Six exhibitions spotlighting designer-makers at Melbourne Design Week

Playful champagne buckets, algae-made marble and over 100 chairs designed and made in Australia, feature in this year's Melbourne Design Week.

As the largest design week in Australia, Melbourne Design Week presented over 400 exhibitions, talks and workshops at various venues across the city.

"Melbourne Design Week is not just about showcasing Australian design: it is about building an ecosystem that allows ideas to be developed, produced, presented, commissioned and sustained," Melbourne Design Week curator Timothy Moore told Dezeen.

According to Moore, the designer-maker scene is making a resurgence in Australia as people reject digitisation in favour of analogue.

"There is a turn towards the analogue in the world of digital slop, and designer-makers are filling this void by producing works that are unique, meaningful, durable and well-crafted - that also consider sustainability," said Moore.

"In recent years, Melbourne has seen a renewed expansion of small- and medium-scale manufacturing, particularly across advanced, specialised and design-led production," he continued.

Read on for six exhibitions from this year's Melbourne Design Week aligned with local design making.

100 Chairs by Friends & Associates

The 100 Chairs exhibition featured over 100 chairs created by Australian designers, artists and architects to explore the form and materials of a chair.

Among the designs was an inflatable chair designed for camping trips, a dining chair upholstered with denim offcuts woven through a stainless steel wire structure and a lounge chair made by robotic 3D printing with 100 per cent recycled materials.

Held at the laundry room of the historical Abbotsford Convent the show was curated by Friends & Associates, an curatorial platform started by industrial designers Dale Hardiman and Tom Skeehan.

A Sense of Occasion by Thomas Maxam Studio

Curated by Thomas Maxam Studio, A Sense of Occasion brought together 20 Australian designers and studios to reinterpret the champagne bucket.

Melbourne-based interior designer Brahman Perera used plaster, brass and fibreglass to form a sculpture that can hold more than one bottle of champagne. Industrial designer Leigh Welsh created a handbag made with hand-wrought aluminium and informed by an origami cup, artist Charlie White created a bucket made from paper soaked in an epoxy resin.

According to the curators, the sculptural and conceptual objects each were designed to respond to a personal moment in the lives of the designers.

"Each designer was encouraged to channel a personal sense of occasion into their work, approaching the task with curiosity and play," said Thomas Maxam Studio. "It's a reminder that design doesn't always need to solve a problem; sometimes it can simply raise a smile – or a glass."

Arum by Tom Fereday

Also at Abbotsford Convent, Sydney-based furniture and product designer Tom Fereday presented a series of sculptural lighting designs that aimed to highlight the raw origin of cast glass.

Named Arum, taken from Latin word for sand, the exhibition marked the launch of a range of sand-cast glass objects, which Fereday developed together with artisans from Canberra Glassworks.

Crafted by melting glass in sand molds, which leaves sand on the objects, this technique adds tactile texture to the finished work while revealing the purity and natural optical properties of unrefined glass.

"It's a quiet approach to design, letting the material be what's celebrated — it redefines how raw materials can be shaped into contemporary design with longevity at its core," said Fereday.

MarbleWood, by Jessie French

Experimental designer Jessie French launched MarbleWood, a marbled surface made with an algae-derived polymer as part of the Tactile Dialogues: Fragments of Matter exhibition presented by Melbourne furniture studio Made by Morgen.

Each surface was hand-poured from the polymer made with extracts from algae, directly onto a timber substrate in French's studio in Melbourne, then coloured with locally milled pigments from materials company Langridge.

Between Planes by Dean Norton

Multidisciplinary designer Dean Norton presented the Between Planes exhibition, which was arranged around his Pillar Light. The warm pale light from the Pillar Light was reflected in a series of gold mirrors and dichroic glasses.

"These materials function not simply as substrates, but as active elements, capturing light, shifting perspective and subtly fragmenting the surrounding environment," explained Norton.

"Rather than presenting a fixed image, Between Planes invites slow, considered engagement – moments of pause, recalibration and quiet wonder."

Jon Goulder x Alpha 60

Australian furniture designer Jon Goulder presented a series of works at Chapter House, in partnership with Australian fashion label Alpha 60.

The wood panelled, cathedral high ceilings of the venue complemented a monumental, 10-metre-long table handcrafted by Goulder in collaboration with architect Henry Williams.

During the exhibition, he also released a lighting collection created in partnership with Adelaide-based craftsperson and designer Andrew Carvolth, as well as a limited edition Carry All Bag, each featuring the formed leather patch referencing his furniture making.

Melbourne Design Week takes place from 14 to 24 May 2026 at venues across Victoria. See Dezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world. 

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