Top Designs 2019: Emerging designers tackle issues close to the heart with originality and inventive vigor
March 30–July 14 2019 | Melbourne Museum
Top Designs is back for another year with Victoria's brightest VCE and VET design students set to shake things up at the Melbourne Museum from 30 March–14 July 2019.
With over 1100 submissions, the 85 selected works are a nod to the exciting future of Australian contemporary design, with the exhibition spanning the breadth of furniture, fashion, graphic and product design, set, prop and costume design, film, print, photography, animation, mechanical, electronic and web design.
The inspiration for many students this year came from finding solutions to existing issues close to the heart. Among the abundance of extraordinary works, there is a skirt and bag made out of single-use plastic bags, a pill retriever for the arthritic and the elderly, inclusive classroom furniture and a fire detection and emergency response system called the FADER, an idea that was born from a direct experience that the student’s family and local community went through as a result of the Black Saturday bushfires.
In the media space, a touching collection of street photography captures the spirit of Melbourne with some of the city's much-loved personalities making an appearance, including one of late Pellegrini's Cafe co-owner, the beloved Sisto Malaspina. And in the film space, a fantasy saga explores the innocence of childhood intertwined in a modern world filled with pollution and consumerism.
In the category of theatre design, the muse came in the form of one of Australia's most publicised murder trials – the Lindy Chamberlain case. Atmospheric sounds are mixed with a rural outback set that’s made up of a sand-strewn floor covered in dingo paw prints and tree shaped objects decked with pieces of crochet blanket to symbolise baby Azaria.
Alongside the exhibition, the Creative Museum Program will be running again this year, in partnership with the VCAA. This unique program allows six Top Designs exhibitors to experience the artistic life of Museums Victoria and immerse themselves in the day to day activities of our award-winning design, exhibition and digital media teams.
Lynley Crosswell, the CEO of Museums Victoria said, "Museums Victoria is thrilled to celebrate another year of astonishing student projects as part of Top Designs 2019. We're proud to showcase these brilliant young designers and their works, which I'm sure will spark the imaginations of not only the current VCE and VET design students, but all our visitors."
Chris Wardlaw, Chair of the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority said, "Year after year I am impressed by the capabilities of our VCE and VET students selected for Top Designs. They have demonstrated through their work an understanding of sophisticated problem-solving techniques and applied them to real world solutions. Congratulations to all the students who are taking part in this inspiring exhibition showcasing Victoria’s emerging young designers, being held again this year at the iconic Melbourne Museum."
Top Designs 2019 is proudly presented in partnership with the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (VCAA) as part of the VCE Season of Excellence, which includes Top Acts, Top Arts, Top Class and Top Screen. It represents students from a range of government, independent and Catholic schools in Victoria's metropolitan and regional areas.
Top Designs 2019
Melbourne Museum
30 March–14 July 2019
Open daily, 10am–5pm
Admission included with museum entry
Adult $15, Concession and Children FREE
Interviews available with:
Sia Smyth, Curator (VCAA) and all Top Designs exhibitors.
