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Each month desktop ask six creatives a design-related question.
This month’s question: London’s Design Museum has been going strong for over 20 years. Is there a need for a permanent dedicated Australian design museum?
This month we asked Andrew Ashton, Dr Dawn Casey, Laura Cornhill, Lucy Feagins, Yianni Hill and Sarah K to comment.
Andrew Ashton
Designer/consultant/director
Studio Pip and Co.
peoplethings.com
For several decades Australia has had an institutional and cultural design presence. Australia has had a design centre, it has design shops, it has design markets, it has design schools, it has festivals, it has professional bodies, it has radio shows, it has sections in government funded galleries and museums, and mainstream editorial – all devoted to design. If all of these design initiatives were crowd stoppers, there wouldn’t be a need to endlessly respond to yours and similar questions.
If Australia had a dedicated design museum opening today, I would confidently guess that people would not come and eventually it would be converted into something else in 12 months – potentially a BBQ Academy.
Why? Unlike the UK, US, Japan, Holland, Germany, Italy and France, the essence of Australian cultural identity doesn’t strongly identify with creativity, design and craft as vital part of it’s cultural identity. If our governments, celebrities made an effort to seek out, support and participate in Australian creative people and their efforts, then maybe an interested public will follow.
Think of a recent Prime Minister interested in the Arts. Name a date when an AFL final, major cooking show, or a government election or debate were on the same day. Name an Australian international act that found international success in Australia. If Australians foster and embrace its creativity, design and craft culture, there will be more than dedicated design museums to contend with.
Dr Dawn Casey PSM FAHA
Director
Powerhouse Museum
powerhousemuseum.com
In the last decade we’ve become more aware of the importance of design in addressing the challenges communities face. Design can address social innovation and sustainable development, themes as diverse as sustainable production and consumption, responsible development and responses to natural disasters. It’s about enabling a more informed community, and achieving long term behaviour change. These challenges are best addressed by institutions which interpret these themes in a broader context. I prefer to see design presented in a context of scientific, technological and social innovation, rather than ‘quarantined’ in an institution with a perspective of design as a discipline.
Laura Cornhill
Creative director
Studio Binocular
studiobinocular.com
I kind of like the way that design exists outside of museums. I like the way it’s part of a living, functioning world – out in the open for everyone to see and use every day. In this sense, I think it makes design accessible and democratic – and not overly precious. That said though, I probably wouldn’t start a protest movement with yellow ribbons and a rhyming chant if they decided to build a permanent design museum in Melbourne.
Lucy Feagins
Interiors stylist/design blogger
The Design Files
thedesignfiles.net
There will always be classic design pieces that are culturally significant and deserve to be celebrated and archived; however, I tend to think that contemporary design doesn’t usually work in a ‘museum’ context. Good design isn’t precious – it’s functional, efficient, beautiful and made for daily use! I am not sure of the value of a dedicated Australian design museum. More industry support to assist in local manufacturing and retailing would perhaps hold greater value for Australian designers. After all, the real design museums of today are retail shops, residential homes and public places.
Yianni Hill
Co-founder, The Australia Project;
principal and creative director, We’re Open
australiaproject.com, wereopen.com.au
Design is inherent in many cultures around the world, yet its importance is less understood in Australian society. This is despite many Australian designers being at the international forefront of their fields. A dedicated Australian design museum would present design to a new audience and educate about the significant role design has, does play and will continue to play in Australia. By capturing and documenting the work of Australian designers otherwise being lost to history, such a museum would help elevate design’s standing and move us further towards having design seen as an integral part of Australian culture.
Sarah K
Curator/designer
australiandesignmuseum.com,
blakebroughking.com, theotherhemisphere.com
The sooner the better. We most definitely have enough historically worthwhile design to fill a museum, not to mention a plethora of engaging new work being produced. A national design museum would give a much needed institutional perspective on the Australian design industry, acknowledging it and encouraging growth. The more the public can be exposed to good local design, the less likely we are to see a market full of international designer knock-offs made in China. I also believe that current design movements are giving the art world a run for its money, and boundaries are blurring
between the two.
From desktop magazine.
Australia’s problem with design is that we regard only contemporary objects as ‘design’.
And it is interesting to hear Dawn Casey’s comments, as the Powerhouse Museum was the first thing I thought of when I read this question. Not because the museum is doing design well, but because it is doing it so appallingly. Such a shame as it used to (pre-casey) do it so well.
Just look at what the Powerhouse Museum has done to it’s remarkable ‘decorative arts’ (ie. old speak for “design”) collection in the last decade – its has been slowly moved into storage and the emphasis given over to promoting local design. The result is a museum empty of historical context for design with no permanent exhibition on the subject, with token temporary exhibitions on the subject and large empty gallery spaces devoted to ho-hum exhibitions such as Star Wars or Abba.
Yes we need a ‘design’ museum. Not for Australian contemporary design. But to exhibit universal design and decorative arts from the year dot.
As a designer, I need to be informed and inspired. I want to see who’s done what before me and why. I want to build on what has come before me.
Is it any wonder that the majority of young designers (proof can be seen at the Powerhouse Museum Young designer market) continuously design replicas of mid-century modern designs and call them original? The fact is that they have never seen originals in a museum context or understand the significance of why a chair suddenly lost it’s upholstery after the war.
That great saying that goes something like “you can’t go forward until you understand the past” is a must for designers.
A design museum in the widest possible sense that promotes creativity and captures the imagination of the public – perhaps. A design museum that mirrors what is happening over in blighty, just because ‘we’ think ‘we’ should and ‘we’ can – no.
Also the emphasis on “museum”, not “gallery” – past and present design products/outcomes of all disciplines are artifacts, and for the sake of education, celebration of design and archiving, these pieces deserve to be collected and exhibited. The lack of a design museum is symptomatic of a society that is also lacking a design identity – but in truth, Australian design is distinctive and has a short, rich history. The support of a creatively-aware government and community could only raise its profile and standing upon the world stage, and eventually (hopefully) filter down into society’s understandings.
Side note – the Design Museum in London really wasn’t great, it’s main focus on products was boring, and the domination of its shop. Yes, they have had wonderful retrospectives (helped by it’s European location, facilitating such events) but we shouldn’t seek to replicate that here (or judge its success on its ‘bigness’)