Melbourne Design Week 2025: Celebrating Design Excellence in Australia's Creative Capital
- Andrew Mitchell
- May 9
- 6 min read
Updated: 5 days ago
An article by Andrew Mitchell
Melbourne Design Week returns this May 15-25, 2025, transforming our city into a hub of creative exploration and innovation. As one of Australia's premier design events, MDW continues to showcase why Melbourne stands proudly on the global design map.
Melbourne Design Week has established itself as more than just another trade fair, or an exhibition of predictable design products churned out for mass consumption.
Unlike conventional design events that often prioritize commercialization over creativity, MDW deliberately creates space for experimental concepts, provocative installations, and boundary-pushing conversations. It represents a collective vision of how design can be harnessed as a force for positive change, challenging designers to think beyond aesthetics and functionality toward social impact and environmental responsibility.
Created in collaboration with the NGV, the 11-day program brings together designers, educators, thought leaders and small businesses to share ideas, showcase new work, and engage in critical thinking about design's role in our increasingly complex world. It represents a collective vision of how design can be harnessed as a force for positive change. The 11-day program brings together designers, educators, enthusiasts, thought leaders and small businesses to share ideas, showcase new work, and engage in critical thinking about design's role in our increasingly complex world.
What makes MDW truly special is its democratic approach to participation. The satellite program, accessible via an expression of interest, enables both emerging and established designers to contribute to the dialogue. This inclusive structure has helped MDW cultivate an international reputation for promoting design discourse while building capacity within Australia's design sector.
As a participant in the 2024 MDW program, I can attest to the extraordinary energy and collaborative spirit that defined the festival. Being a part of the program allowed us to connect with both industry colleagues and design enthusiasts in meaningful ways, creating valuable dialogues about ethical practices and local craftsmanship.
Melbourne on the World Design Map
As a Melbournian, I admit that I’m biased.
We really do live in one of the most culturally rich cities in the world, and we’re blessed to have some of the most globally talented designers, artisans and craftspeople right here on our doorstep.
Melbourne Design Week is a platform to share these riches with the rest of the country and is a chance for us to celebrate our local talent with the entire world.
From humble beginnings with just under 100 programs in 2017, Melbourne Design Week has blossomed into Australia's largest design event with over 400 programs and approximately 100,000 visitors in 2024. This remarkable growth has positioned MDW alongside similar festivals in Paris, London and New York.
MDW’s international recognition affirms Melbourne's status as a design capital not just within Australia but across the Asia-Pacific region, creating valuable opportunities for local designers to gain global exposure and recognition.
Community and Connection
At MR MITCHELL, we've always been passionate advocates for local design talent and craftsmanship and we particularly appreciate MDW's emphasis on collaboration and community-building. The festival creates opportunity for designers to connect with each other whilst expanding their audiences, fostering relationships that extend beyond the event itself.
The festival's focus on design as a force for good mirrors our commitment to making ethically conscious decisions about the people we work with and the products we specify. By highlighting sustainable practices and innovative solutions to the challenges we commonly face, the festival reinforces the importance of design that contributes positively to our community and environment.
Our Top Picks for Melbourne Design Week 2025
With hundreds of events to choose from, navigating the MDW program can be overwhelming, to say the least! The sheer diversity of exhibitions, workshops, talks, and installations spread across Melbourne showcases the remarkable breadth of our design community. After carefully reviewing the full program, these are the highlights that we believe embody the spirit of thoughtful, innovative design.
Work Shop: Fiona Lynch x Tony Maticevski
Fiona Lynch Office presents three captivating exhibitions in their Collingwood studio space:
Low Key - An exploration of the quiet joy of research and making, featuring local designers including Claudia Lau, Marlo Lyda, Simone Tops, and others connected by their exploration of materiality, craft, and beauty.
Toni Maticevski x Fiona Lynch - A collaborative lighting and furniture project repurposing fabric remnants, celebrating illumination and beauty.
Fiona Lynch Archive - A display of the studio's personal collection of furniture, lighting, and objects, offering insight into their process and thinking over the past 14 years.
The opportunity to be inspired by one of Australia’s most celebrated designers is too good to miss! In particular, what draws us to this exhibition is its celebration of the collaborative spirit and focus on local design talent.
Tait: Regenerate
This immersive exhibition explores the concept of regeneration through sensory, experiential, and educational installations, raising awareness about the importance of rejuvenating native grasslands that have diminished to less than 1 percent of their natural coverage.
The project features impressive collaborations with Shahn Stewart, a Yorta Yorta woman who established botanical design studio Alchemy Orange, and Cristina Napoleone, a transdisciplinary artist-curator who founded TERRAIN, an initiative creating spaces that remind humans they are part of a more-than-human world.
We're particularly excited about the sneak peek of a new product range by Adam Goodrum, designed with longevity in mind, a principle that has guided Tait for over 30 years and one that resonates deeply with our own commitment to sustainability and enduring design.
100 LIGHTS
The ambitious 100 LIGHTS exhibition showcases the work of over 110 Australian creatives, studios, architects, and design practices all exploring lighting as a medium. Curated by Friends & Associates (the collaborative project initiated by Dale Hardiman and Tom Skeehan), this exhibition represents their 13th major showcase since forming in 2017.
What makes this exhibition particularly significant is its breath-taking scope and diversity. From established designers who have been past collaborators, like Ilan El, Adam Goodrum and Ross Gardam, to emerging talents and collaborative partnerships, the collection offers a comprehensive snapshot of Australia's lighting design landscape. The exhibition demonstrates how a single design category (in this case lighting) can be interpreted through countless creative lenses, materials, and approaches.
100 LIGHTS perfectly embodies Melbourne Design Week's collaborative spirit and commitment to showcasing the depth and breadth of Australian design talent. By bringing together such a vast array of practitioners in one space, the exhibition creates opportunities for unexpected dialogues and connections between different approaches to lighting design.
ARTEDOMUS X NAU
This one-off collaborative exhibition presents Nau Design's latest furniture collection by Tom Fereday in an atmospheric urban warehouse in Flemington. The exhibition pairs contemporary Australian furniture with Artedomus natural stones, creating a dialogue of form, function, and materiality.
What makes this exhibition special is its celebration of high-quality materials and meticulous attention to detail—values that are fundamental to our approach at MR MITCHELL. The emphasis on sustainable and innovative design solutions aligns perfectly with our belief in making conscientious choices about the products we specify.
ART IS LIFE: AMELIA BARRY
Interior designer Amelia Barry and artist Louise Wilcox have collaborated on a body of work that is both edgy and expressive, exploring themes of dark humour, visual satire, and poetic storytelling through words and letters. The exhibition also features furniture pieces from Dimitri Vargas and artworks by Lev Khesin, juxtaposing highly polished mirrored surfaces with organic hand-carved timber pieces.
This exhibition challenges viewers to engage with both wall hangings and functional furniture as art, offering a unique fusion of humour and reflection - a reminder that design should evoke emotional responses and enrich our lived experiences.
As a friend and colleague, we're proud to support Amelia and her thoughtful exploration of the intersection between interior design and artistic expression.
Join Us in Celebrating Design Excellence
Melbourne Design Week 2025 represents everything we value at MR MITCHELL: thoughtful creativity, collaborative spirit, and design that makes a positive impact. We invite you to join us in exploring this remarkable program and experiencing the transformative power of good design.
Whether you're an industry professional, a design enthusiast, or simply curious about how design shapes our world, MDW offers something for everyone. Let's celebrate Melbourne's position as a global design capital and the incredible talent that calls our city home.
Melbourne Design Week runs from May 15-25, 2025, across various locations in Melbourne and regional Victoria. For the full program and more information, visit https://designweek.melbourne/
Comments