Penny Craswell

Located on former agricultural land in north-east Victoria, this new home with the relatively small footprint of 100 square metres mimics agricultural buildings, with exteriors in corrugated metal and timber, and a timber picket fence that continues onto the facade at either end to create a striking effect.

One of the challenges of designing this house for BRD Studio was the climate, with temperature extremes from -5 to 45 degrees celsius and the potential of bush fires, and the remoteness of the site, which meant there was no ability to connect to mains power and water.

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Text by Penny Craswell

A former storage shed in Byron Bay’s Arts and Industry Estate has been transformed into a gallery space on the ground floor and flexible workplace on the mezzanine level above by Sydney architecture studio Benn + Penna.

The space is minimalist in grey and white, with a stainless steel mesh used to wrap the mezzanine level and a striking white spiral staircase connecting the two levels providing a visual anchor for the space. The space is also soft, with diffused light and acoustic lining installed to make the former industrial space feel more gentle and inviting.

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By Penny Craswell

Iranian women all over the world have donated headscarves, which were collected and used as a primary material to create stadium seating in an act of resistance against gender inequality by Sydney-based Iranian-Australian designer Nila Rezaei and Austrian designer Christopher Krainer from RK Collective.

Crafted Liberation: A Quest by Women of Iran is a direct response to the recent death of Kurdish-Iranian woman Mahsa Amini, who, last year at 22 years old, was arrested by the Iranian ‘moral’ police and died in custody due to an improper headscarf violation. Her death sparked widespread protests among Iranian women worldwide. The symbolism of the stadium seating is because, since 1981, Iranian women have been banned from attending men’s sporting events in stadiums.

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By Penny Craswell

A new Nudie store in Little Collins Street in Melbourne showcases the sustainable ethos of the brand with repurposed materials, sustainable finishes as a sewing machine offering customers forever repairs.

Fast fashion and wasteful retail fitouts together contribute more than their fair share of waste to landfill, which is why it’s great to see Nudie tackling both challenges head on. Nudie Jeans began in Gothenburg Sweden in 2001 and makes jeans from 100% organic cotton, creating garments that are designed to be broken-in and worn, then mended for a long life.

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By Penny Craswell

Tana is a freestanding timber bookshelf is inspired by Japanese design – the word tana is Japanese for “shelf”. Characterised by rounded vertical lines meeting flat horizontal shelves, the shelf also features a detail at the back that sets this piece apart from other Japanese-style timber bookshelves.

Melbourne designer George Harper, who founded Tide Design in Melbourne in 2007, says Tana is “inspired by the clean lines, simplicity and functionality of Japanese design. The Tana combines its striking looks with complete versatility as it can be made in multiple sections, and a variety of configurations to suit a wide range of applications.”

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By Penny Craswell

Ben Callery Architects has transformed a double-fronted Edwardian home in Melbourne’s Brunswick East into a contemporary design with large open spaces at the rear and a communal kitchen table for sharing food. In fact, the new design is so light and airy, it’s been dubbed ‘Breeze House’. The project also made the most of reclaimed appliances and materials.

Instead of opting for a large kitchen with the ubiquitous kitchen island, the owners instead asked for a large kitchen table for up to 12 people, creating a space for communal food preparation and sharing meals. “In our initial meeting, an inspiration [for our client] was the idea of a ‘country kitchen,’” explains Ben Callery from Ben Callery Architect.

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This essay was written for the exhibition Speculation Nation: Making Utopia at Craft and Design Canberra from 18 May – 1 July 2023, curated by Penny Craswell.

The exhibition, Speculation Nation: Making Utopia, showcases craft practitioners who have engaged with some of the complex issues of a world in crisis. Curator Penny Craswell explores these issues with one eye on a bright future.

In the 21st century, more and more contemporary craft is engaging with the things that really matter to us – as individuals, as part of a society and as people on the planet. An idea for an exhibition exploring social, political and environmental issues in craft through the prism of time arose in response to a gut reaction I had to the news.

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