2025 marks the second year Other Matter and Aesop have collaborated | Photography courtesy of goodgrief
Curated through an est lens, these 12 installations are some of the must-see highlights at Melbourne Design Week 2025. Expect a spectrum of design, from material innovation to explorations in tactility and craftsmanship.
Every year, Melbourne Design Week presents an energising moment for the design community to gather, reflect and reimagine what design can be. From concept-driven installations to collectable design pieces and cross-disciplinary collaborations, the 2025 program unearths ideas that inspire.
A Material Endeavour: Other Matters x Aesop
Four Aesop stores are set to become portals into a post-petrochemical future, with installations by experimental materials studio Other Matter. Each site invites visitors into a world of regenerative thinking, with the journey culminating in a hands-on, sensorial finale. Jessie French, founder of Other Matter, leads a special guided tour on May 17, offering deeper insight into the bioplastics, storytelling and collaborative process behind the work.
‘A Material Endeavour’ by Other Matters in collaboration with Aesop | Photography courtesy of goodgrief
Armadillo collaborate with furniture designer Tom Fereday to present AGRA FORMA for this year’s Melbourne Design Week | Photography courtesy of Armadillo
Photography courtesy of Armadillo
Seven Minutes in Heaven by Streifen
Immersive and transformative, this installation takes over a Collingwood terrace, turning it into a space of intimacy and reflection. Visitors are invited to spend seven uninterrupted minutes engaging with Streifen’s sculptural furniture. The official launch for the emerging brand, the collection—and the installation—is all about encouraging visitors to touch, sit, pull and explore. The space has been designed in collaboration with Studio Manifold, making for an experience set to blur the lines between object and user, evoking emotion, curiosity and vulnerability through interaction.
AGRA FORMA
Australian founded rug brand Armadillo joins forces with furniture designer Tom Fereday to present AGRA FORMA. An interplay of softness and striking forms, the exhibit will showcase the potential of the handmade— a quiet study between structure and texture.
Fereday’s minimalist aesthetic meets Armadillo’s tactile sensibility across the seven Agra rugs in the capsule collection, each paired with pieces crafted in American Red Oak. Expect a refined design language that celebrates restraint, balance and the sensory interplay between surface and space. To kick it all off, is a launch soiree at Armadillo’s Fitzroy showroom.
A debut launch worth seeing, Streifen presents ‘Seven Minutes in Heaven’, an installation designed to inspire touch | Photography courtesy of Streifen
Superfabshop by Danielle Brustman
Danielle Brustman brings colour, collectability and theatrical flair to Collingwood with Superfabshop—a design object store and performance space. Featuring over 30 of Australia’s most exciting makers, the pop-up mixes lighting, furniture, jewellery and fashion with a live music lineup and even a magic show. It’s part design showcase, part wonderland, blurring boundaries between retail, installation and spectacle.
Danielle Brustman has curated an incredible selection of 30 artists and makers for theatrical and inspiring showcase of Australian design | Portrait by Dylan James
Martyn Thompson Studio for Superfabshop | Photography by Martyn Thompson
Martyn Thompson Studio for Superfabshop | Photography by Martyn Thompson
Work Shop by Fiona Lynch: Low Key and Toni Maticevski
Fiona Lynch Office transforms its Collingwood studio into a multi-part exhibition exploring materiality and practice. ‘Low Key’ presents new works from a tightly curated group of emerging and established designers, united by a sensitivity to form and craft. The strong female-led ground includes names such as Claudia Lau, Marlo Lyda, Simone Tops, Ella Saddington, Annie Paxton, Olivia Bossy, Jordan Fleming, Felix Jerome Grech, and Fiona Lynch.
In a separate space, a poetic collaboration with Toni Maticevski reimagines fabric remnants as lighting and sculptural furniture. Finally, the studio opens its archive—a rich and layered glimpse into 14 years of process and experimentation.
Tactile Dialogues by Ryan Fernandes and Made by Morgen
At a time when screens dominate daily life, this exhibition invites a return to touch, texture and physical connection. Curated by Ryan Fernandes, Tactile Dialogues brings together a wide community of designers—from furniture makers and ceramicists to weavers and lighting artists—in a material conversation about care, repair and belonging.
Staged in the Made by Morgen showroom, the experience unfolds across curated vignettes, encouraging audiences to linger, reflect, and reconnect with objects. Some names to note include Sundance Studio, Sarah Nedovic, DenHolm and Lana Launay, among many others.
Fiona Lynch Office will transform its Collingwood studio into a multi-part exhibition exploring materiality and practice for Melbourne Design Week 2025 | Photography by Sharyn Cairns
Emma Shepherd of Sundance Studio will be hosting a weaving workshop as part of the ‘Tactile Dialogues’ program | Photography courtesy of Emma Shepherd
Craft chair maker and designer Paul Vizzari for ‘Tactile Dialogues’ | Photography by Lillie Thompson
A New Normal at Boyd Baker House
Held at the iconic Boyd Baker House, A New Normal offers a bold vision for a regenerative Melbourne. Over five days, architects and designers are set to activate rooms across the modernist compound with transformative projects—from decentralised water systems to zero-waste retrofits. It’s a compelling call to action, supported by daily talks, guided tours and long-table lunches.
Present Matter(s) by Gallery Boot
Part exhibition, part provocation, Present Matters by Christopher Boots assembles a group of artists and designers working at the intersection of climate, culture and material ethics. Presented at Gallery Boot, the show features objects and artworks that challenge extractive practices and celebrate material circularity, from reclaimed resources to regenerative processes. A panel discussion further unpacks how design can respond to urgent ecological questions—not just with new aesthetics, but new systems of care and accountability.
Christopher Boots assembles a group of artists and designers working at the intersection of climate, culture and material ethics for Melbourne Design Week 2025 | Photography courtesy of Gallery Boot
NGV Architecture Commission 2024 ‘Home Truth’ by Breathe Architecture | Photography courtesy of NGV
‘Bale (Home)’ by John Gatip | Photography by Jack Carlin
Bale (Home) by John Gatip
‘Bale (Home)’ by John Gatip | Photography by Jack Carlin
FOMU’s pieces will be showcased at Friends with Frank in Fitzroy | Photography by Piergiorgio Sorgetti
Deep Calm by Sibling Architecture
A restorative sanctuary in the heart of the city, Deep Calm explores how design can support mental wellbeing. Weighted sofas, tactile rugs and ambient soundscapes will create a gentle environment that encourages pause, rest and sensory exploration. Visitors will be guided through the space, offered a rare moment of stillness amid the design week bustle.
Objects by Fomu
Known for its quiet yet purposeful approach to design, Fomu presents a new collection of sculptural lighting at Friends with Frank in Fitzroy. Thoughtful and tactile, the works explore form and illumination while maintaining the studio’s signature restraint. The exhibition also reflects on Fomu’s journey to date, offering a nuanced view of the brand’s evolving design language.
Melbourne-based studio Sibling Architecture, the team behind ‘Deep Calm’ | Portrait courtesy of Sibling Architecture
Dancer Editions
Play, movement and material expression take centre stage in Dancer Editions, a collaborative exhibition that reimagines Coco Flip’s signature Dancer light through a series of limited-edition pieces. Inspired by Oskar Schlemmer’s avant-garde Triadic Ballet and developed in partnership with ceramicist Belinda Wiltshire, the original collections’ sculptural silhouettes and dynamic sense of rhythm will be reimagined.
Five Melbourne design studios— DesignOffice, Kennedy Nolan, Placement, SSdH, and Without Studio—have interpreted the Dancer light in their own language of form and texture. All editions will be auctioned to raise funds for Seed Mob, an Indigenous youth climate justice organisation.
The Coco Flip Dancer light | Photography by Michael Pham
Ceramic artist Belinda Wiltshire with the original Dancer light | Photography by Michael Pham