Object magazine offers an insightful perspective on contemporary craft and design in Australia. Published by the Australian Design Centre, Object is a celebration of creativity and making, and a journal of record featuring inspirational objects, works and projects by Australia’s most innovative craft and design practitioners. 

Object magazine was published in print between 1996 and 2009, and digitally until 2011. Many of Australia’s most important emerging and established craftspeople and designers were featured in Object magazine and many curators, writers, designers and editors were instrumental in the development of the magazine over its life.  

This digital archive of the magazine is a work in progress.  We are planning to eventually upload the key articles and contents of each issue of the magazine as a record of 20 years of craft and design in Australia. 

Issue 59

(2009)
Feature: Seven 21st Century Ceramicists gather for a photo at the National Art School ceramics studio.
Profile: Crafts Mastermind: Jane Burns: Grace Cochrane profiles one of Australia's most vocal crafts movement supporters.
Profile: Marina Murdilnga: Read about the woven sculptures of this Arnhem Land-based Indigenous fibre artist.
Key topics: ceramics; pottery; Jane Burns; weaving; Indigenous design; fibre; textiles

Issue 58

(2009)
Feature: Wood: A social commentary explores how contemporary designers work with wood.
Profile: Kevin Perkins Furniture explores the work of this Tasmanian artisan, written by Australian writer Richard Flanaghan.
Profile: Jon Goulder speaks about his furniture practice on his move to Perth.
Key topics: wood; timber; furniture; making; craft; artisan; design

Issue 57

(2008)
Feature: The Canning Stock Route Project, celebrating the lives and stories of Western Desert Indigenous people.
Feature: Gatherings, Urban Art Projects engages Indigenous artists from remote communities.
Feature: Pottery that defies convention, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander ceramics.
Key topics: Indigenous and Torres Strait makers and artists; FORM, Perth; Urban Art Projects; foundry; public art

Issue 56

(2008)
Feature: The Slow Prototype Design, Brian Parkes writes about rapid prototyping and the work of Australian designers Adam Goodrum, Stefan Lie and Gilbert Riedelbauch.
Profile: Sandra Backlund Knitwear, The lavishly sculptural knitwear of Sandra Backlund.
Key topics: rapid prototyping; design education; product design; furniture; Adam Goodrum; Stefan Lie; Gilbert Riedelbauch; Sandra Backlund; fashion; knitwear; textiles

Issue 55

(2008)
Studios: US-based glass maker Marc Petrovic is interviewed by Shannon Sharpe.
Studios: Adelia Borges invites us into the studio of Brazilian ceramicist Sara Carone.
Studios: Brian Parkes explores the work of New Zealand jeweller Alan Preston.
Key topics: glass; USA; ceramics; Brazil; pottery; jewellery; New Zealand

Issue 54

(2007-2008)
Cover Story: 'An Enduring Relationship', Patricia Anderson writes about six contemporary Australian Jewellers.
Feature: Heidi Dokulil introduces Australian furniture, lighting and object designers Kelly Freeman and Rina Bernabei.
Feature: 'What Museums Do With Objects', Jonathan Sweet champions the value of decorative arts collections in Australian museums.
Key topics: jewellery; Rina Bernabei, Kelly Freeman, furniture; lighting; object design; designers; decorative arts; collections; museums

Issue 53

(2007)
Cover Story: Relationship Counselling, The Current State Of The Union Between Contemporary Art And Craft, written by Robert Cook.
Regulars: Make/Me Everyday Stories, Merryn Gates talks to Anne Brennan about her collection of ceramics by Rebecca Dowling.
Key topics: contemporary art; craft; ceramics; Rebecca Dowling

Issue 52

(2007)
Cover Story: 'Starting A New Sentence About Australian Design', Anne Brennan on the exhibition Freestyle: New Australian Design for Living.
Feature article: Grace Cochrane: Smart Works, Jenny Deves interviews Grace Cochrane about Smart works: design and the handmade.
Feature article: 'Traditional, Or Is It?', Christine Clarke looks at the contemporary reworking of traditional craft forms in the Queensland Art Gallery's fifth Asia-Pacific Triennial.
Key topics: design; handmade; craft; Asia-Pacific Triennial

Issue 51

(2006 - 2007)
Cover Story: Team Glass, The studio glass community's culture of sharing.
Feature: A Touch of Wool, The design and science of wool merged a long time ago within the Western Australian wool industry.
Profile: Charles Wilson, The 2006 winner of the Bombay Sapphire Design Discovery Award is profiled by Rachael Bernstone.
Key topics: glass; studio glass; wool; textile arts; Charles Wilson; design; furniture; lighting

Issue 50

(2006)
Cover Story: Stitches In Time, In weaving, printing and stitching, today's textile artists and designers use astonishing range of old and new technologies in their work.
Feature: Damian Barton, Andrew Nicholls profiles Western Australian furniture designer Damien Barton.
Feature: Dialogue: Exploring Opportunities In Textiles, Weavers Liz Williamson and Kelly Thompson discuss their work.
Key topics: weaving; printing; stitching; textile arts; design; technology; furniture design; Damien Barton; Liz Williamson, Kelly Thompson

Issue 49

(2006)
Cover: Fostering Talent, Merryn Gates writes about Robert Foster's Canberra business FINK & Co.
Feature: Living In A Material World, the Victoriana-influenced work of New Zealand jeweller Octavia Cook.
Feature: Craft By Design, Paivi Ernkvist and Zandra Ahl on the first years of the Swedish organisation Craft in Dialogue.
Key topics: production; process; metal; design; Robert Foster; Canberra; jewellery; gold; silver; New Zealand; Sweden; craft; art; design

Issue 48

(2005-2006)
Feature: Whiter Than White, Janet DeBoos analyses whiteness in ceramics and how Les Blakeborough came to develop his 'Southern Ice' clay bodies.
Feature: Verbally Adept Furniture, Grant Thompson investigates Tim Larkin's relational furniture
Feature: Lost And Won, Architect Brit Andresen on the jewellery of Barbara Heath.
Key topics: Janet DeBoos; Les Blakeborough; ceramics; clay; Tim Larkin; furniture; jewellery; Barbara Heath

Issue 47

(2005)
Cover Story: The Basket Economy, Kevin Murray discusses the making and collecting of woven forms from the Western Desert to South Africa.
Feature: Woolly World, A knitting fad is taking a lively hold in New Zealand, and Gina Irish investigates.
Key topics: baskets; weaving; fibre arts; craft; global; knitting; textile arts; wool; New Zealand

Issue 46

(2005)
Feature: A Sustainable Design, Ecology and economy are mutually achievable, says architect Caroline Pidcock.
Feature: Extracts from the new monograph on artist Fiona Hall by Julie Ewington.
Feature: Cloaked In Time, Penelope Aiken on Thai artist Montri Toemsombat.
Key topics: sustainable design; ecology; architecture; Caroline Pidcock; artist; Fiona Hall; Thai; Montri Toemsombat

Issue 45

(2004)
Article: Four Sisters exhibition, fibre art from West Arnhem Land
Article: In the Pacific rim, Ian Were speaks to several artists about their international residencies
Article: Sofia Tekela-Smith, contemporary jewellery
Key topics: fibre art; Indigenous; weaving; art; residency; international; jewellery; art

Issue 44

(2004)
Article: Handmade at the Heart of things, Grace Cochrane takes an in-depth look at crafts over the last four decades.
Article: Talent is not enough, Design historian Michael Bogle looks at 40 years of design activity and education.
Article: The gentle wash of memory, Wendy Walker on jeweller Leslie Mathews.
Key topics: crafts; history; design; education; jewellery; memory

Issue 43

(2003)
Article: Copper red, tea dust and temmoku, Wendy Walker writes about Kirsten Coelho's ceramics
Article: Artisans + artist colonies, the fabrics and frocks of fashion brand Easton Pearson.
Article: Syaw, Peppimenarti artist Regina Wilson
Key topics: ceramics; glaze; pottery; Kirsten Coelho; fashion; fabric; textiles; Easton Pearson; art; Regina Wilson; weaving; painting; Indigenous art

Issue 42

(2003)
Article: Magic Carpets from Ernabella, Central Australian Indigenous artists and the State Library of South Australia Rugs Project.
Article: Translucent Light, ceramics and lighting combine in a collaboration between Angela Mellor and Mondo Lucé.
Article: Seductive Evidence, The work of multi-media artist Patricia Harper.
Key topics: Ernabella; Indigenous art; rugs; weaving; ceramics; lighting; multi-media art

Issue 41

(2003)
Feature: Wild Nature, curator Margot Osborne writes about the exhibition 'Wild Nature in Contemporary Australian Art and Craft'.
Feature: Beyond the City Limits, the wild beauty of Shirley Macnamara's fibre vessels
Feature: Like a Lizard Drinking, an Australian pottery idiom, when animals were kings of the ceramic jungle
Key topics: nature; making; art; Indigenous art; fibre art; vessels; weaving; spinifex; ceramics; animals; Australian

Issue 40

(2002)
Feature: 21st Century Chairs, Brisbane City Gallery's exhibition of 28 chairs
Feature: The Cast, recent New Zealand glass
FeatureFeature: All that glitters..., Sheridan Kennedy's exotic jewellery
Key topics: furniture; chairs; design; glass; New Zealand; ceramics; Cheryl Lucas; jewellery; Sheridan Kennedy

Issue 39

(2002)
Article:Eau Sauvage: It's crystal clear that artist, Timothy Horn's career is on an upwards curve.
Feature:Glass works: Canberra Glass artist Giles Bettison, mastering material and techniques
Feature:Lost in Space: Designing Futures is a global forum featuring contemporary fine wood and furniture design
Key topics: Timothy Horn; glass; Giles Bettison; furniture design; sustainable design

Issue 38

(2002)
Article:Marc Newson: Is currently working on the design for a new airline. And perhaps a space-station, Anne Watson reports.
Article:The Lure of Metal: Two significant New Zealand jewellers, Rainer Beneke and Ann Culy
Feature:Rare Earth: Glass artists Scott Chaseling and Kristie Rea
Key topics: Marc Newson; design works; Jewellery; New Zealand; Glass, Canberra Glass

Issue 37

(2001)
Article: Jeweller Niki Hastings-McFall tackles environmental concerns and speaks about her experience living in the urban Pacific region.
Article: The processes and inspiration behind Jeweller Marian Hosking's work is discussed by Alex Selenitsch
Review: Recycling in Contemporary Craft is a national touring exhibition with a curatorial theme of creative re-use
Feature: Glass Maker Jun Kaneko's monumental glass reported by Isabella Reich
Key topics: jewellery; New Zealand; Pacific; recycling; sustainability; glass; Marian Hosking

Issue 36

(2001)
Interiors Feature: De Ma: Amanda Greeves reports on the success of a new collaboration between designers and manufactures to produce interior products
Review: iSaloni 2001: International furniture fair
Review: Lace: Contemporary Perspectivies a review of the CRAFTWEST Gallery exhibition
Key topics: furniture design; manufacturing; Queensland design; Lace; textiles; CraftWest Gallery

Issue 35

(2001)
Article: Dyson's Philosophy - British designer James Dyson has succeeded
Article: Textile artist Kelly Thompson embraces the local and the international
Feature: New Design 2001 - Graduate exhibition and award
Key topics: design; new technology; textiles; object award; Australian graduates

Issue 34

(2000)
Article: Making & placing the object - A case study of the Ngarrindjeri people of South Australia
Korea — Australia Feature: No Apologies - Korean artist Ium
Korea — Australia Feature: Korean metal jewellery
Key topics: Ngarrindjeri; Indigenous; basketry; media objects; fashion; photography; Korea; jewellery

Issue 33

(2000)
Short: Objects between Cultures — Necklaces from Arnhem Land
Feature: Design for Everybody — Swedish design for the active life
Key topics: Indigenous; jewellery; craft; accessible design

Issue 32

(2000)
Article: Whither jewellery — focusing on Ilse-Marie Erl and Octavia Cook
Article: Handheld gardens — Toni Warburton's ceramic objects
Feature: Interactive metal — Korean tradition & innovation at Object studios
Feature: Ah Xian's China – Facsimile & the impossibility of perfection
Key topics: Jewellery; ceramics; metal

Issue 31

(2000)
Short: No Picnic — Porcelain by Nicole Lister
Short: Discrete and Gregarious — Sally Marslands Jewellery and objects
Short: Wide (true) Blue Yonder — Recent jewellery of Margaret West
Key Topics: Ceramics; Jewellery

Issue 30

(1999)
Review: Never enough — new work by Gwyn Hanssen Pigott
Short: Earth, Wings and Wire — the work of Vicky Shukuroglou
Feature: Weaving through other eyes —the west in the east
Key topics: Ceramics; jewellery; textiles; weaving

Issue 29

(1999)
What’s New In Museums: Australian design at the Powerhouse
short: Designs on the Future — JamFactory metal
Feature: Collard — Deborah Crowe’s woven metal wearables
Key topics: contemporary design, metal design, jewellery, textiles, wearable

Issue 28

(1999)

Review: Time and Tide — questioning the practice, craft and cultural practice
Short:
Hardware — Contemporary Objects explores metalwork by Adelaide makers
Feature:
The Magic of Indigo — the colour of love or sorrow?
Feature:
Tableware through meditation — Martha Sung-won Lee
Key topics: Contemporary craft; metalwork; jewellery; indigo; tableware

Issue 27

(1999)
Review: The Ceramic Still Life — exhibition review
Short: New Jewellery from Australia exhibited at Galerie Ra Amsterdam
Feature: Snow blind — Glass by Helen Aitken-Kuhen
Feature: Thread-bare textiles — reinvigorating contemporary textile practice
Key topics: ceramics; still life; jewellery; glass; textiles

Issue 26

(1998)
Review: Nature as Object — Third International Crafts Triennial
Review: Sit Up! — 100 Masterpieces of chair design
Short: Black histories — explores regional cultural traditions, identities and jewels
Key topics: furniture design; product design; cultural tradition; craft; jewellery

Issue 25

(1998)
Review: Pieces of Heaven — Tivaeve, ceremonial quilts from the Cook Islands
Feature: A culture of the tropics? — North Queensland craft practitioners
Feature: Wither Olde Europe? — Thoughts on cultural transference
Key topics: textiles; culture; pacific island; craft; tradition

Issue 24

(1998)
Review: Material Evidence: 100 Headless Woman — exhibition review
Review: Wood Dreaming — contemporary Australian woodturning
Feature: Hanchi — traditional Korean paper rediscovered
Feature: Bat Trang's — traditional 'blue' ceramics
Key topics: textiles; craft; woodturning; object; design; Hanachi paper; ceramics

Issue 23

(1998)
Review: Spaces of containment — Fibre works from the anthropology collection of the University of Queensland
Feature: Shona Wilson — mixed media work and ceramic vessels
Feature: A Virtual Craft Conspiracy — Can craft interface with computer technology?
Key topics: Fibre works; Aboriginal; craft; ceramics; Shona Wilson; computer technology; virtual craft

Issue 22

(1997)
Feature: Emerging artists — a view from art and design schools
Feature: Nicola Cerini's bold new range of fabric design
Article: Similarity and difference — craftspeople and visual artists
Key topics: textiles; fabric design; craft vs art

Issue 21

(1997)
Editorial: What's new in Museums — Yiribana at AGNSW
Review: Jewellery by Rowena Gough
Feature: Contemporary Pacific art, culture and definitions
Key topics: Yiribana; Aboriginal; Torres Strait Islander; art; craft; weaving; jewellery; Pacific Art

Issue 20

(1997)
Review: Else King's exhibition Fragile Objects uses the medium of textiles as a metaphor for both land and body
Feature: Shanghai Style — Exhibiting Australian Fine Metalwork in Shanghai's new Museum
Key topics: craft; textiles; shibori; Shanghai Museum; object; metalwork

Issue 19

(1997)
Special Feature: Robert Baines discusses Donna Brennan's remarkable gold, enamel and crystal jewellery
Review: Fire in the Heart, Australian Enamel at Craftspace gallery
Key topics: jewellery; glass enamel; metal enamel; craft

Issue 18

(1996)
Review: Questioning the practice — Diana Klaosen on a craft curator's program in Tasmania
Special Feature: Glass Prize and corporate support — Pamile Berg looks at the RFC Glass Prize and its potential
Special Feature: Below the surface —  Kevin Murray delves into this recent. substantial textiles show and conference
Key topics: curating; residence; Glass; textiles

Issue 17

(1996)
Special Feature: SOFA, So Good! — The world's only exposition of Sculpture, Objects and Functional Art is on again
Special Feature: Glass Artist's Gallery off-shore — Ivana Jirasek explains the gallery's involvement in SOFA and similar events
Review: Offerings — Helen Schamroth on David Trubridge's new wood works
Review: Head first — Ted Snell discusses a national award exhibition of jewellery
Key topics: wood; jewellery; furniture; object; design

Issue 16

(1996)
Special Feature: The Language of Weaving from Maningrida — successful re-contextualisation of weaving as iconic or sculptural pieces
Special Feature: Aboriginal and folk art, and "puerile" contemporary art
Key topics: Weaving; Aboriginal; art; context

Issue 15

(1996)
Feature: Col Levy's intimate connection between work and the process of nature within ceramics
Review: Lascivious opposition — Ceramicists Stephen Benwell and David Pottinger
Article: Turning culture into an economic product — Helen Ross discusses Australia's cultural exchange relations with Asia and the Pacific Region
Key topics: craft; ceramics; material culture; text and meaning

Issue 13 & 14

(1995)
Article: HiTech Waste —  A new range of composite recycled materials
Article: Miyake clothing and fashion design for the Powerhouse
Article: At the Clinton's house — What is it really like to visit a craft exhibition on the Net?
Arctile: Where worlds converge —  Engaging with issues of ecodesign and new technologies
Article: Kevin Murray asks, will the role of craft be immaterial?
Article: John Thackara looks at how we are synthesize the cultural impact of technology
Key topics: waste; sustainability; recycle; design; fashion; virtual exhibition; ecodesign; new technology

Issue 12

(1995)
Article: Oz Ceramics at Faenza — historical and contemporary ceramics
Article: Ether, net, dust mound, or red mountain — 'Peter King speculates on the ties, nodes and bonds between craft, art, cyberspace and ethics'
Article: Craft Ecology — 'Peter Hughes proposes that the crafts could have new significance in a world addicted to technology'
Key topics: ceramics; craft; cyberspace; future

Issue 11

(1995)
Feature: Occupied Territory — Museum of Sydney its merchandising initiatives and Friona Hall
Feature: Geta.new@address.ok? — How are artists, designers and theorists using the Internet
Key topics: art; craft; internet; future; design