A week can be 11 days long in Melbourne. As of today you still have a few days left to participate in the festival known as Melbourne Design Week – it all ends on May 28.
Staged at the Melbourne Exhibition Centre in Southbank from May 18–21 as part of Melbourne Design Week, the Melbourne Design Fair was a riot of colour and costume. Contemporary art, design and interior objects were the focal points. New works were debuted alongside current gallery offerings, and interspersed with retrospective displays, such as ‘Celebrating Women 1920–2023’.
For some it was a fabulous place to shop, but for those with cost-of-living type crises on their mind it more like a reality check for the kind of money that some must have to splash around. Put it this way, you wouldn’t get much change out of $5k for most items, and add two or even three zeros for some of the cabinets and tables shown.
However there was much to appreciate. Melbourne Design Fair is all about the art of the collectible, objects and artworks created in a mix of media that ranged from organic to metallic to manufactured plastics and resins. Personal taste aside, for the astute there certainly were investments to be made.
Melbourne Design Fair is an initiative of the Victorian Government and delivered by Creative Victoria and the National Gallery of Victoria which also curates the event.
Over 150 designers presented their work, either independently or via commercial galleries, design agencies and organisations. One-off, limited edition, and serially produced items were on offer.
Click on images in the gallery above to see quick and supplied snaps of the action, along with some of sale prices that were shown there.