Australian designers, studios and collectives can now register their interest for the eighth iteration of Melbourne Design Week, taking place from 23 May to 2 June, 2024.
Makers and creators have been invited to submit their innovative and ground-breaking ideas for events, talks, exhibitions, workshops and for the festival’s state-wide satellite program.
Delivered by the National Gallery of Victoria, the annual 11-day festival is a significant platform for emerging and established designers, educators, enthusiasts, thinkers and businesses to share inventive ideas, showcase projects and connect with those in the industry.
The festival will once again call on creatives to “design the world they want”, with the theme for 2024 focusing on three key design pillars: ecology, ethics and energy.
Director of NGV Tony Ellwood encouraged innovators to get involved in the free event.
“If you have a story to tell, new work to unveil, an idea to discuss, an issue to debate – Melbourne Design Week is made for you,” Ellwood said.
“At its heart, Melbourne Design Week is a festival of ideas, which is why we’ve made it completely free for anyone from our rich and diverse design community to present bold new events in 2024. The success of Melbourne Design Week is due in no small part to the enthusiastic engagement and participation from the design sector – and we can’t wait to share your achievements in 2024.”
Design House by Oigall Projects.
Image: Annika Kafcaloudis
Accounting for approximately 90 per cent of the festival’s programming, the state-wide satellite program will host events in studios, retail spaces, universities, galleries, gardens and public spaces in Victoria.
Highlights of the 2023 satellite program included Hard, an exhibition showcasing queer creatives from Australia; Im-Permanent, a mycelium exhibition developed through a collaboration between RMIT University academics from an industrial design program and creatives and strategists from social impact agency Ellis Jones; and a joint project between Tait, Agency and Numbulwar Numburindi Arts, involving a reimagining Tait’s Tidal chair using discarded ghost fishing nets that have washed up on the shores of the remote Numbulwar community.
Expressions of interest for the Melbourne Design Week are open until Thursday, 23 November, 2023.
Monolithic by Two Lines Studio.
Image: Two Lines Studio
Coinciding with Melbourne Design Week is the ten-year anniversary of the Melbourne Art Book Fair, which will be held across the same dates, between Thursday, 23 May and Sunday, 2 June, 2024.
Expressions of interest for the fair are also open, with the event showcasing the work of artists, publishers and designers in bookshops, galleries, libraries, community centres, and public gardens across Victoria.
The first weekend of the Melbourne Art Book Fair will feature the popular stallholder fair in NGV’s Great Hall, giving visitors the opportunity to explore and purchase unique printed materials from outstanding local and international publishers and designers.
Melbourne Design Week is an initiative of the Victorian government, delivered through their Creative Victoria program.
Since its inception, the program has grown in scope and popularity from just under 100 programs in 2017 to over 350 in 2023. More than 70,000 people attended the 2023 festival making it a highly acclaimed national design event.
