MELBOURNE LIGHTS UP! The best of Australian lighting design presented by Melbourne International Design Week

Melbourne International Design Week in partnership with Ideas on Design will be showcasing their top three brands at Dubai Design Week under the ‘Destination’ initiative - Christopher Boots, Jonathan Ben Tovim and Andre Hnatojko – allowing visitors to discover the best of Australian contemporary lighting design.

Kristin McCourtie, Managing Director at Melbourne International Design Week since its inception in 2013 and curator Anne-Maree Sargeant (AMS) of SNAP agency discuss their involvement in Dubai Design Week and introduce the three design brands that they will bring to Dubai in October:

What does it mean for Design Matters and the 3 brands to be involved?

Kristin: This is an important showcase for Australian design, and we are very excited to participate, and strengthen trade relations with the region and beyond.

Design Weeks are excellent platforms to learn more about new markets. They are a hot pot of ideas and connections, celebrating regional excellence and creating connections for collaboration and new markets.

They give designers the opportunity to reflect on their work in relation to their international peers and gain insight into the needs and gaps in international markets for future development. This is also an important opportunity for Melbourne to introduce audiences at Dubai Design Week to Melbourne’s design capability through the exciting new work of the three designers and encourage audiences to visit Melbourne and to explore further the diverse design capability of our creative city.

How did you select your brands? What were the characteristics you were looking for?

Kristin: Anne-Maree Sargeant (AMS) was commissioned by our team to work with us to curate and produce the brands we are presenting. Her experience on both the local and international design scene has helped bring this project to life.

Under the curatorial theme MELBOURNE LIGHTS UP! AMS developed a presence for MIDW to showcase contemporary lighting design, all designed and made in Melbourne, Australia.

AMS: As a country [Australia] without borders, our design culture is learned not inherited as it is in Europe. Melbourne is a key driver of our thriving design scene being home to a hotbed of talent with a very strong culture of designer-makers – both self-taught and graduates producing a very high standard of work. With lighting design so strong globally, I worked from the curatorial theme MELBOURNE LIGHTS UP!

MELBOURNE LIGHTS UP! introduces three design brands on the rise – Christopher Boots, renowned for bespoke, handmade lighting with signature quartz crystals; André Hnatojko’s elegant silhouette pendant lighting; and geometric chandeliers by Jonathan Ben-Tovim, Ben-Tovim Design.

Christopher Boots, André Hnatojko and Jonathan Ben-Tovim established their brands four years ago and their collection presently designed and made in Melbourne, Australia. Their work has been included in leading internationally acclaimed design projects, and I selected them not only based on their practice, but for being stellar ambassadors of Melbourne design.

As a regular visitor to the UAE, I’ve seen Dubai and Australia continue to forge a strengthening creative alliance – especially within the design sector with the uptake of contemporary as a design style being increasingly embraced in the region. Important global brands like B&B Italia and Kartell opening mono-brand showrooms in Dubai has paved the way for the broader contemporary design story to reach residents, both locals and expats alike!

Which products in the brands’ collections particularly stand out for you and why? Any stories/narratives you can relay?

AMS: Christopher Boots fuses industrial design with artisanal fabrication to create his lighting collections. Invited by luxury brand HERMES to envision the store windows in Madison Avenue New York for the holidays 2014/2015, his distinctive brass and crystal contemporary designs are also represented in leading galleries / showrooms in the USA, UK and across Asia. A huge achievement within three years of launching his brand!
André was selected to exhibit at London Design Festival whilst studying furniture design, and his work also featuring in MELBOURNE NOW at the National Gallery of Victoria, and incredible feat for a young student! Using the silhouette of each product when designing, Andre creates contemporary classics, with his next collection reaching into the luxury market I believe he has an interesting career designing accessible products that can be mass-produced through to handmade one-off creations.

Jonathan’s practice fascinates me. Completing Industrial Design Masters at Design Academy Eindhoven, he pursued hard-core industrial design in medical and electronic prior to establishing his own practice where integrating 3D printing and advanced technology. Fascinated by experimentation – Jonathan’s work for the one-off edition collection 1-OK has been acquired by the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV).

What is the design scene in Melbourne like?

Kristin: Melbourne has a long history as a design driven city. In fact the city was established with an urban design plan from the get go, in 1873, that incorporated specifications of building materials, green spaces and wide open streets that set the scene for the evolution of a city now recognised, multiple years in a row, as the most livable city in the world. Design of place has continued to define our city permeating through cultural institutions, retails spaces and the vibrant café culture where design is considered as essential to consumer experience as core product itself.

The design scene is so eclectic varied and layered with history it would take volumes to define. The sector incorporates professions such as graphic design, branding and communications, architecture, industrial and digital design, interior design and landscape design, user experience design, fashion design, urban design, games design – the list goes on.

We are known for high-end products, made with the highest quality materials, and exquisite craftsmanship.

Design in Melbourne is more than an industry. Described by our Victorian State Government as a capability – it is valued as an important driver of innovation and growth. It is highly valued from the design of smart city infrastructure to the illustration that defines our streets and alleyways, and the important skill and craftsmanship that adds value to our manufacturing sector.

Design is recognized as a core component of our creative industries that have an important role to play across virtually every area of our society – from education and health to corrections, community development, science and innovation, civic planning, and much more.

What are you looking forward to seeing/experiencing?

Kristin: I know a lot has changed since I honeymooned in Dubai in 1988 and I am excited to see how Dubai has developed in this time. Dubai has a reputation for investing in world-class design and architecture and I am keen to see the newest examples of this, particularly in d3. What an extraordinary privilege to have a centre dedicated to design and the collaborations that will flourish as a result. I am fascinated with how culture influences the creation of place, so I am interested to see how design is evolving within the context of Dubai as a design centre for the region and particularly how this relates to the cultural context of the UAE.

I am also really keen to make connections with designers and design companies who may be able to participate in future Melbourne Design Week Programs and to reconnect with old friends who have participated in our programs over the past 25 years. I hope I have a window to be able to explore the indigenous ecosystems surrounding the city and in the foothills that so much define what is unique about the UAE!