Freestyle - new Australian design for living, Melbourne Museum, 2006 / Photo: Rodney Start / courtesy Object, Sydney
Australian design is witnessing a coming of age. Emerging now - from a nation that values its quality of life and has always necessitated innovation - is a locally strong and globally confident new design industry.
Object Gallery and Melbourne Museum present a groundbreaking exhibition of contemporary Australian design. Freestyle: new Australian design for living will overview Australia's best and freshest design by 40 outstanding designers from the fields of furniture, lighting, textiles, home-wares, fashion, jewellery and accessories. The exhibition aims to reveal the character, vibrancy and increasing maturity of contemporary Australian design. Curated by Object's Associate Director Brian Parkes and accompanied by a major publication - with exhibition design and identity by internationally acclaimed Frost Design - this compelling survey exhibition is a first-time collaboration between Melbourne Museum and Object Gallery.
On its international tour Freestyle will be showcased until June 29, 2008 at the prestigious Triennale Museum in Milan, making it the first comprehensive Australian design exhibition to be exhibited in Italy.
Together, the works on show profile the character, vibrancy and increasing maturity of contemporary design in Australia. Freestyle will also reveal the ‘stories' behind the designs, disclosing aspects of the personality, passion and process of individual designers and place their work in broader personal and cultural contexts.
See also an abridgement from Brian Parkes' essay, which is part of the catalogue that accompanies the Freestyle exhibition.
During the term of Freestyle exhibition in Milan creative face magazine will present some of the participating designers with their works. The first portray will be Dinosaur Designs.
