Australian Design Centre plays a critical role in celebrating the work of Australian artists who embrace the highest degree of skill and who continually explore material, process and ideas to advance contemporary craft and design practice.

Object Space is our window gallery located at the Australian Design Centre HQ on William Street, Darlinghurst, on view 24 hours a day.

Kirsten Haydon: Ice Holds

30 March – 24 May 2023

Ice Holds, 2023
Steel, enamel, photo transfer, reflector beads, silver, nylon
POA

The word ‘hold’ has many meanings – in this work hold can be considered in relation to the landscape and the body. Here the landscape is an icescape, the Barne Glacier. In 2004 Kirsten was overwhelmed when standing beneath this gigantic ice cliff on the Ross Ice Shelf in Antarctica. The Barne Glacier made an enduring impression – one of a solid form of lasting ice. The artist continues to imagine this encounter with the layered, folding and reflective wall as it holds not only ice and water but also archives air within its structure. Glaciers shift and change, they are zones of movement for ice sheets and shelves.

In 2023 Kirsten found herself remembering the Barne Glacier and ‘holding’ on to it, hoping that it may still have the solid form of lasting that she recalls. In this pendant installation, Kirsten shares her memory of ‘holding’ the glacier in the same way a pendant contains, depicts, keeps, embraces, connects, stores, is worn and held.

Ice Holds comprises 36 pendants, each containing a phototransfer image when positioned together in a grid pattern, the image of the Barne Glacier is visible. The enamelled image is reflective when experienced, as the micro glass reflector beads produce retro-reflection, a type of reflection that redirects incidental light from the surface back to the source. These minute spheres represent the countless individual snowflakes or drops of water that combine to form the Barne Glacier. The boundaries of the transparent spheres refer to micromosaic depictions of significant landscapes from the past.

Kirsten Haydon investigates the potential of gold and silversmithing to communicate human experience and connections with the environment. Kirsten completed a PhD in 2009 and has been teaching at the School of Fine Art, RMIT University in Melbourne since 2002. Kirsten travelled to Antarctica as a New Zealand Antarctic Arts Fellow in 2004. Her art practice, crafts and explores connections and observations of the environment through concepts of historic photography and micromosaics. Site and archival studies inform works which aim to engage the act of remembering and the fragile futures of ice by assembling and drawing on metal and enamel surfaces.

Kirsten was the recipient of the Australian Design Centre Award – Object Space exhibition for her work Ice Shadows, 2021. which was presented in the Profile: Contemporary Jewellery and Object Award exhibition. The award was judged by Darani Lewers AM, Dr Oliver Smith, Lisa Cahill (Australian Design Centre), Carrie Kibbler and Naomi Stewart (Hazelhurst Art Centre) with Merilyn Bailey for JMGA-NSW in attendance.

Learn about Kirsten's award-winning work Ice Shadows here.

Image: Kirsten Haydon, Ice Holds, detail, 2023. Photo: courtesy the artist

Kirsten Haydon: Ice Holds

30 March – 7 June 2023

Inspired by the salient condition of ice as it preserves knowledge and histories from the surrounding environment and atmosphere within its structure, Kirsten Haydon explores the concept and actions of ‘holding’ in her work, while considering the transition, and movement of Antarctic landscapes.

Chili Philly: Crochet Social 2023

4 February – 22 March 2023

Phil Ferguson, aka Chili Philly, brings Object Space to life for Sydney WorldPride with their delectable crochet creations, school dance social-style!

Alchemical Worlds: Reflections

24 November 2022 - 28 January 2023

This work connects ancient patterns with climate science research on coral and trees.

Yurilyimanha Wajarri Barna

28 October - 22 November 2022

yurilyimanha wajarri barna - moving about on Country, was named by Aunty Elvie Dann in Wajarri country of the Murchison region in Western Australia. An opportunity to connect to Country and share cultural knowledge whilst crafting kangaroo pelt bags.

Hope: An ADC and GOST collaboration

7 - 28 October 2022
A creative exchange between Australian Design Centre and Canberra’s Gallery of Small Things (GOST), Hope presents two simultaneous exhibitions in each venue, bringing NSW and ACT-based makers to new audiences.

Dinner Table Syndrome

9 August - 28 September

Sue Jo Wright is a Sydney-based artist using textiles to explore the concept of ‘Dinner Table Syndrome’, a term used to describe the alienation deaf and hard-of-hearing people experience every day at important social gatherings — such as at the dining table.

Tjanpi Desert Weavers

14 July - 1 August 2022


Tjanpi artists use tjanpi (grass) to make spectacular contemporary fibre art, weaving beautiful baskets and sculptures and displaying endless creativity and inventiveness.

Indigenous Jewellery Project

2 June - 13 July 2022

The aim of the Indigenous Jewellery Project is to strengthen and continue existing traditions and facilitate artists to develop a career as exhibiting contemporary artist jewellers through upskilling.

The Miner's Wife

31 March – 31 May 2022

A textile work is inspired by the Coober Pedy tradition of the miner’s wife having first pick of the quarried opals.

Subplot

4 March – 28 March 2022

Otto Paton raises questions about the hidden forces that shape our future while investigating the impact of development on the urban landscape.

High (safe)-Tea

10 February – 3 March 2022

High (Safe)-Tea presents a traditional tea party playfully reimagined with an emphasis on hygiene and safety in a COVID-19 safe manner.

Apothecary Now!

18 November 2021 - 02 February 2022

Inspired by Renaissance apothecary jars (or albarellos), Sassy Park’s pots use techniques and motifs that link the current Covid-19 pandemic to history

Windowsmiths: Murmuration

20 May - 7 July, 2021

Murmuration - A Pliable Formation is a contemporary installation by the Windowsmiths.

Gingham All You’ve Got

25 March - 13 May
Eloise Rapp uses regular cotton business shirts as the base material for her work commenting on the urgent need to repair, reuse and revalue used textiles as robust materials.

Fashion Futures

4 February - 20 March 2021

In partnership with UTS Fashion & Textiles, we present a selection of work by the 2020 graduates. Three designers will be featured in our William Street window gallery for two weeks each. The designers are: Joshua Saacks, Kerry Brack and Sally Jackson.

Patterns In-between

26 November, 2020 - 27 January, 2021

Patterns In-between is Bic’s self-examination of living between two cultures and acknowledgement of the reality that exists ‘in-between’. 

Connecting Cultures

9 October – 24 November, 2020 

Connecting Cultures showcases wearable collections from Indigenous Australian brand, Gillawarra Arts and Colombian brand, Mami Watta Collections.

WORKSHOPPED20: Object Space

9 August - 30 September 2020 

On display, work by Alex Gilmour, WORKSHOPPED20 superstar.

The New Neighbours: Meredith Woolnough

09 June - 29 July 2020

On display in Object Space is the work The New Neighbours by Meredith Woolnough as a part of the exhibition Open House: 3rd Tamworth Textile Triennial.

In the Fire Zone: How to Cook a Knife

26 March - 27 May 2020

Designer-maker, contemporary jeweller and winner of the Australian Design Centre Award for Profile 19, Dianne Beevers investigates what might happen if people learn how to make their own domestic tools. This exhibition reveals her first accomplishments in knifemaking showing two Damascus kitchen knives.

Sweet Spot: Julie Paterson

31 January - 18 March 2020

Sweet Spot is a collection of stencil symbols and the marks that they make. In this work Julie Paterson cross pollinates her multidimensional practice as a designer, painter and printmaker. The collection of symbols, originally part of landscape paintings, create a library of shapes that leap from the canvas.

Bright Start

21 November 2019 - 22 January 2020

Bright Start features the work of first year students of the Bachelor of Design Degree and is part of the Designing Bright Futures exhibition program produced by Australian Design Centre in partnership with UNSW Art & Design. 

Intergradation: Taerim Claire Jeon

3 October - 13 November 2019

Intergradation is an exhibition of the Jogakbo (Traditional Korean patchwork) work of a Sydney based artist Taerim Claire Jeon. This exhibition is presented in partnership with the Korean Cultural Centre, Australia. 

Gadigal Mural Exhibition

2 July - 13 August 2019

Gadigal Mural is an Object Space exhibition, celebrating NAIDOC 2019 and the United Nations International Year of Indigenous Language. 

Jane Theau

1 August – 25 September 2019

Just shopping, always shopping is one of a series of large-scale lace drawings depicting people in unexceptional, everyday moments

Stephen Goddard

28 May - 26 June 2019

Welcome. by Stephen Goddard explores typographical design, punctation and meaning in street signage.

How do you read the sign? If you trespass will you be prosecuted, or that no trespassing violators will be prosecuted and should be allowed to stay?  

Suzanne McRae

11 April - 26 May 2019

Suzanne McRae's work is immersed in sentimentality and the haunting nature of memory. These once cherished creatures, inhabitants of the past, live on today. 

Gunybi Ganambarr

1 February - 3 April 2019

On display in Object Space is the work of acclaimed Yolngu artist Gunybi Ganambarr as part of the exhibition STEEL: art design architecture. 

Dennis Golding

22 November 2018 - 23 January 2019

Kamilaroi/Gamilaraay artist Dennis Golding exhibits one of his newest superhero capes titled My Cape, which empowers human and posthuman experiences of being on country. 

Dorothy Filshie

5 October - 14 November 2018

Fish Out of Water is an exhibition of the textile object work of NSW artist Dorothy Filshie.

Esme Timbery: Shellwork

2 August - 3 October 2018

The iconic artworks, Untitled 'Sydney Opera House' and Untitled 'Harbour Bridge' by Bidjigal artist and elder Esme Timbery celebrate the important shellwork tradition of the La Perouse community and Timbery's contemporary practice. 

Euphemia Bostock

21 June - 29 July 2018

Fashion Collection 1987 by artist Euphemia Bostock is a collection of handprinted garments featuring original designs created for the 1987 Au Printemps Department Store exhibition ‘Australis down under’ in Paris.

Vita Cochran

5 April - 22 May 2018

Textile artist Vita Cochran embraces bold colour and geometric designs through her hand-embroidered handbags and applique hangings. 

Play Up

8 February - 24 March 2018

This project involved the making of objects to support humour therapy in dementia care and was a collaboration between Tasman Munro, a social designer interested in creating objects that bring life to communities and Jean-Paul Bell, a humourmanitarian with a long history in the arts and health industry. 

Gunjan Aylawadi

6 October – 15 October 2017

Sydney-based paper artist Gunjan Aylawadi presents HAKK, a large-scale, intricate paper installation.

Adam Cornish

23 November 2017 - 31 January 2018

Adam Cornish's Trinity Collection is based on the nautilus shell and was the first project he designed for Alessi.