From material explorations to unconventional briefs, this slew of talent is worth adding to your 2025 Melbourne Design Week itinerary.
The list of events for Melbourne Design Week 2025 doesn’t disappoint in its vastness. While there are many familiar names, there are also lots of fresh faces, and that means lots of talent to explore. These emerging names offer fresh perspectives and bold experimentation – proof that the future of design is thoughtful, hands-on and fiercely original. Here are six standout shows to visit.
Future Ambition by Craft Victoria
Future Ambition gathers seven designers who are reshaping craft and design through a lens of sustainability. Held at Craft Victoria, the exhibition includes work by DNJ Paper, Isabel Avendano-Hazbun, Pit Projects and Other Matter, among others.
From paper made with fashion offcuts to lighting sculpted from scavenged glass, the works blend rigorous material research with poetic execution. Standouts include Avendano-Hazbun’s handwoven upholstery using bicycle inner tubes and DNJ Paper’s evolving textiles made from handmade washi. Presented by Conscious Craft, this show maps a future-forward path for how making can intersect with ethics, industry and the environment.
Escaping Landscaping by Bracken Projects for Melbourne Design Week 2025 | Photography by Michael Pham
V.BROKKR x Another Bureau of Design x Bracken Projects
Three designers will take over the windows of Seekers Fitzroy in an intimate street-facing exhibition that highlights material exploration at different scales. V.BROKKR reflects on ancient craft techniques with modern tools, bringing a tactile depth to industrial forms. Another Bureau of Design plays with scale and proportion through furniture, lighting and objects shaped by the built environment. Bracken Projects contributes sculptural vases crafted from remnants and unfinished works, offering a quiet meditation on reuse and imperfection. Together, the trio presents a layered view of Melbourne’s independent design culture and its love for making that expresses its process proudly.
The V.Brokkr Scone wall lights for Melbourne Design Week 2025 | Photography by Michael Pham
PROCESS: Conversations With Objects | An Exhibition by OKO OLO
At C.Gallery, PROCESS showcases the collaborative work of OKO OLO—the studio practice of Juliet Ramsey and Genevieve Hromas. Working with salvaged and natural materials, the duo creates functional objects and sculptural furniture that tread the line between reverence and reinvention.
With a shared history stretching back to childhood, their creative partnership is fluent and instinctive. While OKO OLO is a new venture, the pair draw from a combined 50 years of experience across textiles, interior architecture and sculpture. It’s a material-led practice shaped by ongoing conversations with each other, with found objects and with past and present makers.
The PLANK table by OKO OLO as part of PROCESS: Conversations With Objects at C.Gallery | Photography by Andy Stevens
The PLANK table and WEIGHTED lamp by OKO OLO as part of PROCESS: Conversations With Objects at C.Gallery | Photography by Andy Stevens
Garniture presented by Oigåll Projects in collaboration with Ella Saddington (Cordon Salon) | Photography by Oigåll Projects
Garniture by Oigåll Projects
In Garniture, Ella Saddington (Cordon Salon) reinterprets medieval European plate armour through a contemporary design. The exhibition is the result of two years of research supported by the International Specialised Skills Institute Fellowship.
Each piece in the collection references the structure and symbolism of armour, translating the ingenuity of the past into sculptural works with real-world functionality. Through metalwork and material storytelling, Garniture considers how design can bridge centuries, questioning what we value in objects. And how long they last.
Garniture presented by Oigåll Projects | Photography by Oigåll Projects
Garniture presented by Oigåll Projects | Photography by Oigåll Projects
Do it Ourselves by Alor
Hosted by Alor Studio, Do It Ourselves is a playful exploration of design accessibility. Each participant has crafted a piece of furniture using only materials from their local hardware store with a capped budget of $150.
The resulting collection celebrates ingenuity over expense. Expect to see works by James Walsh, Jordan Fleming, Bel Williams, Bolaji Teniola and Calum Hurley. Designed to be made with basic tools, these works challenge the boundaries between DIY and high design, asking how affordability, creativity and craftsmanship can co-exist in practice.
Do It Ourselves presented by Alor Studio for Melbourne Design Week 2025 | Photography courtesy of Alor Studio
Bel Williams for Do It Ourselves presented by Alor Studio as part of Melbourne Design Week 2025 | Photography courtesy of Alor Studio
Do It Ourselves presented by Alor Studio for Melbourne Design Week 2025 | Photography courtesy of Alor Studio