S A P R K 70TH ANNIVERSARY Issue DIA NEWSLETTER #39
PAST 2 DESIGNING A PLACE IN HISTORY This year the Design Institute of (DIA) celebrates its 70th birthday: an auspicious occasion for s very first professional design organisation Today s DIA started around 1947 from relatively humble beginnings as the Society of Designers for Industry (SDI), representing mainly industrial designers. Now the DIA enjoys a national and international reputation as a peak industry body representing n professionals in all major design categories. Broad membership base The DIA s original membership of industrial designers was progressively widened to include graphic designers, interior decorators, interior designers, furniture designers and textile designers. Some of s best known and most talented designers have been associated with the DIA, including iconic designers from the so-called Golden Age of the late 1940s and 50s like Grant Featherstone, Fred Ward, Lester Bunbury, Clem Meadmore, Frances Burke, Gordon Andrews and Alastair Morrison the latter providing the initial designs for the Bauhaus-inspired logo that the DIA still uses today. International recognition Throughout the 1960s to the 1980s the DIA was accepted as a member of international design organisations like the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design (ICSID), the International Council of Graphic Design Associations (ICOGRADA, now ico-d) and the International Federation of Interior Designers (IFI). In December 1982, the organisation formally became the Design Institute of, the name that continues today. In July 1998 unification occurred between the Design Institute of, the Society of Interior Designers of and the n Textile Design Association. National emphasis The DIA then became a national body instead of a federal body and state councils were appointed to help deliver designers throughout a variety of locallyfocused events and activities in addition to those made available at the national level. Today the DIA has a broad-based professional design membership and remains s only multi-disciplinary professional design organisation, providing designers, the design industry, government and the general public a unique range of professional design services and membership resources. We wish all our members a very happy birthday and sincerely thank them for helping to make the DIA s Voice of Professional Design. Cover: Reflection Room, an immersive, coloured light experience by London-based n designer Flynn Talbot, housed in the V&A Museum s Prince Consort Gallery. Photo courtesy of Mark Cocksedge. Above: Archived longhand records of minutes taken from fledgling DIA meetings in the 1960s still exist, recording the issues and discussions of the day. Photo courtesy of Ernesto Muñoz.
2017 DIA HALL OF FAME Ten new inductees in 2017 The DIA Hall of Fame programme was first established in the late 1990s and celebrates the work of eminent designers and their significant contribution to s economic development and cultural identity. In 2017, ten new members have been inducted into the DIA Hall of Fame from Victoria, Tasmania, Queensland and New South Wales. Congratulations to all these new Hall of Fame members. For full details of new inductees plus previous award recipients, please visit www.design.org.au/about-us/design-hall-of-fame #celebrate #inspire Linda Jackson Fashion / Textile Design Victoria Linda Jackson is a renowned n fashion and textile designer who has travelled the country discovering and documenting its landscape, flora and fauna in a myriad of creative ways. Her discoveries were the inspiration behind her highly successful Bush Couture label. Michael Hirst Furniture Design Victoria (1917-2002) Michael Hirst designed and manufactured a range of stylish furniture pieces including tables, chairs and bookcases throughout a notable but until now under-recognised career. His work is included in the Powerhouse Museum, Sydney and the National Gallery of Victoria, among others. Chris Connell Interior / Furniture Design Victoria Chris Connell has created some of Melbourne s best-loved spaces, including Caffe e Cucina, Il Bacaro, Mr Wolf and Dukes. His projects are known for their simplicity and attention to detail, characteristics that deepen the endurance and longevity of the spaces. chrisconnell.com.au John Gollings AM Architectural Photography Victoria John Gollings is a photographer specialising in the built environment. He is widely admired for his insightful eye, his ability to capture the essence of the architect s intent and to record architectural outcomes as a design achievement. gollings.com.au Gary Cleveland Textile Design/ Design Promotion Tasmania In the 1970s Gary Cleveland founded the Design Centre of Tasmania in Launceston to promote and market the work of the state s designers. He has received many awards for his services to design and lives in active retirement in Launceston. Shirley de Vocht Textile / Industrial Design New South Wales (1929-2003) Shirley de Vocht was an Aboriginal industrial designer who had a long and illustrious career as a post-wwii n textile and ceramic designer. The Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences has a extensive collection of her work, with her designs often selected for international exhibitions. Pamela Easton and Lydia Pearson Fashion / Textile Design Queensland The founders of award-winning Queensland fashion design company Easton Pearson, Pamela Easton and Lydia Pearson were renowned for their intelligent and often quirky approach to clothing and fashion. Their emphasis on creativity, classic style and distinctive use of pattern, print and embellishment was a hallmark of their award-winning fashion label. Collette Dinnigan AO Fashion Design New South Wales One of s most successful fashion designers, Collette Dinnigan has achieved international recognition and commercial acclaim for her award-winning fashion designs. Her designs have been worn by celebrities and world fashion leaders and her philanthropic support of women s health has been noteworthy. collettedinnigan.com.au Babette Hayes OAM Interior Design/ Design Journalism New South Wales One of s first design stylists, Babette Hayes was an active member of SIDA and the DIA in NSW. With a design and writing career spanning both London and Sydney, she has written and edited a variety of important books and journals on design such as n Style (1968). babettehayes.com.au
PRESENT 4 AN UNFORGETTABLE DESIGN EXPERIENCE DIA designers see the finest in international design In September, five very lucky DIA members enjoyed a unique design scholarship to London and Stockholm: the 2017 Dulux DIAlogue on Tour. A joint initiative of valued DIA Patron Dulux, the DIA and the Designers Institute of New Zealand (DINZ), the annual Dulux DIAlogue on Tour programme gives selected DIA and DINZ designers an exclusive opportunity to experience the very latest European and Scandinavian design trends and meet with internationally acclaimed designers. This year s Dulux DIAlogue on Tour winners were Ben Edwards (Studio Edwards, Melbourne), Adele Winteridge (Foolscap Design, Melbourne), Rufus Knight (Knight Associates, Auckland), Melissa Reid (MRI Design, Gold Coast) and Miriam Fanning (Mim Design, Melbourne). An exclusive opportunity to experience the very latest European and Scandinavian design trends and meet with internationally acclaimed designers. We asked each designer to give us brief answers to the following questions: Ben Edwards Studio Edwards Who was the most inspirational designer you met on the tour? Meeting Chris Sanderson from the Future Laboratory was inspiring as he explained how design innovation filters through a series of identifiable groups from early adopters through to laggards. This put into perspective the reality of the context for design as well as the importance of being able to clearly communicate, understand our audience and our place within society. Above Gyro Table by Londonbased Tasmanian furniture designer Brodie Neill, a modern interpretation of a 19th Century specimen table top using ocean terrazzo inlaid fragments of ocean plastic waste laid out in a kaleidoscopic pattern. Top right Universal Design Studio s first public architectural pavilion for the London Design Festival titled On Repeat requires visitors to manually assemble paper forms. Bottom right Hood, a modular sheltering lamp made of compressed felt from Swedish studio Form Us With Love, designed to provide both light and seclusion in open plan office spaces.
5 SPARK #39 Adele Winteridge Foolscap Studio Rufus Knight Knight Associates New Zealand Any major differences between n and European design? We discovered that a lot of European designers were celebrating making moving away from digital design and focusing more on using their hands with physical maquettes and models. Most of the design firms were working holistically with industrial, graphics, interiors and architecture. A lot of the studios were nonhierarchical and it felt supercreative as an outcome. What was the most visually impressive design you saw? Without a doubt, the Ett Hem Hotel in Stockholm. Ett Hem is the conversion of a former 1910 Arts and Crafts home into a 12-bedroom boutique hotel by Ilse Crawford and owner Jeanette Mix. Described as more personal than the luxury hotel, the refurbishment is exactly that bold, sensual and layered combining the rich historic fabric of the home with benchmarks of contemporary art and design. True genius. Melissa Reid MRI Design Miriam Fanning Mim Design What was the most innovative design you saw? I was captivated by the innovative blending of art, architecture and technology by the Jason Bruges Studio. His incredible art installation called Thames Pulse uses a dazzling display of lights projected onto the iconic South Bank Sea Containers building to reflect the daily changes in water quality of the River Thames whether improving, static or declining. What was the biggest highlight of your trip? The whole trip was a highlight! The people we travelled with through to the people we met, the experience through DIAlogue and getting to know other professionals was amazing. One of our highlights as a team was spending time together at Ett Hem in Stockholm. We all felt the emotion of the space and got to know each other over a beautiful lunch.
FUTURE 6 AN AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL DESIGN POLICY What happened? ANational Design Policy continues to elude despite repeated attempts and compelling evidence that manufacturing s ability to innovate is dependent upon the design of goods and services with real commercial value. Without design, s national innovation agenda is doomed to fail. Innovation and design cannot be separated: they are two sides of the same process. Design turns innovation into income. Design adds value to almost every area of economic activity. Adding value A National Design Policy can maximise this value by creating a forum in which different sectors of the economy can learn how to work together. As designers learn how to serve other sectors, other sectors will learn how to use design to create value in their business. A recent New Zealand report undertaken by Pricewaterhouse Coopers Consulting (PwC) puts the value of design to the NZ economy at NZ$10.1 billion in the year leading up to March 2016, which equates to 4.2% of NZ GDP. The UK Design Council values UK design at a similar percentage of around 4.1% of UK GDP (UK 71.7 billion). If an approximate 4% of GDP value of design were to be applied to the n economy today, it would equate to around AUD$48.2 billion. END OF AN ERA The SIDA Foundation comes to a close Sharing ideas and policies benefits all sectors of the national and international design community. Illustration: Adam Nickel from Jacky Winter. For almost twenty years the Design Institute of has enjoyed a close relationship with the SIDA Foundation, a corporate entity that has invested and administered funds to advance standards and education within the n interior design and decoration professions. Long history The SIDA Foundation was formed from the Society of Interior Designers of (SIDA) the earliest n association of Interior Designers and Interior Decorators. Now the SIDA Foundation has come to an end.
7 SPARK #39 has some excellent state-based design policies. has some excellent state-based design policies from Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and South, all the result of extensive industry and government consultation. But all too often they have failed to be implemented. Despite these setbacks, professional bodies like the DIA and industry organisations like the n Design Alliance continue taking the lead by strengthening their national and international involvement and gathering evidence to support policy changes. International efforts The International Council of Design (ico-d) has a work group on National Design Policy whose members represent Korea, Hong Kong, Cuba, Finland, Sweden, Indonesia and the USA. It is an excellent resource for benchmarking. was represented by myself on behalf of the DIA, and Peter Florentzos LFDIA, board member and treasurer of ico-d, at the conference in Montreal during October 2017. Future directions is in a fortunate position today. We have a well-established design industry that exports services directly, and we have a design culture that is unique and advanced. What we do not have is an overarching strategy to help guide decision making, focus our attention and tie together the efforts embodied in the State and New Zealand design policies that already exist. By building on the platform of the n Design Alliance and learning from the experience of other countries, the DIA can continue to take a leading role in advancing a National n Design Policy. By Bradley Schott MDIA, Member of National Design Policy Work Group for ico-d, representing the DIA. n Design Policy Archive Published Thumbnail Title Author About Apr 2016 Dec 2015 Nov 2015 Jul 2015 Jun 2015 Agenda for n Craft and Design Victorian Design 2015 Report State Global City: Taskforce Report Business in : Learnings from the Innovation Centre (CIIC) Let s Get About Victoria s Future: Developing Victoria s first creative industries strategy NAVA & ACDC Georgia Hutchinson Wallis Market and Social Research Taskforce & Expert Reference Group Edited by; Lisa Andersen Paul Ashton Lisa Colley Minister for Martin Foley and the Taskforce This is an agenda for the future of n making, produced by the National Craft Initiative over a 3 year period of engagement with the professional craft and design community. Victoria s design capabilities, performance and business use of design. A qualitative report. Report outlines 42 initiatives for the Government to consider to ensure Victoria retains and grows its leading role in the cultural and creative industries in an increasingly globalised and disrupted world. An overview of the learnings from s largest investment in the creative industries CIIC both a look at the current state and as an enabling sector and skills set for other industries. Discussion paper inviting comment and submission from Victoria s creative industries. A Special Resolution unanimously approved by SIDA members at their Annual General Meeting in November 2016 resolved to close down the SIDA Foundation. In May 2017 SIDA Foundation President Ian Archibald FDIA advised all SIDA members that the Foundation had been deregistered and ceased operations accordingly. Enduring benefits Perhaps the most far-reaching and enduring benefits of the SIDA Foundation s activities have come from various scholarships established at the University of NSW and Melbourne s RMIT University. All recipient universities were required to provide detailed submissions for the use of funds and demonstrate the existence of management structures able to ensure that funds provided would be responsibly managed in perpetuity. Close relationships Each of the awarded universities has worked closely with members of the SIDA Foundation Board to finalise the terms and conditions of their scholarships. Universities in West, South and Tasmania have also received funding and are developing scholarship programmes benefitting students in undergraduate and postgraduate studies and research. And thanks to another SIDA Foundation grant, a collection of more than 7,000 textile and wallpaper sample books and nearly 1,000 hard cover design books collected over forty years by interior designer Tony Cardamone will be archived at a Victorian TAFE college. By Geoff Fitzpatrick, OAM, LFDIA, Accredited Designer, Design Ambassador Design Institute of
SPARK #39 8 WHAT S ON NSW NSW MEMBERS MINGLE 2018 7 February 2018, 6pm Meet your local design community and enjoy a free drink on arrival. Members to purchase own drinks and food. #connect VENUE: The Dolphin Hotel, 412 Crown Street, Surry Hills NSW COST: Free entry for members and student members CONTACT: diansw@design.org.au QLD QLD CHRISTMAS PARTY 2017 29 November 2017, 6pm - 8pm Let your hair down at this year s DIA QLD Christmas Party. Join us for a cold drink to catch up and let s celebrate 2017 and the festive season. #celebrate VENUE: The Osbourne Hotel, Cnr Ann St & Constance Street, Fortitude Valley QLD COST: This free event for all DIA members only REGISTER: www.trybooking.com/sncb SA 25 TH ANNUAL SA/NT DESIGN AWARDS 25 November 2017, from 5:30pm The night will provide accolades to South n s best in the industries of interior architecture, graphic design, furniture and product design. #celebrate VENUE: Braggs Lecture Theatre, University of Adelaide, North Terrace Campus SA CONTACT: diasa-nt@design.org.au WA DIA WA 2017 AWARDS & COCKTAIL EVENING 7 December 2017, 6pm - 9pm Now in its 15th year, the DIA WA Awards promotes and recognises excellence and innovation in interior spaces, product design and visual communication. #celebrate VENUE: State Theatre Centre of WA, 174-176 William Street, Perth WA BOOKING: www.trybooking.com/self NEED TO FUND A DESIGN PROJECT? A quick DIA guide to help you get started Knowing how and where to look for design funding is not easy. The key is to identify where your practice is at, where to look for support and how to prepare your application. Here is a shortlist of organisations and programmes to consider. Government Grants Federal and State Governments offer a diverse range of grants. (You need to allocate some serious time to the search.) www.grants.gov.au creative.vic.gov.au Local Government Grants Many local councils have small grants for creative projects funded through local government grants commissions. regional.gov.au/local/ assistance A good example is Yarra City Council arts and cultural activities grants. arts.yarracity.vic.gov.au/ opportunities/grants n Business Grant Database A popular privately-owned search tool with up to date information, also called the Grant Guru. business.grantguru.com.au Private Assistance (Crowd Funding) Well-known n crowdfunder Pozible is always worth a look. pozible.com Birchal is capitalising on new equity crowdfunding laws. www.birchal.com Other crowdfunding platforms include Bankrolla, Equitise, ASSOB and Chuffed. And of course there is always the angel investor pathway Good luck! DIA CORPORATE PARTNERS DIA PATRON GOLD PARTNERS SILVER PARTNERS BRONZE PARTNERS PLATINUM PARTNER SOCIAL MEDIA PARTNER 2017 DIA. SPARK is the National Newsletter of the DIA. While every effort is made to ensure that the contents and quality of material contained in SPARK conforms to DIA principles, the DIA accepts no responsibility whatever for any omissions, errors or opinions, however occasioned. Spark correspondence Email the National Head of Communications at jconnory@design.org.au DESIGN INSTITUTE OF AUSTRALIA GPO Box 355 Melbourne, VIC 3001 National office Level 1, 175 Collins Street Melbourne, VIC 3000 T 1300 888 056 F +61 3 9662 4140 admin@design.org.au design.org.au