Melbourne’s long running Fringe Furniture program will be reborn as Design Fringe under a new partnership with Linden New Art.
For 35 years, Fringe Furniture has supported the careers of designers and showcased their innovative, ground-breaking, and, at times, bizarre and impractical works. Its alumni includes Adam Markowitz, Dale Hardiman of Dowel Jones, and Kate Stokes of Coco Flip.
“The new vision for Design Fringe honours the legacy of Fringe Furniture while looking forward into the future of the contemporary design industry, creating a space to share both market-ready and abstract design work with a wide audience,” said Melbourne Fringe CEO and creative director Simon Abrahams.
“The inaugural year of this new version of a much-loved and long-running exhibition and events program gives us a unique opportunity to reach new audiences and tell the world what we’re all about – how design can foster impactful and lasting social change.”
The partnership with Linden New Art includes a new exhibition space and provide curatorial support from the gallery.
“Design Fringe will feature a professional development and mentorship program, a focus on increasing diversity in the design sector through the Design Fringe for Gender Equity initiative, a series of talks, workshops and an awards program assessed by industry leaders. With expert curatorial input from the Linden team, the exhibition will operate at Linden for three months – a longer period of exposure for the designers selected for the central exhibition,” said Linden New Art director Melinda Martin.
“Working with the City of Port Philip, a secondary space in proximity to Linden will contain further works and will draw a new and engaged audience into the exhibition. The multiple rooms within Linden and the additional offsite space will allow staff to curate the content of the exhibition smaller groups of work that are in dynamic conversations with each other; an exciting prospect for Design Fringe at this significant milestone.”
The new vision for Design Fringe includes a new $10,000 design commission for a First Nations designer to produce a bespoke sculptural piece responding to theme of “home.” Registrations are open now and will close on 9 July.
The Design Fringe for Gender Equity initiative will return for a fourth year, supporting female and non-binary designers through mentorships, talks and workshops. It also includes public events program and award program recognising the best work furniture, lighting, homewares and art.
