Australian Design Honours

With a focus on furniture, product and interior design, industrial designer Adam Goodrum’s work unifies functionality with a bold and colourful aesthetic. Over the last 20 years Adam has worked with an impressive list of clients including Cappellini, Normann Copenhagen, and Cult.

Working primarily in ceramics, and drawing on his fashion background, Addison Marshall blurs the boundaries between art, craft, drawing and design to create visual feasts that mix innovative ideas and materials.

One of Australia’s most celebrated fashion designers, Akira Isogawa has achieved worldwide recognition for his contemporary designs. With his richly embellished fabrics and traditional prints, the craftsmanship and romanticism of his Eastern-influenced work is legendary.

Argentine born and Australian-based designer Alexander Lotersztain is the founder of renowned multi-disciplinary design studio Derlot, specialising in product, furniture and interior design, as well as hotel concepts, branding and art direction.

A descendant of the Walbanga and Wadi Wadi people of the Yuin nation, award-winning Alison Page creative uses her practice to explore links between cultural identity, art and the built environment.

Combining aesthetic elegance with sustainable ethics, the Australian Design Centre believes Andrew Simpson will play a large role in bringing environmentally friendly design to the masses.

Sabbia Gallery has developed an international reputation under the guidance and commitment of Anna Grigson and her co-director Maria Grimaldi, as the premier Australian gallery in contemporary ceramics and glass. It has become one of Sydney’s most prominent commercial exhibition spaces representing the finest contemporary artists working in these diverse mediums. 

Formally trained as an Electrical Engineer, Ben Moir fronts programming and design studio Snepo Research, and is a founding member of wearable tech company Wearable Experiments, or We:eX.

With a humble sheet of paper, artist Benja Harney crafts intricate designs and sculpture. Over the last ten years as a professional creative, artist, and educator, Harney has led his Sydney-based studio, Paperform, to develop a body of work that pushes the possibilities of the paper medium.

CEO of Good Design Australia, and the first Australian President in the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design’s 57-year history.

With a significant background in both the commercial and creative spheres of museums and galleries, previous to the JamFactory, Brian Parkes spent ten years as Associate Director and Senior Curator at the Australian Design Centre.

A veritable powerhouse in Australia’s architecture landscape, Brian Zulaikha builds contemporary projects out of historical spaces, all the while maintaining an environment’s culture and soul.

Andresen was born in Norway and came to Australia where her father worked on hydroelectric projects. She contributes to the annual Glenn Murcutt International Master Class and has initiated student travel studios to Japan and Finland. Her current teaching and research includes building design with landscape and the relation of architecture to urban change.

Australia’s leading advocate for design innovation in business, Catherine Livingstone AO has held influential positions in major Australian corporations and institutions including the CSIRO, Macquarie Bank, and the NSW Government Innovation and Productivity Council.

Driven by their passion and depth of knowledge of contemporary jewellery, and a desire to champion the practices of Australian designer makers, Cesar and Nina Cueva founded Courtesy of the Artist, a contemporary and dynamic collection of jewellery and objects, in 2005.

Combining digital work flow and nature’s principles with future-thinking, German born and Sydney-based architect Chris Bosse is one of the country’s leading architecture and digital-fabrication authorities.

With a career spanning almost 20 years, Cinnamon Lee specialises in contemporary jewellery and lighting, and is bringing her traditional gold and silversmithing practice to the forefront by working with emerging technologies, including 3D computer modelling and additive fabrication.

The first popularly elected woman to lead the City of Sydney in her role as Lord Mayor, the Australian Design Centre believes Clover Moore has made an invaluable difference to the art and culture scene of Australia’s most populated city.

Working almost exclusively with recovered Australian timbers, in particular Indigenous hardwood species, Damien Wright is an acclaimed furniture designer and craftsman known for his ‘whole tree’ approach to design and construction.

  With a career spanning more than 30 years, David Clark is a celebrated writer, editor and curator who has shaped the way we view Australian interiors. 

Dolla Merrillees was appointed Director of the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences in 2016. She has been instrumental in the museums recent success of increased audience visitation to exhibitions that include Australian exclusives and world premieres. 

Living and breathing by her self-created ethos “design is nothing without style, and style is nothing without design”, Emma Elizabeth is a highly innovative designer, stylist and creative director. 

Bringing their Dutch sensibility to Australian graphic design, Eva Dijkstra and Michael Lugmayr have raised the bar for contemporary design solutions both here and internationally. As well as publishing, exhibiting, and lecturing on design, the pair work with clients such as City of Sydney, Powerhouse Museum, and Australia Council for the Arts.

For over 20 years, Ewan McEoin’s work as a publisher, editor, creative director and curator, aims to increase the visibility and understanding of the value of design.

Television, radio presenter and producer, interviewer and writer Fenella Kernebone has a brilliant career working across arts, film, music, design and culture.

Prolific artist and activist Fiona Foley is a descendant of the Badtjala people and a founding member of the influential Boomalli Aboriginal Co-operative. Her practice is deeply personal, with her work exploring the individual and political impact of Indigenous upheaval as well as imploring a more empowered reading of Aboriginal identity.

An interaction designer and researcher currently directing the Exertion Games Lab at RMIT University in Melbourne, Florian Mueller is an expert in digital games that require intense physical effort, or exertion games.

After re-imagining Sherman Galleries, one of Sydney’s most prestigious commercial art galleries, Dr. Gene Sherman reopened the space in 2008 as the Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation.

In our fast pace world, artist, designer and academic Dr. George Khut is using his practice to help us slow down and focus our attention inwards. Working across the fields of electronic and participatory art, George has spent the last 12 years creating intimate, body-focused artworks that re-frame our experiences of embodiment.

Australia’s only winner of highly prestigious Pritzker Architecture Prize, Glenn Murcutt has been designing awe-inspiring buildings for over 40 years.

Now an independent curator, writer and consultant, Grace Cochrane was the senior curator of Australian decorative arts and design at the Powerhouse Museum, Sydney.

Applying the art and science of data visualisation to create elegant design solutions ranging from big picture projects to research and development, the Australian Design Centre believes Greg More's captivating work is at the forefront of this emerging industry.

Leading the next generation of designers down a sophisticated and purposeful path, Henry Wilson produces products, furniture and interiors that focus on honest resolutions and longevity.

An impressive force in the Australian art world, Hetti Perkins is a curator and writer whose work has shaped the way the greater population views indigenous art and culture.

The Founding Director of the peak body for crafts in Australia, the Crafts Council of Australia, Jane Burns AM has since continued to play an integral role in establishing and supporting crafts organisations nationally.

A leader in the field of landscape architecture, Jane Irwin has a vital interest in innovative thinking about the public domain and its future structure.

Prolific installation artist Janet Laurence explores notions of art, science, imagination, memory, and loss, with her practice examining our physical, cultural, and conflicting relationship to the natural world.

Specialising in design and architecture, Janne Ryan is an ideas curator and budding entrepreneur and philanthropist. Ryan is the Founding Executive Producer of TEDxSydney, as well as co-founder of By Design – an ABC radio program broadcast from 2007 to 2014.

A true icon and a crafts person of the highest order in the field of ceramics, Jeff Mincham has exhibited his work and been dedicated to his practice for over three decades.

Born of Aboriginal, Chinese and Anglo-Celtic descent, Jenni Kemarre Martiniello re-imagines Indigenous weaving practices by creating fish traps and bags woven from glass.

With her passion to use creativity to inspire social change, spark conversation and explore opportunities for the arts, the Australian Design Centre believes Jess' outstanding contribution to the city of Sydney not only brightens its façade, but adds value to the broader economy too.

Fascinated with the beauty of emptiness, Jessica Loughlin’s ethereal kiln formed glass works mirror her quiet and understated, yet visually demanding practice.

Recognised as one of Australia’s most progressive thinkers in urban strategy and development, John O’Callaghan is an urban planner specialising in place, community and technology.

Since founding his studio in 1996, internationally acclaimed-designer Jon Goulder has produced an outstanding body of both commercial and exhibited work that the Australian Design Centre believes has cemented him as a stand out Australian designer.

Working across a range of mediums – from printmaking and drawing to sculpture and film – Aboriginal artist Jonathan Jones creates site-specific installations that use light, subtle shadow and the repetition of shape and materiality to explore Indigenous practices, relationships and ideas.

Bringing the age-old practice of taxidermy to the modern masses, Julia deVille creates contemporary ‘memento mori’ that the Australian Design Centre believes piques interest and curiosity in the medium through the use of paradoxical processes and materials.

Julie Blyfield has spent the last 20 years capturing the essence of the Australian landscape in her practice as a renowned artist and jeweller.

Founder and owner of textile company Cloth, Julie Paterson has drawn inspiration from the strength and diversity of the Australian landscape, and has shaped her art practice that spans the last 20 years into a commercial success.

Karen McCartney is an acclaimed author, editor, curator and avid supporter of exceptional architecture, interiors, craft and design.

Having held roles as Creative Director of the State of Design Festival, and Curator at National Design Centre and Craft Victoria, as well as Editor of architecture and design magazine Artichoke, Kate is also a founding member of the Office for Good Design.

Kate Stokes is a Melbourne-based furniture and lighting designer who works closely with local craftspeople and manufacturers to create playful products with depth of character.

Kathy Elliott and Benjamin Edols have been working collaboratively since 1993, transforming the tradition and craftsmanship of glass blowing into contemporary and poetic works of art.

Born a Warumunga and Luritja woman from Central Australia, Kelli Cole is an independent curator and Assistant Curator in the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Department at the National Gallery of Australia.

With a penchant for designing homes that are both visually stunning yet supremely practical and liveable, Kerstin Thompson is an architect with a passion for creating spaces that emphasise users and inhabitant’s experience.

Dr Kevin Murray is an independent writer and curator with a with a long and distinguish career as writer, editor, curator and craft advocate. Amongst his many roles, he is managing editor for Garland Magazine and the Online Encyclopedia of Crafts in the Asia Pacific Region. 

Drawing on his Malaysian heritage and his experience and knowledge as a conservator, Khai Liew creates sleek yet highly detailed furniture and other practical objects.

Born into a German family of glass workers, Klaus immigrated to Australia in 1982 to set up the Canberra School of Art’s glass program, and through his truly innovative workshops he has taught and inspired hundreds of students, as well as shaped the way the entire glass industry has developed.

With a current research focus on the influence of digital culture on urban space and performance and visual art spaces, Lawrence Wallen has had a long and successful academic career, and is currently Head of the School of Design at the University of Technology Sydney.

Melbourne-based artist and designer Leah Heiss’ deeply collaborative practice is located at the nexus of art, design and science, and by combining visually stunning jewellery with medical technology, her devices are not only a keepsake, but ones that have the power to keep those in need healthy.

In a career spanning five decades, Les Blakebrough has become one of Australia’s most acclaimed and influential ceramic artists. Ranging from earthy functional wares to more recent, delicate forms, his work has captured the attention of major galleries around the world as well as private collectors.

Liane Rossler is an artist, designer, curator, creative advisor and ambassador for issues relating to art, design and the environment, prompting the Australian Design Centre to believe Rossler is a leading advocate for sustainable design and material re-use.

With over 35 years experience, award-winning architectural team Lindsay and Kerry Clare are committed to designing low-impact, sustainable homes and public buildings.

Recipient of the Australian Design Centre’s 2008 Living Treasure Award, textile artist Liz Williamson is an internationally respected weaver and educator. An invaluable figure in the contemporary craft culture of Australia, Liz has been fundamental in modernising weaving.

Combining the energy and improvisation of a contemporary arts practice with a tradition that traces back thousands of years, former arts officer for Arts Tasmania, Lola Greeno now specialises in traditional Tasmanian Aboriginal shell necklace threading.

Heading up one of Australia’s most recognisable and iconic brands, Louise Olsen and Stephen Ormandy of Dinosaur Designs have played a major role in putting object and jewellery design forefront in the minds of the art and retail worlds alike.

Inspired by the Mallee and Riverina bush environments of North-Western Victoria where she grew up, Waradgerie artist Lorraine Connelly-Northey creates sculptures and installations that relate to her family’s history and her personal connection to the land.

Dr. Louise Hamby is a Research Fellow in the Digital Humanities Hub at the Australian National University in Canberra, who works tirelessly to ensure both historic and contemporary Aboriginal material culture from Arnhem Land is researched and showcased in academic and gallery settings alike.

After working as a stylist and set dresser in the film and TV industry, Lucy Feagins founded The Design Files in 2008. From small but impressive beginnings, it is now Australia’s most popular and powerful design blog, with an audience of over 180,000 readers per month.

Born and based in Sydney, Yuwaalaraay woman Lucy Simpson founded a design company Gaawa Miyay. With a passion for design and love and pride in her family and culture, Simpson’s work reflects her personal expression of cultural storytelling.

Working in the fields of interactive video installation and generative design, digital artist Lukasz Karluk aims to bridge the gap between the real and the virtual by creating immersive digital environments that lead participants on a path of playful discovery.

Partners in both art and life, Lyn Balzer and Tony Perkins are object makers, artists and photographers inspired by the natural beauty of the world around them.

Lynda Dorrington is the Executive Director of FORM, a not-for-profit cultural organisation based in Perth. Dorrington has overseen FORM’s transition into an active industry body enhancing Western Australia’s creativity through cultural and social capacity building projects across the state.

Born in Auckland, New Zealand, Marc Harrison’s design studio Husque, is based in Brisbane, Australia. Marc has an interest in sustainable design and extensively researched and incorporated bio-composites into his products. 

Art and design writer, critic and curator, Margot Osborne has been active in Australian craft and design in a range of capacities for forty years, and has used her work, particularly her writing, to shape the greater arts community over this time.

Interactive media researcher and artist Mari Velonaki creates interactive installations that incorporate movement, speech, touch, breath, electrostatic charge, artificial vision and robotics.

A veteran in the field, Marian Hosking is an award-winning jeweller, silversmith and educator with over 40 years experience. Exhibiting regularly throughout Australia and the world, Marian’s delicate yet strong work symbolically reaffirms her love of the natural world.

With three decades of work under her silversmith belt, Margaret Kirkwood’s vast collection of jewellery design has inspired and influenced many who follow in her footsteps.

Winner of both the prestigious Ranamok Glass Prize, and the Tom Malone Prize, Mel Douglas is one of Australia’s most dynamic and well-respected glass artists. With a fascination for how objects balance and sit in space, her delicate work comes from the slow process of mark making that is influenced by the object’s physical and linear relationships.

Inspired by architecture, the landscape, the social condition of the body and her everyday surroundings – which also frequently provide materials for her work – Melinda Young is a contemporary jeweller with extensive solo and group show experience.

A pioneer in the design and manufacturing of sustainable furniture, eco-preneur Michael Alvisse co-founded Schamburg + Alvisse in 1996, and has since become a leading example of eco standards in design and production.

A champion of Australian design, Michael Bryce is the patron of the Australian Design Alliance and many other professional associations and organisations.

Recognised as a master weaver in Indigenous cultural traditions Nadeena Dixon’s cultural practices include dance, song, language, song writing, contemporary theatre storytelling and contemporary ceremony.

With a career spanning over four decades, Nick Mount is one of the leading figures in the Australian studio glass movement.

Sydney-based Aboriginal artist, writer, and curator Nicole Foreshew has been gaining traction at home and abroad, as her practice across a range of mediums – from photomedia, design, sculpture, film and video – becomes widely recognised and rewarded.

A celebrated silversmith, Oliver Smith is an object maker whose practice embraces art, craft and design. Swinging a hammer, collaborating in an expanded cultural context, and leading visual arts education, Smith embodies creativity.

At the helm of one of Australia’s most loved and iconic fashion labels, Lydia Pearson and Pamela Easton have been designing and making textiles and clothing for over 25 years.

Architect, and one of three directors of Healthabitat, Paul Pholeros’ work within Healthabitat has helped improve the living environments of Indigenous people in many suburban and rural areas.

With an art practice spanning several decades, Patrick Hall’s work encompasses furniture making, public art, graphic design and sculpture, and has appeared in countless solo and group exhibitions both nationally and internationally.

Time spent living in the desert country of western NSW during his formative years helped architect Peter Stutchbury develop an appreciation of what it takes to live sustainably in Australia.

A coveted and collectable furniture designer in her own right, Pippa Dickson has become one of the country’s strongest advocates for Australian design, aiming to advance design and designers in her hometown Tasmania, and Australia.

Healy has worked over 20 years in the performing arts arena and is a member of the Industry Advisory Board at the University of Technology Sydney’s Faculty of Design, Architecture and Building.

Co-founder and director of Sydney architectural firm Neeson Murcutt Architects (NMA) Rachel Neeson is recognised as one of Australia’s leading architects.

Influenced by the language of architectural form, and interested in the tension and ambiguity between what is man made and what is organic, Richard Whiteley creates large cast glass sculptures that explore notions of space and light.

A true artistic powerhouse, Robert Baines is one of Australia’s leading goldsmiths, object makers, researchers and educators, and for the last 30 years has profoundly shaped Australian jewellery and object making. With countless solo exhibitions around the globe, Robert’s work challenges our conception of the world as much as they delight with their technical brilliance.

Initially training as a silversmith, designer Robert Foster is responsible for reintroducing aluminium object design to the modern masses. His iconic and wildly successful F!NK Water Jug was the inspiration behind starting F!NK & Co. – a studio and workshop producing high-end home wares, lighting and accessories made primarily from aluminium.

Professor Ross Harley is an award-winning artist, writer and educator whose career crosses the bounds of traditional and creative arts research

Dean of the Business School at the University of Technology Sydney, Roy Green is an advocate for design thinking and design-led innovation in tertiary education, business and government.

Sacha is an award-winning designer and founding Director of ASPECT Studios. His diverse and celebrated portfolio of landscape architecture and urban design have contributed to the broad international conversation about design, society, innovation and the environment.

Former Professor of Design Innovation at the University of Technology, Sydney, Prof. Sam Bucolo is an integral player in Australian design. Hoping to grow the Australian economy by building design capability across all levels of leadership and management, Sam believes that by putting design at the centre of strategy, Australian businesses can move from technology-centred innovation to Design Led Innovation.

Combining their retail and interior design experience respectively, and after identifying a gap for mid-market products that were designed and produced in Australia, Sasha Titchkosky and Russel Koskela founded Koskela in 2000.

The previous national president of the Australian Institute of Architects, Shelley Penn's projects have been published and exhibited nationally and internationally, and through her role as Associate Professor in Architecture at the University of Melbourne, she continues to ensure the future of our public landscapes are in very capable hands.

Working locally and internationally for the last two decades as an artist, industrial designer, design curator, writer and lecturer, Simone LeAmon has established a career as one of Australia’s foremost design creatives, and has exhibited in numerous solo and group exhibitions around the world.

Working across design and sculpture, Korban/Flaubert explore metal and motion in an intensive workshop setting in Sydney. With a background in experimental architecture and design, their fascination with metal and its manipulation leads to formidable sculpture with a sense of both movement and contained energy.

Exhibition and visual communications designer, and Creative Director of Project Two, Stephen Goddard’s work has spanned publication, exhibition, theatre design, and branding for many of Australia’s major cultural institutions over the last 25 years.

A pioneer in design projects that explore interactions between machines and natural ecologies, Stephen Mushin has spent the last 15 years working as a designer on real- world technology projects, and as an artist working on narrative projects that explore sustainable futures.

Merging art, craft, design, jewellery, and silver and gold smithing, Susan Cohn is a nationally and internationally renowned artist and innovator who has been honing her practice for over 30 years.

With practice-led research in material, spatial and temporal practices, Dr. Suzie Attiwill is an interior design academic and practitioner. Her research has been published nationally and internationally as book chapters, conference presentations, journal and magazine articles, and since 1991 she has pursued an independent practice that involves the design of exhibitions and curatorial work.

A sought after leader and mentor in the design community, Terri Winter founded retail concept store Top3 by Design in 2001 after recognising a gap for well curated design product.

Nationally recognised architect, adviser and agitator for smart policy that enables good design, Tim Horton has worked in small and large practice with executive-level experience in both the private and public sectors.

Tony Albert is a contemporary artist who takes traditional Australian Aboriginal aesthetics and weaves them together with text and imagery from popular culture along with clichéd images of extraterrestrials, photographs of his family in Lucha Libre, and an immense collection of “Aboriginalia” (a term the artist coined to describe kitschy objects and images that feature naive portrayals of Aboriginality).

Trent Jansen is an award-winning designer who applies his method of Design Anthropology to all the products and furniture he creates. 

For the past 12 years Vicki Grima has been the Executive Officer of The Australian Ceramics Association and also editor of their tri-annual print publication, The Journal of Australian Ceramics. This challenging job involves working with a diverse, dynamic membership of over 1000 studio potters, print and web publishing, along with event and exhibition management.

Creative director extraordinaire, Vince Frost is the founder and executive creative director of strategy, design and communications firm Frost* Collective. At just 27, Vince was the youngest associate director at the famous Pentagram design agency before branching out on his own to form Frost* Design.

WORKSHOPPED is innovative Australian company that exhibits, manufactures and retails Australian and New Zealand design products, to commercial and residential markets. The annual WORKSHOPPED exhibition has presented the work of over 450 Australian designers through 17 exhibitions and been viewed by over 650,000 people. The exhibition is a platform for emerging and established product, furniture and lighting designers.

Born in Wudinna, South Australia, Yvonne Koolmatrie is an Ngarrindjeri weaver who has been at the forefront of re-imagining south eastern weaving practices for the past three decades.