This month I would like to personally thank our supporters who have already made contributions to our annual appeal. This support helps our small organisation to support nearly 1000 craftspeople and designers each year across our many platforms.

While government support for creative practice continues to decline, our donors are critical for the survival of ADC. We are an organisation who has worked both locally, nationally, and globally to create multiple platforms for practitioners to showcase their work. Please consider making your tax deductible donation today. 

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Last month we took the work of ten designer/makers to Melbourne for Melbourne Design Fair. It was a fantastic experience meeting over ten thousand visitors and introducing them to the makers and their work. A huge thank you to booth collaborators Australian Tapestry Workshop and co-curator Rina Bernabei, as well to the organisers the National Gallery of Victoria and the Melbourne Art Foundation. Read more and see some images here. 

We are getting very excited about entries in the inaugural MAKE Award. With $45,000 in prizes for innovation in craft and design practice this is the richest non-acquisitive award in Australia. Entries are open until the stroke of midnight on 12 June.

With two new exhibitions in Sydney opening on 15 June we are busy and looking forward to welcoming you in from the cold to see them. Many thanks to Liane Rossler for working alongside me and leading the team with her curation and creative direction on Good Natured: design art architecture.

Thanks for readu 

Lisa Cahill
CEO and Artistic Director 

Donate to make an impact

For almost six decades Australian Design Centre has taken a lead role developing and supporting thousands of Australia’s makers and designers across our many platforms.
 
With your support, we can continue this work with confidence — knowing that, like us, you believe in the power of creativity and design to help improve our lives.
 
Donations of all amounts make a difference and are tax-deductible
Donate now before 30 June 2023. 

MAKE Award: Entries close 12 June 

MAKE Award is open to designer/makers working across all related disciplines including ceramics, glass, furniture, woodwork, metalwork, textiles, fibre and contemporary jewellery.

The winner of the MAKE Award will receive a cash prize of $35,000 with a second prize of $10,000, making it the richest non-acquisitive prize for craft and design in Australia.

Entries close: Extended to 12 June 2023
Finalists notified: 11 August 2023
Exhibition dates: 28 September – 22 November 2023

MAKE Award is an initiative of Australian Design Centre to acknowledge the richness and diversity of creative talent in Australia.

Exhibitions + Events  

Good Natured: Design Art Architecture

GOOD NATURED: Design Art Architecture celebrates creative projects by designers, artists and architects working to design a better future.

This major exhibition features nine Australian creative practitioners addressing climate issues and creating good outcomes for the future of the planet — plus a growing list of further examples of good natured people and organisations who demonstrate the depth and diversity of beautiful, practical and impactful work being done for a better world.

When: 15 June – 27 July 2023
Where: Australian Design Centre
More information here

For Our Elders

To celebrate the 2023 NAIDOC theme, ‘For Our Elders’, we present a selection of hand-crafted ceramic works created by the Elders Ceramics Group for Campbelltown Arts Centre’s exhibition: Budjari Mudjingaal, meaning ‘good friends’ in Dharawal language.

Elders made the vessels in workshops facilitated by Aboriginal ceramicist, Natalie Valiente. This cultural program also included a floristry course, contributing to affordable community resources for Sorry Business. 

When: 15 June – 27 July 2023
Where: Australian Design Centre
More information here

Sydney Craft Week Festival

Entries open until 23 June 

Calling for entries from makers, galleries, shops, guilds, libraries, councils and studios for exhibitions, workshops and events during and around Friday 6 October – Sunday 15 October 2023.

Festival Director Lisa Cahill says: “This year festival theme is ‘Time.’  Participants are encouraged to reflect on this theme in their event: the time it takes to make, to learn a skill, to understand materials and to build a practice as well as the timeless quality of handmade work."

ADC On Tour 

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 to acknowledge this significant anniversary.

Currently on view at Adelaide’s JamFactory until 9 July 2023, this touring exhibition features twenty-two acclaimed ceramic artists from across Australia.

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Acknowledgement of Country

Australian Design Centre is proud to be a creative place located on Gadigal Country.

We acknowledge and pay our respects to the Traditional Owners, the Gadigal People, and to Elders past and present.

As an arts organisation with national connections, we also pay our respects to all First Peoples across the country.

We recognise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture as the oldest continuing culture in the world. We celebrate the diversity of language, culture, custom, ceremony and knowledge (Lore) of First Peoples as Traditional Owners, custodians and communities with an ongoing connection across land, sea and waterways.

We acknowledge that the lands on which we live and work are unceded – always was, always will be, Aboriginal Land.

Images:
1. Joanna Fowles, Flore Vallery Radot. Photo: Courtesy of the artist.
2. Made/Worn, exhibition installation view, ADC on Tour, Hazelhurst Art Centre, 2022-2023. Photo: Silversalt
3. Tjanpi Desert Weaver Baskets, ADC Shop. Photo: Amy PIddington
4. Kilnit Studio. Photo: Courtesy of the Studio.
5. Transformative Repair exhibition, Floor Talk Event, 2022. Photograph: Carine Theveau.
6. MAKE Award brand design by Stephen Goddard.
7. Portrait of Eggpicnic, Camila De Gregorio and Christopher Macaluso. Photo: Courtesy of Eggpicnic.
8. Honey Fingers, Beekeeping. Photo: Courtesy of the artist.
9. Michelle Hailes, Flora and Fauna (detail) 2019–20, hand-built ceramic vessel, glazes. © the artist. Photo: Courtesy Campbelltown Arts Centre
10. Weaving works on display as part of Mutukaku Ngura: Motorcar Country exhibition. Photo: Amy Piddington.
11. Friends browsing the display at Object Shop. Photo: Amy Piddington
12. Lorrie Evans, Eco Dye Hand Stitch Wearable, 2018. Photo by Gill Brooks
13. SIXTY Exhibition, ADC On Tour, JamFactory 2023. Photo: Connor Patterson
14. Liz Wiliamson & Tulla Carson, Transformed Plan-o-spider chairs, 2022. Photo: Courtesy of JamFactory