Design Anthology, Australia Edition Issue 6

It would be only natural, and a little too easy, to feel overwhelmed and pessimistic about the state of the world right now. Global warming, war and natural disasters seem to dominate the headlines and it can feel like good news is harder to come by. Providing a welcome relief from the mental anguish that many of us have experienced over the last two years, Melbourne Design Week, presented by the NGV, was once again curated around the theme ‘Design the world you want’, with two core pillars: civic good and making good. The program was as broad and diverse as previous years, with one of the more exciting additions being the new Melbourne Design Fair, a showcase of collectable design by more than 100 established and emerging designers and…

AWARDS The industry awards for the region’s design community, celebrating and showcasing high-calibre work by emerging and established designers design-anthology.com/awards EVENTS Online and offline, we bring thought leaders together to explore the future of design and inspire the people making it happen design-anthology.com/events PODCAST Take an international tour to meet some of the most recognisable names working in design, architecture and interiors design-anthology.com/podcast SHOP A curated selection of products by makers working in and around Asia Pacific, with worldwide shipping to wherever you are design-anthology.com/shop EMAIL The weekly Dispatch delivers a round-up of our top stories, products, events and opportunities straight to your inbox design-anthology.com/dispatch WEBSITE Updated daily, our website is an inspiring resource for new interiors, architecture, design, travel and art stories design-anthology.com/australia SUBSCRIBE Receive two issues a year…

We round up some of the highlights from the 2022 Melbourne Design Week and the new Melbourne Design Fair, which ran concurrently in March this year. The first of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere, the Melbourne Design Fair showcased collectable contemporary design from more than 100 Australian designers and makers with presentations across two platforms: PRESENT, staged by commercial galleries, studios, design organisations and agencies, and SELECT, with works for sale curated by the NGV’s department of contemporary design and architecture.…

Zachary Frankel is proud to eschew categorisation in favour of working across disciplines and challenging himself with new materials, colours, shapes and projects. And his background is no more linear: having studied fine art with a major in silversmithing, he started his career in jewellery before deciding to pursue his interest in timber furniture. ‘After spending a lot of time making other people’s designs, I felt I had to test myself and my own ideas,’ Frankel recalls. ‘I gave myself six months to prepare a small portfolio of pieces and it just naturally progressed from there.’ In 2019, he launched his own practice and today, he can’t imagine doing anything else. Inspired by designers like Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Ettore Sottsass, Charlotte Perriand and Josef Hoffmann, among many others, Frankel is…

MORNING At home in Abbotsford, Clare Scanlan is up at six a.m. with a coffee. She’s learnt to let ideas marinate overnight and finds that early morning is best for firing off emails and documenting creative thoughts. By seven-thirty, she’s on site with her team. A fine arts graduate who spent a decade developing colours for Porter’s Paints, Scanlan never imagined that her diverse experiences across the commercial paint and art worlds could coalesce into a business like Scanlan & Makers, which she founded in 2019. ‘I remember in the early days being constantly astounded that my skills had value,’ she says. MID-MORNING Before long, it’s time to paint. ‘This is peak flow state, where all the ideas, samples, colours and techniques culminate in a custom finish for a special…

In a recent episode of The Design Dialogues, Fiona Lyda told Design Anthology editor-in-chief Suzy Annetta, ‘I wasn’t going into business to go into business, but to sell and handle things that I really loved, things that I appreciated, things that told terrific stories made by people who were passionate, interesting and had a right to be heard.’ Since founding Sydney design showroom Spence & Lyda in 1997, Lyda has continued this mission of telling stories through beautiful objects and celebrating the people who make them. Over the past 25 years, Lyda has set about finding and fostering talent from around the world. A case in point is British designer Lucy Kurrein, whose star was rising when the two met in 2017. One of the Spence & Lyda team had…