Exhibiting Furniture

The exhibiting and collecting of contemporary Australian furniture design is a telling indicator of how we as a society regard design. Australian furniture has been seen at SOFA (Sculpture, Objects and Functional Art - Gallery Trade Fair Chicago USA) since 1993.

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Australian Fine China: Artists and Industry

Perth based Australian Fine China, the only maker of porcelain in Australia and New Zealand, is currently using a number of artist-designers to move from being a stolid china manufacturer for railways and cafes to one whose products are seen in top flight restaurants in the big hotels, in classy tourist venues and now on the dining tables of the nation. They have some way to go to entice Australians to purchase the 'local product' for their homes but they are making steady progress.

Dorothy Erickson

Indigenous Australian Dyed and Printed Textiles

Textile traditions of indigenous Australians have provided an impressive basis for their current divergent development within the framework of introduced technologies. Looks at various textile producing centres around Australia Tiwi, Ernabella, Kaltjiti, Injalak, Keringke, Ngunga Designs, Warta kutju, Kaen design, Djookan design....

Doreen Mellor

Lighting Design

Market size in Australia is the main hurdle to successful lighting however there are designers who are making inroads with Australian lighting design.

Tim Laurence

Space Defined

Exhibition review Jewellery by Brenda Ridgewell, New Collectibles Gallery, East Fremantle WA 20 November - 1 December 1996

Gillian Rainer

Wanton Fruits

Exhibition review Barbie Kjar Dick Bett Gallery, Salamanca Place, Hobart Tasmania 26 November - 10 December 1996

Mary Knights

Share-house Art

Exhibition review Tasmania art co-op: recent works from Australian Artist-Run Initiatives The Long Gallery, Salamanca Arts Centre, Hobart Tasmania 15 November - 8 December 1996

Robyn Daw

Seeing a Plant: Being a Plant

Exhibition review Stephanie Radok Greenaway Gallery, Adelaide SA 11 September - 6 October 1996

Cath Kenneally

Desert Designs

Based in Fremantle, Western Australia, Desert Designs (begun in 1984) is a concept marketing company that deals with authentic Aboriginal art works and acts as a nexus with manufacturing industries to facilitate their transition into products and their entry into retail markets.

Paul Counsel

SA Designer-makers Turn to Industry

A unique exhibition curated by Steve Ronayne (owner of Aptos Cruz Galleries) held at theJam Factory Gallery in 1996 'South Australia - Emerging crucible of contemporary design' showed just how many local designer-makers of contemporary craft are adopting industrial processes in their work.

Jane Williams

The New Ecodesign: Sceptics Beware!

Whilst on a global scale Australia still dawdles on ecodesign, pockets of cutting-edge research and design are moving ahead with international recognition. Overview of events. In 1991 RMIT in Melbourne hosted the EcoDesign 1 Conference 1989-1992 Designers for the Planet, Perth WA Society for Responsible Design (1990 - ) NSW Re-Design Group Melbourne, Victoria (1991-93).

John Gertsakis

Serious Fun

Book review Absolutely Mardi Gras Jointly published by Doubleday and the Powerhouse Museum 1997 RRP $29.95

Pat Hoffie

Gifted Arts

In 1992 the Premier of WA initiated the Premier's Gift Commissioning Project in conjunction with the Crafts Council of WA inviting artists to design and produce protocol gifts and souvenirs within a lower price range, which though of exclusive design could be manufactured in multiples using light local industrial processes where appropriate.

Maggie Baxter

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