About Object Digital

Ideas * Profiles * Reviews

This program is part of Australian Design Centre’s ongoing research into object, furniture, lighting and industrial design, fashion design, architecture, crafts, ceramics, jewellery, textile arts, glass, timber and mixed media.

Good Natured Conversations

15 September 2024

In 2023, Australian Design Centre presented Good Natured: design art architecture including a major exhibition celebrating diverse creative projects working towards designing a better future. Each project also focussed on creating outcomes that are beautiful and good for the planet. In 2024 ADC continues the conversations around sustainable design.

ADC x Regional Arts NSW Collaboration

29 August 2024

Australian Design Centre and Regional Arts NSW have developed a partnership in 2024 and 2025 to enable designer makers from regional NSW to exhibit their work in Sydney in ADC's Object Space Window Gallery on William Street.

ADC CEO and Artistic Director Lisa Cahill asked Regional Arts NSW CEO Dr Tracey Callinan OAM a few questions about this partnership project and how important it is for artists and audiences.

Maker Profiles: Steven Cavanagh & Rebecca Dowling

6 August 2024

As part of Steven Cavanagh and Rebecca Dowling’s Design and the Anthropocene now in Object Space on William Street, Steven and Rebecca answered three quick-fire questions to find out what inspires them as designer makers.

Article: Q&A with ADC First Nations Coordinator Miah Madden

18 June 2024

ADC's Laura Wesolowski recently asked ADC First Nation's Coordinator Miah Madden a few questions about her involvement in the National Indigenous Art Fair and Vessels: Transcending Tradition, now on in Gallery 2.

Maker Profiles: Vicki Mason

11 June 2024

As part of Vicki Mason's Canopy now in Object Space on William Street, Vicki answered four quick-fire questions to find out what inspires her as a designer maker.

Article: Q&A with Design Tasmania's SIXTY Installer Sharon O'Donnell

9 June 2024

SIXTY: The Journal of Australian Ceramics 60th Anniversary 1962–2022 is a special ADC On Tour exhibition project presented in partnership with The Australian Ceramics Association. Now exhibiting at Design Tasmania, ADC asked Lead Installer, Sharon O'Donnell a few questions about the installation process.

Maker Profiles: Jason Wing

01 June 2024

As part of Jason Wing's Spontaneous and Uncommissioned now in Object Space on William Street, ADC's Communications Producer Laura Wesolowski asked Jason three quick-fire questions to find out what inspires him as a designer maker.

Maker Profiles: Margarita Sampson

29 May 2024

As part of Margarita Sampson's A New Earth now on in Gallery 1, ADC's Communications Producer Laura Wesolowski asked Margarita three quick-fire questions to find out what inspires her as a designer maker.

Eulogy: Jane Burns AM 1932-2024

15 May 2024

Full version of shorter eulogy by Grace Cochrane given at Requiem Mass Tuesday 30th April, at Our Lady of the Sacred Heart catholic church, 193 Avoca Street Randwick, Sydney.

Maker Profiles: Sean O'Connell

26 March 2024

As part of Sean O'Connell's Kettles now on in Object Space, ADC's Communications Producer Laura Wesolowski asked Sean three quick-fire questions to find out what inspires him as a designer maker.

Talk: Embracing Making - Corinne Julius and Rina Bernabei In Conversation

21 February 2024

ADC was thrilled to host UK design journalist, curator and advocate Corinne Julius in conversation with respected Sydney designer and academic Rina Bernabei. They talked about many aspects of making and design, including its importance in education and how to embrace the hand-made in home interiors.

Maker Profiles: rachel farag

27 February 2024

As part of rachel farag's work رُفات قِدّيسٍ (rufat qiddys: object of a holy person) now on in Object Space, ADC's Communications Producer Laura Wesolowski asked rachel three quick-fire questions to find out what inspires her as an artist.

Speech: International Art Textile Biennale 2023 Opening Address

13 February 2024

Curator, weaver and academic, Liz Williamson spoke at the launch of the International Art Textile Biennale 2023 and discussed the vibrancy of contemporary textile based art.

Maker Profiles: Minka Gillian

22 January 2024

As part of Minka Gillian's work Mini Mind Garden, now on in Object Space, ADC's CEO & Artistic Director Lisa Cahill asked Minka three quick-fire questions to find out what inspires her as an Australian designer.

Essay: Ceramic Stories [digital connections]

11 January 2024

Emerging curator Elaine Kim wrote this essay outlining her vision for the ADC exhibition Ceramic Stories [digital connections].

Event: Sustainable Exhibition Design Panel I & II

8 January 2024

A collective of creative people worked with the ADC team to make the exhibition, GOOD NATURED: design art architecture, with the lowest possible carbon footprint.

The industry focussed panels held in July and August 2023, pulled apart this process and discussed sustainable exhibition design and production for the future.

Essay: The Lacemaking Practice of Rowan Panther

31 October 2023

This text was written by artist Rowan Panther for a public program event as part of the exhibition, Deep Material Energy II.

Essay: Eye, the beholder

31 October 2023

This text was written by artist Inari Kiuru for a public program event as part of the exhibition, Deep Material Energy II.

With our Elders: The coolamon as a form for storytelling

8 September 2023
Read about the gathering of two groups of ceramic coolamons, resulting in the With Our Elders exhibition, beautifully capturing stories proudly and generously shared by Elders — ensuring they are passed down to generations of family and community through continuous cultural practices and material objects.

Article: Crafting a Community: A year of time

5 September 2023

This article first appeared in Garland magazine. Time is the theme for this year's Sydney Craft Week Festival and this article is pertinent to that theme. Bridget has also curated Remade - Reloved 2023 to be presented at Australian Design Centre during the Festival.

Article: About The Boomalli Ten

5 September 2023

ADC worked with Boomalli Aboriginal Artists Co-operative to secure the loan of the significant artwork by Euphemia Bostock, Boomalli Ten Founding Member Coolamons (2012).

Article: Q&A with Lynn Pavey

24 August 2023

ADC's Rhadi Bryant recently asked textile artist Lynn Pavey a few questions about her Object Space exhibition, Febrile Momentum, including the significance of the environment and material use in her practice.

Article: Q&A with Brian Parkes, CEO of JamFactory

22 August 2023

Lisa Cahill recently spoke to Brian Parkes, CEO of JamFactory, about starting their sub-brand jam australia and the process of working and collaborating with Australian designer makers to create their exclusive range of furniture, lighting and objects.

Jam: Show + Tell is exhibiting at Australian Design Centre between 3 August – 16 September 2023.

Essay: Consuming Differently

21 June 2023

John Gertsakis wrote this essay in support of his good natured action - Consuming Differently, for GOOD NATURED: design art architecture.

Good Natured celebrates creative projects by designers, artists and architects working to design a better future. These practitioners are focussed on creating outcomes that are both beautiful and good for the planet.

Article: Q&A with Liz Williamson

30 April 2023

ADC’s Debbie Abraham spoke with curator, weaver and academic, Liz Williamson, about curating Weaving matter: materials and context, exhibited ADC Gallery 2. They spoke about the inspiration for the exhibition and the role of the curator.

Symposium: ‘What is Contemporary Weaving?’

22 June 2023

To coincide with recent exhibitions at ADC – Tjanpi Desert Weavers’ Mutukaku Ngura: Motorcar Country and Weaving matter: materials and context, ADC presented a symposium about contemporary weaving.

Film: Transformative Repair x ADC

January 2023

Dr Guy Keulemans and Dr Trent Jansen research new models for the sustainable use of materials and products to establish new opportunities for consumers and collectors to thoughtfully repair their broken things. In 2022 the transformed objects were exhibited at ADC and a live auction was held.

Speech: What does it mean to be a School of Design?

1 December 2022

Professor Kate Sweetapple, Head of School, School of Design, Sydney (UTS) spoke at the launch of Beyond design as usual and discussed what it means to be a School of Design.

Essay: Glass and the pandemic: shining light through the blackness

March 2023

Curator and author Eva Czernis-Ryl examines the intensive tangle of challenges and opportunities over the past two years of the COVID-19 pandemic and the approaches glass artists across Australia and New Zealand have incorporated into their works.

Article: Q&A with Sue Jo Wright

13 October 2022

ADC’s Holly Williams spoke to artist Sue Jo Wright about her Object Space exhibition Dinner Table Syndrome. They discussed Sue Jo's practice and her identification as a Deaf person and her advocacy activities.

Article: Tom Fereday's collaboration with the Art Gallery of New South Wales

6 September 2022

John Saxby spoke to furniture design Tom Fereday about his first collaboration with the Art Gallery of New South Wales to design and develop seating for its public spaces.

Interview: Bioplastics and the Maker Movement

29 June 2022

ADC’s Lisa Cahill recently spoke to designer Matt Harkness about his exhibition Bioplastic Futures. They spoke about the 3D printed waste challenges he's uncovered; the impact of the Maker Movement; and how good design can help solve environmental issues.

Article: Lessons in wood

19 April 2022

Holly Williams reflects on the recent exhibitions The Art of Making: Studio Woodworkers Australia at Australian Design Centre and Beyond Ordinary at Sturt Gallery and Studios.

Design/ Isolate and the Art of Creative Journaling

A journal can be a place/space to plan a project or procrastinate; to dream and develop ideas; to draw with purpose or doodle; to play; to collaborate; to escape; to write or wonder; a space for lists or loose thoughts; ideas that are meaningful or meandering.

This resource was developed by artist, contemporary jeweller and educator Melinda Young for creative journaling workshops held during the Design/ Isolate exhibition in conjunction with Sydney Festival 2020.

Article: Sydney Craft Week 'The Digital Edition'

8-17 October 2021

Celebrating the fifth birthday of the Sydney Craft Week Festival we take a look at some of the highlights from this years ‘Digital Edition’.

Review: WORKSHOPPED21 New Australian Furniture, Lighting and Object Design

2 August 2021

Dr Stefan Lie reviews the digital 21st edition of WORKSHOPPED21: New Australian Furniture, Lighting and Object Design.

Review: Made / Worn: Australian Contemporary Jewellery

7 July 2021

Emma-Kate Wilson reviews ADC On Tour exhibition Made/Worn: Contemporary Australian Jewellery at Australian Design Centre.

Review: Australian Architecture - Lost and Threatened

11 June 2021

Dr Julie Bartholomew reviews Natalie Rosin’s exhibition Endangered + Extinct: Australian Architecture and Place-taking at Australian Design Centre

Article: Caring for Indigenous Cultural Philosophies

26 May 2021

In this article architect and director of Custom Mad Claire McCaughan spoke to Yuwaalaraay woman, artist and designer Lucy Simpson about her connection to country and duty of care to place.

Article: Giving Textiles a New Lease of Life by Eloise Rapp

17 April 2021

Textile designer and educator Eloise Rapp applies the wisdom of traditional textile methods and philosophies to contemporary challenges in design and manufacturing.

Article: Found in translation

16 December 2020

Contemporary jewellery and object designer and maker Bic Tieu communicates narratives of identity, cultural memory and materiality through her hybrid approach.

Article: Melinda Young Mapping the Tideline

10 December 2020

Melinda Young uses jewellery as a way to attach herself to the coast during the lockdown. This article was first published in Garland.

Films : Isolate Make

30 November 2020

Isolate Make: Creative Resilience in a Pandemic explores how creative practice has adapted to isolation, associated restrictions and production challenges, or simply in response to the tragic global events. Watch the films made by creative practitioners: Glenn Barkley | Crossing Threads | Kathy Elliot | Benja Harney | Liz Payne | Donna Sgro | Lucy Simpson | Melinda Young

Article: Glass in Australia

29 October 2020

ADC Creative Strategy Associate Penny Craswell explores contemporary glass in Australia.

Article: From the Land: Nicole Robins' baskets

27 October 2020

After a career working in community development and later as a family therapist, Nicole Robins now devotes herself full-time to her fibre art and basketry practice, one that is almost completely materials-driven. Inga Walton writes about her work.

Article: Expanded Design at WORKSHOPPED20

27 August 2020

This is the twentieth year that furniture, lighting and object designers have created new works for WORKSHOPPED exhibitions program. Article by Penny Craswell.

Essay: YOU ARE DOING IT AGAIN by Zoe Brand

23 July 2020

YOU ARE DOING IT AGAIN by Zoe Brand is an exhibition where general musings about an unprecedented time are put front and center, multiplied, divided, made colourful and offered anew. Catalogue Essay by Melinda Young.

Article: Kate Baker

22 July 2020

Incorporating glass processes with photography and the moving image, Kate Baker creates deeply introspective and highly emotional work that touches the transcendent, ethereal realm of raw human emotion. Kathleen Linn explores her work.

Essay: Open House

4 June 2020

Exploring the shift towards textile arts and 'craft'-artforms, this essay was written by Glenn Barkley, the curator of Open House: 3rd Tamworth Textile Triennial.

Essay: Beyond Pretty

19 May 2020

Myf Doughty explores the work of contemporary jewellery designers Susan Cohn, Julia deVille and Kyoko Hashimoto in this essay, included in NGV publication She Persists: Perspectives on Women in Art and Design.

Article: Walgett Women and Girls Jewellery Project

21 April 2020

Walgett Women and Girls Jewellery Project is a project facilitated by the Australian Design Centre in conjunction with the Indigenous Jewellery Project. A reflection by Nardi Simpson.


Exhibition Catalogue: The Space Within

8 April 2020

THE SPACE WITHIN : Contemporary Ceramics + Fibre is an exhibition at Sabbia Gallery in Sydney that ran from 4 - 28 March 2020.

Article: Prue Venables

26 March 2020

The Prue Venables exhibition, recently held at the Australian Design Centre in Sydney, is on its first stop in a national tour. H.R. Hyatt-Johnston reviews the show for Artist Profile magazine.

Article: Yvonne Koolmatrie

24 March 2020

Yvonne Koolmatrie works at the intersection of past and present. She creates works at the same river where her ancestors once met, using the same traditional rush grasses they harvested. And yet her works speak of revival, innovation and the personal journey of a modern Ngarrindjeri woman, who has lived in constant connection with her homeland and its long, ancient history, writes Louella Hayes.

Essay: Concrete Paradoxes

19 February 2020

Concrete stands for progress, it is the building block of our cities and has been used by architects as a defining material of Modernism and Brutalism and by artists as one of the defining materials of Minimalism. This essay by Penny Craswell is republished from the exhibition catalogue of CONCRETE: Art Design Architecture


Essay: CONCRETE art design architecture

5 February 2020

CONCRETE: art design architecture is a major exhibition exploring innovative ways that concrete is being used by artists, designers and architects in Australia in the 21st century. This essay by JamFactory Senior Curator Margaret Hancock Davis is republished from the exhibition catalogue. 

Essay: On Weaving and Finding Balance

15 January 2020

Blake Griffiths is a Broken Hill-based artist whose practice centres around weaving. This essay by Broken Hill-based artist Asma Mather is a review of his latest display ‘Finding Balance’.

Essay: The meeting of two rivers

12 December 2019

Australian Design Centre partnered with The Indigenous Jewellery Project’s Emily McCulloch Childs and contemporary jeweller, Melinda Young and Yuwaalaraay sisters Lucy and Nardi Simpson on a week of workshops in the regional NSW town of Walgett. This essay by Emily McCulloch Childs captures that joy and cultural connection that the project created.

Article: A New Sense of Freedom

29 October 2019

Prue Venables sees herself unapologetically as a potter—meaning she sees no need to try to elevate the title of her vocation to ceramic artist. Heidi McKenzie writes about this Living Treasure.

Profile: Anita Larkin

22 October 2019

Anita Larkin reconfigures everyday objects to explore our relationship with the physical world.By combining found objects with each other, sculpted pieces, or her own cast body parts, she explores how language, memory and human experience influence how we interact with our surroundings. Bridget MacLeod writes about her hybrid objects.

Article: Contemporary Jewellery in Focus

30 September 2019

Contemporary jewellery has evolved as an artform, often exploring materiality and form, and the relationship of objects to the body. For many contemporary jewellers, the term “wearable art” feels more relevant to their practice, while others find their work very much connected to the jeweller’s bench and others, again, are looking at their work in relation to the body, rather than necessarily worn on it. 

Essay: Prue Venables The Australian Context

2 August 2019

This is an extract of an essay by ceramicist Neville French, published in the exhibition monograph Living Treasures: Masters of Australian Craft \ Prue Venables, reflecting on the quality and significance of Prue Venables’ work.  For the full essay, the book is available to purchase from Object Shop.

My Job in 2030

23 July 2019

This project examines how shifts in technology, society and the environment are impacting the jobs of the future. It invites the next generation to imagine their place in a future world of work where automation, AI and robots are part of everyday life. What jobs will we have in 2030 and how will they be different to the jobs of today? Read short essays from guest writers including Laurie Aznavoorian, Jess Scully, Balder Tol, Sasha Alexander, Melissa Silk, Natalie Parker and Kate Dunn. 

Films: Ideas Intersecting: Innovation and Design

2 July 2019

Four films were produced for Ideas Intersecting: Innovation and Design, an online exhibition that explores a single project within the practice of designers Alia Parker, Bic Tieu, Carly Vickers and Harriet Watts. Through visually documenting each practitioner’s processes and design methods for a selected project, the exhibition illuminates, and makes tangible, the moments in creative practice when seemingly disparate ideas intersect.

Films: Transformative Repair

20 May 2019

Guy Keulemans from the University of New South Wales and Niklavs Rubenis from the Australian National University are researchers interested in the power of design-led repair to change the way we think about waste, consumption and the life of objects.

Essay: Infusion : The Teapot Project

30 April 2019

Oliver Smith, Senior Lecturer at Sydney College of the Arts, writes about a creative exchange between silversmiths Kenny Son and Hendrik Forster characterised by intensive activity, sustained effort and prodigious creative output.   

Report: Supporting Diversity in Craft Practice

11 April 2019

Examining issues related to a lack of diversity in the craft sector and the fact that black women receive more online abuse than anyone else, a new report by Karen Patel of Birmingham City University in the UK asks what can be done to support greater diversity in the UK craft sector. 

Interview: A craft renaissance

1 April 2019

ADC's Lisa Cahill spoke to Kevin Murray, editor of Garland to coincide with Issue 14 - A safe harbour, Sydney. 

Essay: SO-IL: Viewing China

28 March 2019

Matthew Martin and Ewan McEoin discuss SO–IL: Viewing China, a presentation of more than thirty white porcelain items within a vibrant architectural display by US/China architecture practice SO-IL, currently on show at the NGV in Melbourne.


Essay: From Strength to Strength

21 February 2019

ADC's Creative Strategy Associate, Penny Craswell explores the strong silent nature of steel and its role in the creation of cities, contemporary architecture, art and the future.

Essay: STEEL: Art Design Architecture

31 January 2019

Steel: art design architecture curator, Margaret Hancock Davis from JamFactory writes about this most versatile of materials that has also played a vital role in Australia’s design vernacular.

Turning old clothes into high-end building materials

21 December 2018   

UNSW Sydney's Professor Veena Sahajwalla is leading a team producing high-quality building products made from old clothing and mixed waste glass.

Interview: Pavilion of interpreted music

5 November 2018

Part architectural pavilion and part sound installation, 80Hz is a project that turns paintings from the State Library of NSW into music using data. Sydney-based British designer and architect Thomas Wing-Evans talks to ADC’s Penny Craswell about the installation, which he designed in collaboration with DX Lab, the library’s experimental design research group.

Essay: Gamu-Keub Keub: The Indigenous Jewellery Project meets Gab Titui

27 October 2018

Emily McCulloch Childs writes about her first trip to the Torres Strait Islands as part of the Indigenous Jewellery Project, with artist and workshop leader Melinda Young teaching the lost wax technique for metals to participants at the Gab Titui Cultural Centre.

Essay: Textiles and the In-between

20 September 2018

Soraya Abidin, textile artist, explores in this essay and in her exhibition Hypersensitive/ Hipersensitif, the double consciousness and ‘in-between’ space of a bi-cultural identity. Her solo textile exhibition is part of Sydney Craft Week at Gaffa Gallery, Sydney.

Essay: Reflections on Mindful Making

14 September 2018

Making is not just a creative outlet – it also generates a focused, thoughtful state of mind similar to meditative practice. Sydney maker and psychiatrist Megan Kalucy from Shared Threads explores the benefits of mindful making.

Explainer: Can You Copyright Furniture?

4 September 2018

Furniture stores are often filled with designs that look similar to others. But is copying furniture legal, and should we feel bad about buying replicas?

Essay: Locational Specificity

2 August 2018

Joshua Smith’s miniatures of overlooked buildings offer a street artist’s perspective of the city and raise questions about the spatial politics of Sydney, according to Luke Tipene and Campbell Drake from UTS.

Publication: 3D Printing the Future

25 July 2018

This newspaper-style publication includes articles by some of Australia’s leading experts on 3D printing, including features by Berto Pandolfo and Jennifer Loy (UTS) and jeweller Bin Dixon Ward, and interviews with Kate Dunn (UNSW) and Melbourne ceramics studio Alterfact.

Essay: Adding Digital to the Jeweller's Bench

25 July 2018

Melbourne jeweller Bin Dixon Ward is fascinated by the relationship between digital technology, jewellery and its maker. She discusses the development of 3D printed jewellery including her own work in this field. 

Interview: Old Skills New Ways

25 July 2018

ADC’s Lisa Cahill spoke to Kate Dunn, designer and research leader in Digital Fabrication and Material Innovation in the Creative Robotics Lab at UNSW Art and Design, about the intersections between the traditional craft of ceramics using clay and the use of 3D printing to explore cross disciplinary collaborations.

Essay: Furniture Futures and the Promise of 3D Printing

25 July 2018

3D printing has promised to significantly impact the way objects are realised. Berto Pandolfo, an industrial designer and Senior Lecturer at the University of Technology Sydney, examines the evidence that this prophecy is coming to fruition. 

Event: Printing the Future

25 July 2018

Join a team of experts discuss the future application of 3D printing (or additive manufacturing), exploring not only the latest in new technologies, but also how these technologies are used across manufacturing, business and solo practice. 

Object Magazine

This digital archive of the magazine is a work in progress.  We are progressively uploading the key articles and contents pages of each of the 59 issues of the magazine as a record of 20 years of craft and design in Australia. 

Object Book Group

Object Book Group is based on a monthly book selected for its resonance with art, craft and design. Fiction, non-fiction we’re not fussy. We’re into great reads on the topics we love! Object Book Group is a new initiative by Australian Design Centre for our creative community to talk with each other, and with us, about books about craft, design, art, fiction and non-fiction.