Designed in Melbourne - Kambrook Axis Eco Kettle

The Kambrook Axis 360 Eco Kettle was designed in Melbourne Australia in 1993-94.

The Kambrook Axis 360 Eco Kettle was designed in Melbourne Australia.

RMIT Mace - Australian survey 1854-2012.

Australiana magazine has recently published, over two issues, a comprehensive survey by Christine Erratt  - Ceremonial maces of Australian universities. The survey chronologically covers each mace beginning in 1854 with the University of Sydney and providing details of the yet to be completed Charles Darwin University. RMIT alumni dominate the list of designers with Stuart Devlin ( Melbourne University and La Trobe University) Helmut Luekenhausen (Swinburne University) Ray Stebbins (Victoria University) and Ian Wong (RMIT University) all receiving commissions.   

RMIT University ceremonial mace designed by industrial designer Ian Wong

Ceremonial maces of Australian universities article in Australiana magazine by Christine Erratt

Ceremonial maces designed by RMIT alumni Ian Wong, Ray Stebbins and Helmut Luekenhausen shown in article in Australiana magazine.

Melbourne University mace designed by RMIT alumnus Stuart Devlin AO. 1966

LaTrobe University mace designed by Stuart Devlin. 1969

http://lueckenhausen.com

IMAGES BY CHRISTINE ERRATT

www.parkerpressbooks.com.au

Monash University Industrial Design - Blue Sky

The vivid blue sky at Monash University Caulfield campus this week welcomed Professor Mark Armstrong to Melbourne and to his new role as the Eva and Marc Besen International Chair in Design in the Faculty of Art, Design and Architecture. Mark has begun to use his industry knowledge and contacts to contribute to Monash University’s design-based research capability and the position is structured in such a way as to allow Mark to continue his very hands on role at his design consultancy Blue Sky.

Associate Professor Arthur de Bono welcomes to Monash University the Eva and Marc Besen International Chair in Design, Professor Mark Armstrong.

Iconic Olympic torch designed by Mark Armstrong and Blue Sky for the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games.

Michele de Lucchi - Milan Design Week

I was fortunate to be invited to attend the Domus Academy Winter School at RMIT in the early 1990s and even more fortunate to have Michele de Lucchi as a tutor. The exhibition Sampete Com'e - You know how it is in Ventura Lambrate featuring his work was a must see whilst trying the impossible, to see all that is on show, during the Design Week in Milan.

Michele de Lucchi - exhibition Sampete Com'e - You know how it is 

Milan Design Week 2012.

Domus Academy Winter School presentation by industrial designer Ian Wong to Michele de Lucchi and Adrea Branzi. 1991.

Marc Pascal - Paff Clock

RMIT industrial design alumnus Marc Pascal designed the Paff clock in 1996.

Paff clock designed by RMIT industrial design alumnus Marc Pascal.

City of Melbourne Christmas Tree - Mother's Art

Mother's Art Productions produced a huge variety of objects, sets and props over many years. The City of Melbourne Christmas Tree was just one of the huge number of projects but over many years it contributed to our celebrations of Christmas in Melbourne as it stood in the City Square on the corner of Collins and Swanston Streets.

City of Melbourne Christmas Tree - Mother's Art Productions

Ian Dryden - Christmas in Melbourne

Industrial designer Ian Dryden's designs for innovative christmas decorations for Melbourne have been a feature of Christmas in the City for many years.

Bourke Street Mall with Christmas Decorations by Ian Dryden.

Christmas Stars in Melbourne by industrial designer  Ian Dryden

Tooling for City of Melbourne Christmas Stars

Moulding process of City of Melbourne Christmas Stars.

Christmas Markets - Jim Samartgis

Sunday Markets at Fed Square over the past two weekends have showcased a lot of local design and craft, with several items under our tree as a result. This luchbox designed in 1994 by industrial designer Jim Samartgis has found a new life as a cash box for a stall holder and was full of all our Christmas pennies. I was working with Jim on the edp Powerladder Series 2 around the time he designed this product range for TREND Australia.

Trend luchbox designed by Jim Samartgis.

Design registration drawing for lunchbox base designed by industrial designer Jim Samartgis.

Design registration drawings for lunchbox lid designed by industrial designer Jim Samartgis.

Concept sketch by Jim Samartgis for edp Series 2 Powerladder.

edp Powerladder Series 2 development by ejo. Industrial designers Jim Samartgis and Ian Wong.

RMIT Mace - RMIT Graduation Ceremony

The exhibition is over, results are in and so students and their families will soon attend the RMIT Graduation Ceremony. It was an honour in 1992 to have the opportunity to design the mace for RMIT University.

RMIT Mace designed by industrial designer Ian Wong in 1992.

RMIT Ceremonial Mace designed by Ian Wong in 1992. 

STILL - Yates 9 Litre Watering Can 21st birthday.

The Yates 9 litre watering can designed in 1990 by Blue Sky Design featured in an article by Colin Wood on Australian design in Issue 28 of DesignWorld magazine. Despite our recent drought and huge competition it continues to demand shelf space after 21 years and was featured in the exhibition STILL09. Happy 21st!

Yates 9L watering can featured in Issue 28 DesignWorld magazine.

Yates 9L watering can designed by Blue Sky Design celebrates 21 years in store.

STILL09 Exhibition curated by Ian Wong

STILL09 exhibition timeline detail featuring Yates 9L watering can by Blue Sky Design. 

Monaro - Australian design icon

The theatre of the 1998 Sydney Motor Show release of the Michael Simcoe designed Holden Monaro is legendary. This metallic orange one looked fantasic today in the bright sunshine and will find its way into the digital presentation as part of the ORANGE exhibition.

Mr Wong...it's Mr Wong

To my surprise and delight I received an email today titled...Dropped in for a visit....

The spooky thing is that it was from industrial designer Andrew Wong who I had only minutes before mentioned in my last post. Andrew was one of my students at Swinburne University who lives in Germany and works for Frog Design. We managed to meet up for a beer, a meal and terrific catchup.

Frog Design is iconic as an industrial design consultancy and for many Australian industrial designers it was the full page advertisements on back covers of magazines like UK Design and our own Design World that enchanted us all. The identity, the photography and art direction, the projects and the clients constantly amazed.

The copy of Issue 11 1986 of Design World has the classic Apple IIc and perhaps is burned into my memory more than most. This issue included the Baker Perkins Mini Rotel Oven that I designed with John Westwood in the Australian Industrial Design Survey for that year. 1986 was my first year out of University and the Mini Rotel was one of my first products in production. This copy of Design World is also an issue with many classic designs from consultancies like Designlab, PA and Nielsen Design that featured in the exhibition STILL09.

 Frog Design full page back cover advertisement on Design World magazine featuring the Apple IIc

www.frogdesign.com

Concept sketches - Kate Bissett Johnson

RMIT alumnus Kate Bissett Johnson is an outstanding industrial designer and design educator and has in particular demonstrated and developed concept design sketching skills amongst students at RMIT and Swinburne Universities. Kate graduated the year after me and was a GMH award winner for best second year student whilst at RMIT. The project shown here is from her period as a consultant designer with Catalyst and this Nylex jug was featured in STILL09 and is still in production. We worked together at RMIT and also more recently on several VEIL projects.

Concept sketches by industrial designer Kate Bissett Johnson.

Nylex Eski jug designed by Catalyst.

Concept Sketching - Visit by Co Huang Vu

RMIT industrial design students have been fortunate to have alumnus industrial designer Co Huang Vu visit over the past two weeks and sketch in class demonstrating his concept sketching skills. Vu was an outstanding student and he was in the first group of students I taught at RMIT in 1989. His sketches for a highlighter pen are still vivid in my memory and I recall displaying them in the glass cases in the corridor of Building 2 Level 2 for RMIT Open Day that year. Current students are working on tableware concepts and these sketches were done last week in class providing students personal experience of industry concept sketching practice for industrial design. Vu graduated with honours in the first year it was offered at RMIT. (see previous post)

(click to enlarge)

Industrial design concept sketch by Co Huang Vu.

(click to enlarge)

(click to enlarge)

Concept sketches for tableware objects by industrial designer Co Huang Vu.

Innovative Australian design for the Victa lawn mower catcher, one of many design projects by Co Huang Vu and the team at Invetech. Designed 1999 and still in production.

Picking winners - edp powerladders

A simple orange metal ladder designed as a stable and portable work platform, in Victoria's Goulburn Valley, was the first successful product by edp of Mooroopna. The company evolved to design, manufacture and export world class fruit picking, sorting and bagging machines. The Powerladder released in 1980, redesigned by Ian Wong and Jim Samartgis in 1987 and again by ejo in 1997 continues to be the industry standard and has sales of over $20 million.

Original edp picking ladder manufactured by E. D. Parsons Engineering in Mooroopna from 1950 to 2005. Fruit provided to SPC for world export was largely picked by hand on these ladders up until the 1980s.

edp Powerladder Series 2 designed by industrial designers Ian Wong and Jim Samartgis in 1997

Australian innovation the edp Powerladder series 3 designed by industrial designer Ian Wong.

edp Powerladder series 3 designed by industrial designer Ian Wong in 2007

Promotional video of the edp Series 3 Powerladder with crab steer.

Off court action - Quantum Seating

If you watched Australian Bernard Tomic on court at Wimbledon last night, you were also watching another amazing Australian in action, but off court. The Camatic Quantum chair is installed the world over, and was designed here. Camatic is located next to a division of Silvan Australia in Lewis Road, Wantirna, where I was design manager, so I saw a lot of export containers of innovative Camatic product leave the despatch bay. Innovative industrial design in Victoria exported globally.

Quantum seating exported globally and 'Still' in production.

http://www.camatic.com/

ISM - MOMA and Madame Ruby

ISM Objects directors Celina Clark and Simon Christopher studied industrial design together at RMIT University in the mid 1980's and formed the company soon after graduating. The Madame Ruby lamp manufactured from recycled red, orange and white, automotive tail light resin, was selected for the exhibition - Mutant Materials in Contemporary Design, The Museum of Modern Art, New York 1995.

ISM Objects Madame Ruby lamp designed by industrial designers Celina Clark and Simon Christopher.

RMIT industrial design students visit ISM Objects and meet company director Celina Clark.

ISM Objects I Do lamp.

http://www.ismobjects.com.au

Axis Kettle: Eco Icon

The axis kettle designed by industrial designers Paul Taylor and Gerry Mussett was a pioneering project in eco product design in Victoria. The central cordless electrical connection developed for this project is now standard on most kettles worldwide. Chris Ryan, John Gertsakis and the team at the Centre for Design at RMIT established a number of very successful projects with industry in the early nineties.

Axis kettle concept sketches by industrial designer Paul Taylor. 1993

Block model of the Axis kettle by RMIT Alumnus David McCausland. 

Victorian manufacturer Kambrook's Axis kettle.

Australian innovation - the central cordless connection for electric kettles designed by industrial designers Gerry Mussett and Paul Taylor

Design registration for Axis kettle innovative base design adopted worldwide. This design along with work on early powerboards for Kambrook highlights the global impact of Gerry Mussett's creativity.