Newsletter - Design Institute of Australia

No.28
spark_Winter 2013
The Voice of Professional Design
The office of the future?
Milan furniture fair offers some possible
glimpses of future work environments.
The annual Salon del Mobile
in Milan is one of the world’s
largest design fairs, displaying
an almost bewildering range of
furniture, lighting, fashion and
interior design accessories from
around the world.
The 2013 Salon closed last month, attracting over 2,500 exhibitors and
more than 300,000 visitors from 160 different countries.
Possible futures
This year’s theme was ‘Interiors of tomorrow’,
and there was a series of exhibits based
around possible work environments of the
future that reflect the needs of changing
societies, technologies and lifestyles.
French architect and 2008 Pritzker Prize
winner, Jean Nouvel, oversaw a 1200 square
metre exhibit within the SaloneUfficio
pavilion 24 which took the form of a small
district, displaying five work environments
designed to ‘transmit creativity, inspiration
and enjoyment.’
His ‘office for living’ concepts were predicated
on the assumption that office environments
that provide an individualised, enjoyable
work environment will produce happier, more
productive and creative employees. >
www.design.org.au

Winter_2013
:to kindle,
excite or
animate
Designers, by our very nature, are great collaborators. Typically we
work with colleagues and consultants during the design phase of
a project and we depend on builders, printers, manufacturers and
a host of other people to realise our visions. Importantly, we also
collaborate with our clients, which is a key differentiator between
the way that designers work and the way that craftspeople or
artists typically work. Invariably, there are times when we wish we
weren’t so dependent on others but there’s no avoiding it. The most
successful designers are often the most successful collaborators too.
01
For the Design Institute of Australia, collaboration is also a necessity
and this year, we are focusing a great deal of attention on it. For
up to 46 years we have been active members of three international
organisations which represent the key design disciplines of
Interior Design (IFI), Industrial Design (ICSID) and Graphic Design
(ICOGRADA). Not only do we collaborate with these bodies, but
through them, with many similar organisations around the world.
You’ll be aware of several new DIA National Corporate Partners
joining us recently (namely Billi, Reece, Space, Forbo and Smeg) and
we are pleased to collaborate with them to our mutual benefits.
Our partner and licensed programmes include the Australian
Interior Design Awards, designEX and Colourways and we are well
represented on Advisory Panels for all of them. We look at ways that
we can support what they are doing for the industry and, in turn,
what benefits they can offer our members.
Our foundation membership of the Australian Design Alliance gives
us a direct voice to government and links with key Australian design
bodies such as AIA, Engineers Australia and NAVA.
And we are in the process of developing a raft of new relationships
and agreements with other Australasian organisations such as Good
Design Australia, Australian International Design Awards, AGDA,
Green Building Council of Australia, the Designers Institute of New
Zealand, Creative Industries Innovation Centre and others.
We believe that by nurturing these collaborations that we will gain
greater visibility, greater reach and greater impact as our network
grows wider and deeper.
But by far the most important collaborations that the DIA has are
with our valued members. Through state based events, awards
programmes, National Office communications, publications, the
website and many other means, we elicit a dialogue with our
members. Every decision that the Institute makes is predicated
on a positive outcome for our members. We thank you for your
collaboration, which gives us our voice: the voice of Professional
Design in Australia.
Working and living
Nouvel’s first concept was located in a
traditional city-centre apartment with
reception rooms, bedroom, kitchen,
fireplaces, floors and mouldings left
untouched to provide a functional office
environment within a comfortable,
‘livable’ space.
The second concept deliberately blurs the line
between ‘home’ and ‘office’, serving as an
office during the day and reverting to a home
during the evenings and weekends, with
objects having parallel existences.
The third employs an open space containing
pieces of industrial furniture from different
eras that can be put together, stacked, taken
apart and reassembled, breaking with what
Nouvel calls the ‘totalitarian, repetitious’
character of many modern offices.
Different varieties of wood, cardboard,
leather and coloured plastic enable the
occupants to display their individual
personalities and preferences.
Open to interpretation
The fourth space is located inside a
warehouse, chosen for its pre-defined open
plan which allows almost total control over
what is placed inside and where.
The resultant ‘free-range’ furnishing allows
totally flexible furnishing, lighting and
decorating solutions to suit almost any taste.
Nouvel’s final, fifth space was designed on
the rationalist theme, using a high-tech,
open-plan office system which employs
sliding, collapsible walls that enable
individual offices to be built according to
the user’s whims.
Blinds are used to control the light levels,
frosted glass provides intimacy and privacy as
required, and a range of detailed wood and
chrome finishings and high-tech components
imparts a feeling of luxury.
Designers Michele De Lucchi, Marc Newson,
Philippe Starck and Ron Arad displayed items
of their latest furniture pieces within
Nouvel’s exhibits.
James Harper FDIA
DIA National President
FFS-2011
GECA 25-2011 V2
Floor Coverings
www.design.org.au

3
spark_Winter 2013
02
Shape shifting
Also at the Salon was an office concept
by UK-based architect Adam Khan, who
displayed his idea of how an ideal future
workplace might appear.
In conjunction with the American Hardwood
Export Council (AHEC) and Wallpaper
magazine, his ‘Octopus’ office space
examined the increasing overlap between
work and home.
Khan used natural and heat-treated American
tulipwood with American maple flooring to
create a warm, rich work environment.
03
Natural colour variations in the tulipwood
were used to create a marbling effect that
contrasted with the darker heat-treated
timber – usually used for exterior use, but
used internally in this instance to provide
a contrasting finish and help delineate the
various work zones available.
04
Tony Chambers, Wallpaper Editor-in-Chief,
said that ‘In this exhibition we have showed
how personalised and cleverly domesticated
workspaces can encourage creativity,
motivation, loyalty and honest graft whilst
simultaneously making a subtle but powerful
statement about one’s identity as a business.’
SPARK
Images courtesy of jeannouvel.com and
americanhardwood.org
05
06
01-08_Could one of these be your office of
the future? New office design concepts blur the
lines between home, work and play.
07
08
www.design.org.au

4
spark_Winter 2013
Design graduates on display
2013 DIA State
GOTYAs announced.
The state levels of the annual DIA-organised
Graduate Of The Year Awards (GOTYAs)
have been recently completed by the
DIA Victoria/Tasmania and New South
Wales branches.
This is a hotly contested event each year,
with design institutions from Australasia
and New Zealand submitting the final year
portfolios of their best design graduates
for judging.
Winners of the state GOTYAs are then
automatically entered into the grand
competition of the Australasian GOTYAs
(AGOTYAs), which this year will be judged
at the 2013 designEx in Melbourne
during May.
Vic/Tas GOTYA winners:
Interior Design
1/ Alice Dwyer, University of Tasmania
2/ Erin Lacey, University of Tasmania
2/ Alina Dain, Monash University
Interior Design & Decoration
1/ Amelia Williams, RMIT University
2/ Alison Lewis, NMIT - Northern Melbourne
Institute of TAFE
Commendation: Rosanna Lambert,
Box Hill Institute
Commendation: Polina Radchenko,
RMIT University
Object - Industrial Design
1/ Tristan Brega, Swinburne University of
Technology
2/ Rowan Page, Monash University
Commendation: Ashley Martyn Smith,
RMIT University
Object - Furniture Design
1/ Matty C Smith, University of Tasmania
2/ Ben Brayshaw, RMIT University
Commendation: Alex Brown, RMIT University
Object - Jewellery Design
Commendation: Hau Ong Ding,
Monash University
Commendation: Alyra Bartasek,
Monash University
Graphic Design
1/ Tom Sabbatucci, Monash University
1/ Emily Flanagan, Swinburne University of
Technology
Commendation: Seviora Citra, Swinburne
University of Technology
Commendation: Andrew Robertson,
Swinburne University of Technology
Fashion & Textile Design
1/ Meaghan McLeish, RMIT University
2/ Edith Barrett, RMIT University
2/ Esther Sandler, RMIT University
01,02_Vic/Tas GOTYA winning entry: The Bishop’s
Parlour by Amelia Williams.
03_Amelia Williams, Vic/Tas GOTYA overall winner.
04_NSW/ACT GOTYA exhibition.
05_NSW/ACT GOTYA winners: Fatme Hawchar, Ying
Yuan, Leroy Nguyen, Sarah Nicholson, Sonja Kritzler,
Gabrielle Lord, Thomas Skeehan and Alfred Boyadgis.
Victoria and Tasmania
Overall winner of the Vic/Tas GOTYA this year
was RMIT graduate Amelia Williams, who
has now completed her Interior Design and
Decoration course and is currently working
as an assistant designer at Melbourne interior
design practice Atticus and Milo.
‘I was fortunate to have A & M Design
Director Caecilia Potter as my mentor
during university, which subsequently led to
employment,’ explained Amelia.
‘My goal was always to gain employment
at the end of my study. For my work to be
recognised by the DIA and Colourways came
as a complete surprise.
03
04
02
‘To be awarded the GOTYA by industry
professionals gives me confidence and
direction for the future.’
Sophisticated concept
Colourways Colour Awards were presented
to GOTYA finalists in each category:
Interior Design:
Phoebe Smith, RMIT University
Interior Design & Decoration:
Amelia Williams, RMIT University
Object - Industrial Design:
Ashley Martyn Smith, RMIT University
Object - Furniture Design:
Ben Brayshaw, RMIT University
Object - Jewellery Design:
Hau Ong Ding, Monash University
Graphic Design:
Emily Flanagan, Swinburne University of
Technology
Fashion & Textile Design:
Edith Barrett, RMIT University
Amelia’s GOTYA winning project, ‘The
Bishop’s Parlour’, was a striking concept for
an open-plan barber’s salon ‘where tradition,
craft and charisma collide.’
The barber’s salon includes a well appointed
bar, library and café where barbers and
clients can mingle, enjoying the relaxing,
sophisticated atmosphere of an old world
gentleman’s retreat embellished with a
modern twist.
05
New South Wales and ACT
The NSW and ACT Graduate of the Year
Awards (GOTYA) from the Design Institute of
Australia were announced on the 10th April
2013 at the Stylecraft East Sydney showroom.
Judges were Greg Natale, Meryl Hare, Vicki
Murphy, Andrew Simpson, James Morton,
Analiese Cairis and Dallas Power.
Overall NSW/ACT Graduate Of The Year was
Industrial Design Graduate, Thomas Skeehan.
NSW/ACT GOTYA winners:
Graphic Design
Gabrielle Lord
Interior Design
Sarah Nicholson
Interior Decoration and Design
Sonja Kritzler
Industrial Design
Thomas Skeehan
Textiles/Fashion
Ying Yuan
Leroy Nguyen
Jewellery Design
Rosemary Boddem Whetham
Innovation
Alfredo Boyadgis
Colourways Award for Colour
Fatme Hawchar
Congratulations to all winners and finalists.
SPARK
01
www.design.org.au

5
Light years ahead
spark_Winter 2013
Clever designer uses
light to make smarter
roads, plus fashion
and art.
01 02 03
Genuine innovation is comparatively rare
in any field of endeavour, and design is no
exception. With a few notable exceptions,
some of the so called ‘smart’ products made
today can often be somewhat underwhelming.
But a highly talented and multi-awarded
Dutch designer, innovator and artist, Daan
Roosegaarde, seems to be able to mine a rich
lode of fascinating ideas and concepts at will
– most of them centred around the use of
light and how we react to it.
Smarter roads
His latest project is the ‘Smart Highway’,
a concept developed in conjunction with
Heijmans Infrastructure, a Dutch company that
works in property development, buildings,
installation engineering and infrastructure.
Roosegaarde’s Smart Highway is designed to
make roads ‘more sustainable and interactive’
by using light, energy and road signs that
automatically adapt to varying traffic and
weather conditions.
For instance, the Dutch design partnership has
developed a ‘Glow-in-the-Dark Road’ which
uses photo-luminescent paint in the road
markings to absorb sunlight during the day and
emit light during the night for up to ten hours,
illuminating the way for motorists without the
need for street lights – at least in rural areas.
Working with nature
There’s also the Smart Highway’s ‘Dynamic
Paint’, ‘Interactive Light’, ‘Induction Priority
Lane’ and the ‘Wind Light’.
The Dynamic Paint uses specially treated paint
on the road surface that remains invisible in
normal temperatures and weather conditions,
but is programmed to display warning signs
if the weather deteriorates, perhaps like
images of giant snowflakes illuminated on
the surface of the road to warn motorists of
icy conditions ahead.
The Induction Priority Lane uses a specially
treated road surface in a designated road lane
to recharge electric vehicles as they drive along,
‘Interactive Lights’ come on from the side of
the road as your car draws alongside, and it’s
not clear what the Wind Light does exactly, but
it’s sure to be something equally clever.
Bio-mimicry
Awarded with a ‘Best Future Concept’ by
the Dutch Design Awards in 2012, the first
test metres of the Smart Highway will be
rolled out in the second half of 2013 in
the Netherlands.
According to Roosegaarde, the Smart
Highway is all about ‘innovating the highway’
instead of focusing on the car, which is where
most efforts of designers and manufacturers
have been traditionally expended.
Roosegaarde claims to have thought of
the idea when he was thinking about the
photo-luminescent light that jellyfish and
other marine (and some insect) life emit, and
wondered why on earth we needed to expend
all the time, money and expense of building
huge, energy-draining electricity networks
just to shine lights along the edges of roads –
lights which blaze away all night regardless of
whether they are actually needed or not.
A dance with technology
A very good question indeed, and
Roosegaarde’s work on the Smart Highway
follows on from his extensive work on other
lighting-related projects, art installations and
even fashion design.
He regards his design studio as a ‘social
design lab’ where he can explore interactive
designs using tactile, high tech products that
create a connection between ideology and
technology, or what he calls ‘techno-poetry’.
04
01_Roosegaarde’s Intimacy fashion label, which
uses e-foils to reveal differing amounts of the
wearer’s body.
02_Daan Roosegaarde.
03_The Smart Highway includes a priority lane that
uses induction coils under the tarmac to recharge
electric cars as they drive.
04_The Sustainable Dance Floor, an interactive
floor which generates electricity through the act
of dancing.
05_The Lotus Dome, a living dome made out
of hundreds of smart flowers which unfold in
response to human behaviour.
Lateral thinking
Among his many other projects are the
‘Intimacy’ fashion label, which uses e-foils
to reveal differing amounts of the wearer’s
body, depending upon the ‘level of personal
interaction’; the ‘Lotus’ art installation, a
large collection of ‘intelligent’ aluminium
flowers that open and close in response
to the proximity of passers-by, and the
‘Sustainable Dance Floor’, which generates
the power necessary to illuminate the dance
venue by the vibration of the dancers’ feet.
Roosegaarde has exhibited at the Tate
Modern, the National Museum in Tokyo, the
Victoria and Albert Museum in London and is
the winner of two Dutch Design Awards, the
Media Architecture Award, the TIM Award
for Most Innovative Leader and China’s Most
Successful Design Award, with a second
studio recently launched in Shanghai.
An exceedingly clever man, and may be
literally lighting the way for generations
to come. SPARK
Images courtesy of studioroosegaarde.net
05
www.design.org.au

6
spark_Winter 2013
A penny for your thoughts
Is $1000 for a crowdsourced design
festival poster ‘democratising design’
or simply blatant exploitation?
Is crowdsourcing a valid way of opening up
the design process to a wider audience or a
dumbed-down, sub-standard process with
second-rate outcomes and a threat to ‘real’
design and designers?
Those were the questions inadvertently posed
recently by the Powerhouse Museum when it
decided to use a crowdsourcing competition
to design a poster for this year’s Sydney
Design Festival.
A heated response
In doing so, Festival organisers got themselves
into very hot water with Australia’s graphic
design community, who took umbrage
at what they saw as a direct assault on
designers and the design profession.
Rather than commissioning an Australian
graphic designer to come up with a poster
as in years past, Sydney Design Festival
organisers chose to invite ‘designs’ from
all and sundry via an American-based
crowdsourcing website, creativeallies.com
With a festival theme of ‘Can clever design
save the world?’, a lot of graphic designers
– and AGDA, the Australian Graphic Design
Association – thought that the Powerhouse’s
use of crowdsourcing was not only illconsidered,
it was offensive.
Clever strategy
In protest, a network of angry graphic
designers took it upon themselves to turn
the crowdsourcing principle on its head and
bombarded the poster competition with
dozens of ‘bad design’ posters, eventually
forcing the closure of the competition.
The online guerilla warfare tactics seriously
embarrassed the festival organisers, made it
into The Age newspaper, and raised yet again
the contentious and apparently never-ending
problem of pitching, crowdsourcing and
design competitions in general.
No friends of design
The Creative Allies crowdsourcing site initially
used by the Sydney Design Festival describes
itself as ‘an online community where creative
people can submit art and designs for
musicians they love, win prizes, sell their work
and get discovered.’
It is an offshoot of ‘Music Allies’, a
self-described ‘top secret’ agency that
‘handles strategy, marketing, publicity and
radio promotions for music festivals and
independent labels’.
Creative Allies also encourages a range of
design competitions, and although these
generally tend to focus mostly on musicrelated
record sleeves and merchandise, the
Sydney Design Festival clearly thought that
the opportunity to reach a claimed Creative
Allies membership of more than 30,000
would-be ‘creatives’ was an opportunity too
good to pass up.
A slap in the face
The Sydney Design Festival 2013 poster
competition offered a prize of $1000 for the
winning poster design: perhaps an attractive
amount for a student or emerging ‘artist’,
but considerably below what a qualified,
established graphic designer would expect to
receive for their efforts.
The $1000 prize money offered neatly
sidestepped any accusation of ‘free’
pitching, but didn’t escape the ‘underpaid
and exploitative’ charges sure to be levelled
against the crowdsourcing competition, along
with a host of other related issues.
Paul van Barneveld, the National President
of AGDA, said that the Sydney Design
Festival’s decision to pay a tiny amount for
poster design via crowdsourcing rather than
commissioning an experienced designer at
normal pay rates was a slap in the face for
the industry.
Bad design
‘Devaluing design through free pitching or
crowd-sourcing is not good practice,’ he said
in an article in The Age newspaper.
‘If a design festival doesn’t even value design
properly, what kind of message does that send
to the general public and business sectors?’
As the ‘bad design’ campaign by protesting
graphic designers began to go viral,
organisers started removing protest entries
before eventually giving up, closing down the
competition altogether in the face of what
they later called a ‘disproportionate’ number
of ‘non-compliant, offensive and potentially
damaging responses’.
Strange decisions
Back to square one then, with the
Powerhouse licking its wounds and declaring
that it would ‘revert to the standard
government processes for graphic design
commissioning’ and ‘look forward to working
with the selected designer to realise the full
Sydney Design marketing campaign for 2013.’
But why did the Powerhouse and Sydney
Design Festival decide to use crowdsourcing
in the first place?
In an article posted on D*Hub, the Powerhouse
Museum blog, festival organisers claimed that
‘In addition to the prize money offered, the
Museum would have engaged the winning
designer for further work and remuneration
required to roll out the winning design into a
more comprehensive marketing campaign.’
A new mantra
They claimed that by ‘deciding to become
more inclusive’ and ‘opening up the design
process to a much wider group of people’
(i.e. crowdsourcing through an online
competition), the festival was ‘continuing
its long tradition of using the competition
platform as a way of sourcing and
generating new, innovative and
exciting content.
‘The internet and social media have
changed the way in which we work and
live – providing dynamic platforms for real
democratic engagement and creativity
whilst at the same time creating a flurry of
misinformation, low grade or amateurish
work and at times, unprofessional or even
socially unacceptable behaviour,’ claimed the
Powerhouse article.
‘In any case, it cannot be ignored.
A questionable viewpoint
‘Crowd sourcing models are here to stay
and they are a legitimate way to generate
creative responses – whether it’s a poster
design for Beirut Design Week or a crowd
funding campaign to secure the latest
tooling for the more efficient manufacturing
of a commercial product.
‘In addition, it’s not uncommon to see a
range of models both conventional and
more experimental operating simultaneously
in order to achieve the outcomes of any
creative project.’
01-04_ Just a few of the many ‘bad design’ protest
posters submitted by angry graphic designers.
01 02
I’m a designer too
A curious set of assumptions from the
Powerhouse, which apparently values the
design ‘process’ over outcomes, using the
currently fashionable and artificially contrived
doctrine of ‘inclusivity’.
Taken to its logical but understated
conclusion, such assumptions imply that
anyone can design and that therefore
everyone is a designer, regardless of talent,
qualifications and experience.
If one designer can design a good poster,
goes the crowdsourcing theory, imagine
what 1,000 or 30,000 designers could do for
you – and at a much lower cost…
Such simplistic notions conveniently ignore
the reality that the overwhelming majority
of crowdsourcing ‘creatives’ differ wildly
in their abilities and are most definitely
not designers.
Why would any designer with real talent be
wasting their time and effort for a negligible
rate of return on a crowdsourcing site?
Crowdsourcing may be good for some
things, but the spurious logic of ‘more is
always better’ completely overturns common
sense and experience, particularly when
applied to design.
www.design.org.au

7
In protest, a network of angry graphic
designers took it upon themselves to turn
the crowdsourcing principle on its head and
bombarded the poster competition with
dozens of ‘bad design’ posters, eventually
forcing the closure of the competition.
spark_Winter 2013
04
Design by committee
Those who favour ‘process’, ‘inclusivity’
and ‘democratisation’ as the highest ideals
in design are engaged in mere social
experimentation – and try telling a client
who is outlaying a significant sum of money
for your design services that although he
or she may have received a second rate
design solution, they can console themselves
with the knowledge that everyone from
the office cleaner to the friends of the
next door neighbour was involved in the
design ‘process’.
That said, pitching and competitions are
a highly complex and emotive area, with
crowdsourcing being just one of the latest
manifestations of a notoriously grey and
shifting area that is easily open to abuse.
How to balance protecting the jobs and
talents of qualified designers against the
legitimate aspirations of up and coming
designers, keen to make their mark in an
already overcrowded profession?
A simple benchmark
The answer is comparatively simple, if not
always palatable, and applies to every
profession the world over: those individuals
with genuine, outstanding talent and the
desire to succeed in their chosen profession
will always stand out, regardless of
circumstances.
Those with lesser talent and determination
will regrettably fall by the wayside, finding
their niche in something else more suited to
their talents.
The deceptive charms of ‘democratising’
design and ‘wider engagement’ through
avenues like crowdsourcing ignores the reality
that throughout history, all great decisions,
innovations and indeed, history itself, has
almost always changed because of the
actions of just a few talented individuals – for
better or for worse.
03
True talent will out
The Marc Newsons, Philippe Starcks,
Frank Lloyd Wrights, Stefan Sagmeisters
and Alexander McQueens of this world
didn’t arrive through the equivalent of
crowdsourcing or pitching, and their
successors probably won’t either. Precocious
design talent of this magnitude is usually
spotted very early in their studies,
and crowdsourcing is neither necessary
nor desirable.
Crowdsourcing and all other attempts to
‘democratise’ the creative process ignores
the fact that all truly great creators have an
innate, individual ability that has nothing to
do with any artificially constructed system
and frequently requires them to create – at
least initially – in solitude, well away from the
clamour and conflicting distractions of any
crowd mentality or ‘democratic’ process.
To expect any artificially contrived system
to be able to replicate such talent is
simply fanciful.
When the added effects of exploitation,
lower quality outcomes and diminution of
professional standards are taken into account,
the dangers of pitching and crowdsourcing
for design outcomes should be clear to all.
Credit where it’s due
The Powerhouse and Sydney Design Festival
deserve credit for their willingness to
investigate new design paradigms and ways
to involve a wider audience, but care must be
taken not to fall under the spell of abstruse,
formulaic, intellectual constructs that have
little or no bearing in reality – nor the naïve
use of exploitative systems like pitching and
crowdsourcing competitions.
The DIA, AGDA and the Designer’s Institute
(formerly DINZ, the Designer’s Institute of New
Zealand), all oppose pitching and exploitative
design competitions, and are uniting their
efforts to help inform Australian and New
Zealand designers and businesses about the
pitfalls of pitching and related issues.
For more information about the DIA’s policy
on pitching and design competitions, plus a
discussion paper and a designer’s matrix that
outlines the common forms of situations a
designer is likely to encounter in this area
and what to do about them, visit the DIA
website under ‘About Design/The Design
Industry/Issues/Free Pitching’ for a free
downloadable pdf.
Postscript
In an apparent last minute effort to maintain
its crowdsourcing principles, the Powerhouse
Museum has now sent an email invitation to
selected designers asking for their ‘comments’
about four commissioned draft design
concepts for the 2013 Sydney Design Festival.
This new version of crowdsourcing by the
Powerhouse is meant to ‘assist in the selection
of the successful concept’ for the 2013
Sydney Design Festival – and those designers
gullible enough to respond are being offered
‘the chance to win a $100 gift voucher from
the Powerhouse Museum Shop’.
Despite the furore over its earlier
crowdsourcing debacle, it would appear that
the Powerhouse Museum remains determined
to cling on to its policy of ‘design by the
masses’, and this time around sees no ethical
constraints in asking designers to comment on
others’ commissioned work – once again with
a ludicrous financial incentive.
At the time of writing, the saga continues...
SPARK
Images courtesy of poskitt.com.au,
sector7g.com.au and jamesarmstrong.com.au
www.design.org.au

8
spark_Winter 2013
hof
important contributors to the design profession.
New Victorian
DIA Hall of Fame
inductees
01
The DIA is delighted to announce the latest group of design
luminaries to be inducted into the DIA’s Hall Of Fame –
an important online repository of some of Australia’s most
Including the six Victorian inductees listed
below, the current total of DIA Hall of Fame
recipients now stands at seventy-five, with an
annual intake of recipients selected by a DIA
National Committee.
The next intake into the DIA Hall Of Fame will
be from New South Wales later in the year.
Joanne Cys LFDIA, a past National President
of the DIA, is the new Chair of the Hall
Of Fame selection committee, taking
over from the previous incumbent, Geoff
Fitzpatrick LFDIA.
Leon van Schaik is Professor of Architecture
at RMIT University and has developed a
practice-based research programme for
architects and designers whose work
demonstrates mastery in their field, and
through which he promotes local and
international architectural culture.
Over two decades, Professor van Schaik is
upheld as having guided RMIT into becoming
a patron of exceptional architects and of
assisting the city of Melbourne to build a
robust architectural culture.
Professor van Schaik’s contributions to
education have been recognized by a Life
Fellow Award from RAIA, the Neville Quarry
RAIA Education Prize and AO of the General
Division of the Order of Australia.
Graphic designer Max Robinson is perhaps
best known for having designed Australia’s
$10 note, but his diverse client portfolio also
includes such names as Avis, BOAC, Trust
Houses Forte, Caledonian Airlines, Stamps of
the World, Melbourne Film Festival, Reserve
Bank, BHP, Western Mining, Colonial Mutual
Life and Alcoa.
Interior Designer Janne Faulkner founded
Nexus Designs in 1967, a practice that
is involved in residential and commercial
interiors and has a strong graphic design arm.
A proponent of a unique Australian style,
Janne has advised many of Australia’s product
manufacturers on their product ranges,
colour trends and forecasting, and has been
appointed a member of the Order of Australia
for Services to Design and the Arts.
She has received many awards and has
published several books on interior design.
Industrial Designer and consultant Ian
Edgar is regarded as a trailblazer in
Australian Industrial Design, and in addition
to establishing the Philips Industries design
office in 1968, has held key positions in
prominent Australian companies during the
last thirty years.
Appointed as a Fellow of DIA in 1981,
he has been highly active in advancing
the role of Industrial Design, and acts as
a lecturer and mentor to many young
industrial design students.
Industrial and Graphic Designer Roger
Simpson has been responsible for a wide
range of product and graphic designs
familiar to most Australians, and his work in
pioneering product design work in fibreglass
and extruded aluminium has been at the
forefront of the profession.
Notable project work includes signage
hardware systems for TAA Airport Terminals,
Victorian Railways, Royal North Shore
Hospital and Alfred Hospital, merchandising
systems and hardware for Dulux and British
Paints, and graphic design for Homestead
Hardware and HPM Industries.
Exhibition and Display Designer Bryon
Cunningham’s most publicly recognised
works are probably the Shrine of
Remembrance and the Immigration Museum,
but he has been the recipient of multiple
awards for his work on other projects also.
A DIA Fellow, he has also served on the DIA
Victorian Council.
Interior Designer Ian Archibald has been in
professional practice since 1977 and is the
Principal of Decollo Interior Design.
A DIA Fellow, he has long been actively
involved with SIDA, and is currently serving as
President of the SIDA Foundation in 2013.
Full citations for all new Hall Of Fame
inductees will be available online through the
DIA website at design.org.au SPARK
01_Joanne Cys LFDIA, the new Chair of the Hall Of
Fame selection committee.
The Voice of Professional Design
Industrial Design
Furniture Design
Interior Design
Interior Decoration
Interior Architecture
Exhibition and Display
TV, Film & Theatre Set
Graphic Design
Visual Communication
Web Design
Multimedia Design
Digital Environment Design
Digital Animation Design
Digital Game Design
E-commerce Design
Textile Design
Jewellery Design
Fashion Design
Design Management
Design Education
Need more information?
Design Institute
of Australia
ABN 12 004 412 613
National Office
Level 1, 175 Collins Street
Melbourne VIC 3000
Australia
GPO Box 355
Melbourne VIC 3001
Phone 1300 888 056
Fax 03 9662 4140
Web www.design.org.au
Email admin@design.org.au
Thanks to the following
people and/or organisations
for contributions to the
Spark newsletter:
James Harper
Phillippa Rowland
AHEC
Wallpaper magazine
Caroline Caneva
Charles Prior
Amelia Williams
Daina Ziedas
Daan Roosegaarde
Advertise in Spark!
For current details on advertising in
Spark please visit the DIA website at
www.design.org.au and go to ‘Publicity’,
then ‘Spark Newsletter’, for pdf downloads
on advertising rates and requirements.
Printed on 100gsm Ecostar 100% Recycled,
available from BJ Ball Paper.
Winter_2013
SPARK is the National Newsletter of the DIA.
©2013 DIA
While every effort is made to ensure that the contents and
quality of material contained in SPARK conforms to DIA
principles, the DIA accepts no responsibility whatever for any
omissions, errors or opinions, however occasioned.
Disclaimer_The DIA reserves the right to edit or reject articles
submitted to Spark according to appropriate legal, community and
DIA standards, and no correspondence will be entered into. The
views expressed in Spark are the views of the author concerned,
and do not necessarily reflect the views of the DIA and its members.
Products, events or services advertised in Spark are not
necessarily endorsed by the DIA or its members.
Ideas and contributions to Spark and the ‘Platform’ column
are welcome from all DIA members and DIA students.
Submissions for Platform must be in email format, of around
1000 words maximum, and state clearly your full name and a
daytime telephone number for authorship verification. Platform
contributor’s names will be published, and anonymous or
fictitious submissions will not be accepted.
Spark correspondence_Email the DIA Communications Officer
media@design.org.au
www.design.org.au