Sydney Design will host one if its most dynamic programs in 14 years with a city-wide program of more than 70 events and activities supported by an engaging theme ‘tell us a story’.
This contemporary design festival runs for 16 days from Saturday 31 July to Sunday 15 August. The program has been produced by the Powerhouse Museum in partnership with more than 50 cultural institutions, organisations and individuals across Sydney.
The ‘tell us a story’ theme will reveal the many captivating stories behind design ideas, objects and processes. It will invite participants to create meaningful conversations with others around design, and enable people to connect with design on a more personal level.
At the Powerhouse, a major exhibition Creating the look: Benini and fashion photography will explore the creative processes involved in styling, crafting and designing powerful eye-catching fashion photographs. It draws on the highly successful partnership between photographer Bruno Benini and stylist Hazel Benini from 1950 to 2000. Together, the Melbourne-based couple produced some of Australia’s most memorable and elegant fashion images by combining careful styling, composition and design to craft their own unique stories.
The cream of Australian product design from the 2010 Australian International Design Awards will also be exhibited. A gaming headset that reads brain signals and facial expressions, a pocket-size ultrasound system, a device that stores a heart during transit before heart transplant surgery, and a light tanker used as a fire reconnaissance vehicle in bushfires, are amongst the 16 outstanding design solutions on show.
As part of her international tour supported by Space Furniture, Giovanna Castiglioni, daughter of the influential Italian architect, designer, inventor and dreamer Achille Castiglioni, will visit Sydney to give a talk on her father’s life story and his studio, on 12 August.
Inspired by the Japanese cooking show, individual designers or teams of designers will compete in a live stage event Iron Designer on 6 August. Contestants are given a key ingredient, materials and 20 minutes to design a concept or product, demonstrating to the audience their creative thought process along the way.
A weekend of Fashion in Action from 7-8 August shows the differences between the carefully constructed studio-based image and the growing trend of street photography. One of the key events is a live, all-day photo shoot showing the creative production behind fashion photography; from set creation, hair, makeup and styling to photography and digital darkroom techniques. Visitors will have the opportunity to be photographed on set.
Two popular designer markets return for SD10. Young Blood: designers market showcases emerging Australian designers and designboom mart features the young, avant-garde of international design. Visitors can meet and buy direct from designers at both evening (Friday only) and daytime markets from 13-15 August.
The youngest of designers will take part in a Kids Design Weekend from 31 July-1 August. Weekend highlights include the first paper plane academy; a pop-up book workshop; a children’s storytelling museum tour; paper doll fashion design in Frock stars: inside Australian Fashion Week; and a fashion photography collage workshop linked to Creating the look: Benini and fashion photography.
A unique installation, Re-loved will feature eight projects by a mix of jewellery, industrial, graphic, textile, product and architectural designers who are cast as authors and will use a pre-loved and/or discarded chair as the vehicle with which to tell a story.
Age-old hand crafts and design recycling are the focus of a three workshops from 13-15 August. Knitting Construction with Nikki Gabriel gives a hands-on guide to knitting simple shapes and creatively transforming them into a garment. Craving Cross Stitch sees craft designer Tamara Maynes demonstrate cross stitch design as a contemporary decorating tool for home interior designing. Whilst, the Felt my Tote workshop will demonstrate how to refashion a woolen knit jumper from an op-shop into a fabulous tote bag.
Sydney-based industrial designers Adam Goodrum and Kristian Aus will run a two-day workshop assisting secondary school students with a design brief to create a chair inspired by the Museum’s design collection. The only criteria are that the chair cannot have four legs!
Design Underground, a series of six curator and photographer led tours with a fashion-based flavour, will take an exclusive peek at the Museum’s fashion collection kept in its underground storage. Visitors will explore a treasure trove of textiles, accessories, bags, shoes, photography and much more!
For unlimited general admission to the Powerhouse Museum during Sydney Design, pick up the Sydney Design pass for $20. This includes general admission to exhibitions, selected talks and the designer markets at the Powerhouse Museum.
