Author Archive for Melanie Pitkin

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Jewellery designer- Blanche Tilden

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I’ve always been interested in how things work…I like the ambiguity of what is machine made and what is handmade.

Blanche Tilden (b.1968, Australia) is a contemporary glass and jewellery designer. Blanche studied glass and jewellery at Sydney College of the Arts (1988/89) and graduated BA (Visual Arts), Glass (1992) and Grad. Dip, Gold and Silversmithing at the Canberra School of Art (1995), followed by a year as a trainee with Susan Cohn at Workshop 3000 in Melbourne. Blanche established her own workshop in Sydney in 1997 and moved to Melbourne in 1999, before setting up and working in Studio Hacienda with fellow glass and jewellery designer, Phoebe Porter from 2005-2008.

In this post, we feature a special video interview of Blanche filmed for the Museum as part of the 2007 exhibition Smart Works: design and the handmade and look at a few of Blanche’s jewellery items in the Museum’s collection which are based on mechanical movements found in everyday objects, including bicycle chains, pulleys, levers and conveyor belts. While appearing mechanical, and being well-researched according to their function, these jewellery pieces are actually very light, flexible and meticulously made.

2000/50/1. Collection: Powerhouse Museum

The ‘Scissor’ necklace (above), made in 1998, is composed of hand cut titanium elements. The holes are drilled and the pieces heat-coloured to 600 degrees in a kiln. This provides the greyish-purple colour as well as protecting the metal when the glass rivets are heated. The rivets are borosilicate glass rods, cut with a diamond saw; one end is put through the links and heated by lampworking (over a flame), then squashed in a small hand-made jig to widen and flatten the end (the other end of that link is completed the same way). The whole necklace is then placed in a kiln to anneal the glass at a temperature of 560 degrees.

2000/50/2. Collection: Powerhouse Museum

The ‘Pulley’ and ‘Bicycle Chain’ necklaces (above and below respectively) are made using the same techniques. Blanche says of her work:

My jewellery explores the relations between the individual and the machine, consumption and obsolescence, the machine made and the hand made. When designing my work I look at mechanical movements found in everyday objects. Stemming from a desire to understand how things work, I use shapes inspired by bicycle chains, conveyor belts, pulleys, cranks and scissors, and I make my work with industrial materials such as titanium and borosilicate glass. My necklaces stimulate associations and memories that differ for each wearer. They remind us of the physical yet impersonal relationship that exists between the body and the machine. These are intimate objects of jewellery, built to human scale, hand made and machine inspired. They travel with the body.

2000/50/3. Collection: Powerhouse Museum

Appropriately, for a Museum of science and design, these jewellery pieces complement the ‘real’ mechanical components and tools used in industrial machines and equipment in the Museum’s collection!

To find out more about Blanche Tilden’s work and that of Studio Hacienda, see here on D*Hub. There is also another video on here of Blanche and Phoebe talking together at the 2007 Smart works symposium.

Editor’s note: The content for this post was adapted from original research and text written by Dr Grace Cochrane. See full text here.

The finer details of textiles storage

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The first group of the week to take part in the object handling refresher. Photography by Melanie Pitkin.

This week staff from the Museum’s curatorial, registration and conservation departments took part in an object handling refresher focusing on the Museum’s vast textiles collection with Registrar, Sarah Pointon and Conservator, Suzanne Chee. For the past few months, Sarah and Suzanne have been doing an incredible job re-housing some of the Museum’s most beautiful textiles in the basement, not only improving their accessibility to staff, researchers and members of the public participating in basement tours, but also concentrating on the finer and often overlooked details of what it takes to achieve best level storage practices.

Assistant Collections Manager, Einar Docker demonstrates the single sheet of acid free tissue used to protect textiles. Photography by Melanie Pitkin.

Sarah started the session by explaining the move to using one single sheet of acid free tissue paper to protect garments in storage trays as opposed to several sheets arranged together. When returning a tray into a drawer, the individual sheets of tissue (whose lightweight means they are very sensitive to movement) often bunch up or slide around and can be prone to catching on heavily embroidered or detailed garments. By using one single sheet, the sides can be gently tucked in to prevent movement and you can easily lift the sheet in one go (an especially practical capability for those curators among us who lead group basement tours and move about from one stored garment to the next!).

Photography by Melanie Pitkin.

Sarah shows the little details to make object packing and storage easier. Photography by Melanie Pitkin.

To make sure we cut the single sheet of acid free tissue to the right size of the storage tray each time, Sarah and Suzanne attached a piece of fabric to the correct length of the tray to our packaging rack (as Sarah demonstrates above).

Every object is tagged and barcoded (see around the tops of the coat hangers). Photography by Melanie Pitkin.

The Museum also physically labels every object. In addition to a number written on a fabric strip, which is then sewn to a concealed part of the garment, an acid free paper tag describing the object, its location and barcode is placed with it (in the case of the vests, above, they hang around the neck of the coat hanger). To minimise object handling, all tags suspended from the coat hanger face in the same direction (to the left). But, of course, they only continue to hang in that direction if we all remember to return the label to its original position!

We were also reminded of the importance of working with and handling objects more generally, not just in terms of textiles, and I’ve decided to include them here:

1. Always wear gloves when handling objects both for the object’s protection, as well as your own
2. Lift objects – never drag, push or pull them. Lift objects by their most stable surface – never use handles or other projecting parts.
3. Don’t stack fragile objects such as ceramics and glass.
4. Pad objects with pillows and tissues to prevent rolling and vibration.
5. Some objects may need to be secured by ties and straps during transit. Always use a barrier between the tie and the object.
6. Ask for assistance with the move if you are not confident doing it yourself. Always ask for assistance when moving large or heavy objects and large paper objects.
7. Use as few moves as possible. Move the trolley/tray etc. to the object, not the other way around.
8. Always use special equipment such as tweezers for stamps, flat support boards for paper objects etc.
9. Cover objects when it is required to move them outdoors
10. Never rush as this is when accidents are most likely to happen

You can never be reminded of safe object handling practices too many times and the Museum organises such refresher sessions as these on a fairly regular basis to ensure consistency and best standard practice across all departments working with collections. As further upgrades to our storage takes place, we will also share these with you on our blog.

Robert Foster in conversation: F!NK and Co and teapot design for Alessi

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In this very special post, I am joined in conversation with silversmith and designer, Robert Foster of F!NK and Co. On 16th July, I invited Robert to the Museum to talk in more detail about our recent acquisition of the aluminium and stainless steel teapot he designed as a prototype for Alessi in 1995 (which you can see in the photograph above). I also took the opportunity to find out more about Robert’s latest work – which spans big commissions and collaborations to one-off works, the nature of design work and the future of F!NK.

The Museum has profiled much of Robert and his work before and you can read about this on D*Hub and our online collections’ database. The Museum also has a few other F!NK objects in its collection, including: a coffee pot and cover, teapot and Sydney 2000 Olympic and Paralympic torch prototypes. F!NK and Co was also featured in the exhibition Smart works: design and the handmade which was displayed at the Museum in 2007.

MP: This teapot was designed as a prototype for Alessi in 1995. How did you become involved with Alessi?

RF: My first involvement was with a show in Europe – in Germany, with two other silversmiths – Werner Bunck and Michael Rowe, who were both senior peers and quite well-known silversmiths in their own right. That was quite a large exhibition that travelled museums in Germany. A woman from the British Craft magazine wrote an article at the time saying that my works would be perfect for Alessi and Alberto Alessi, I think, had gone to see them. While the show was on (in 1992), I was living in Italy, so I decided to phone Alberto and he said “come and visit” – so I went up there and I spent the day with him.

MP: So you made the first move and contacted Alberto…

RF: Yes, but he said that he wanted to contact me, but didn’t know how because I was travelling around Europe (before mobile phones were around!). So, he asked me to design a fondue set in 1992 and I sent him some drawings (all correspondence in those days was through letters). I didn’t hear anything. I sent him another letter. I tried to contact him on the phone – but still, I didn’t hear. Several months went past…

MP: Were you back in Australia then?

RF: Yes, I was back in Australia by that stage. That would have been in 1993 and that’s when I started to think…I wasn’t really interested in being a designer in the true sense of the word, where you go and try and sell your designs to a company that would manufacture it. So, I decided to start F!NK, mainly due to the jug [the water jug was the first product for F!NK, initially commissioned as a limited release vessel for a restaurant in Canberra, which is now the mainstay product for their company] and a whole lot of different ideas I acquired from my time in Europe. I decided to start F!NK, rather than go overseas like Marc Newson and so forth had done, because I wanted to try and start something in Australia. In 1995, I went back to Italy to visit the Milan Furniture and Lighting Fair, and as the fondue set didn’t happen, I went to visit Alberto Alessi again and we had a conversation. He said they didn’t really have any recently designed teapots in the collection, so Alberto thought it was appropriate that I designed one for them. When I got back to Australia I did a design for them – a couple of designs – and the one that you’ve got, they liked. The system they operate on is that they have a board of people who vote on things and it’s proceeded on that basis. Apparently, 50% of the people on the board really liked it and 50% thought it was “too organic”. I could have changed the design and I could have pursued it further, but I eventually decided that I wasn’t interested anyway.

MP: What was your inspiration for the teapot? What brief did you set yourself?

RF: I don’t think there was any particular inspiration, but it’s like a lot of the pieces that I have made, particularly in those earlier days where I liked to create a juxtaposition between an organic, zoomorphic form (which was the vessel)…and something geometric. I like to create a language and interaction between the two of them. In the case of this teapot…it’s actually quite a macabre looking object because it looks like it has been pierced. It’s a utilitarian object, but in essence, I’m really working with sculptural aspects. I didn’t want the spout, the handle or lid to be thought of as independent or separate appendages. I wanted to try and make them as one, so there is a visual line which makes your eye assume the two pieces are connected. They are not, obviously. The spout is not connected to the handle, but it looks like that. I also wanted to draw a connection between how the handle determines the direction of the pouring action and the actual animated movement of pouring and how that connects to the direction of the liquid coming out.

MP: Have you been in contact with Alessi since this teapot?

RF: No. Not really. I did visit Alberto once more I think, and he was interested in taking on a few of the F!NK products as Alessi products. They’ve got quite a few things from F!NK in their Museum…

MP: What have they got?

RF: They’ve got the orange juicer, the tray, the jug obviously; maybe they have the tea strainer…mainly the early products. I’m not sure what contemporary products they have. I should really stay in contact with them.

MP: You described the teapot before as something which can look quite macabre because of the way it’s pierced, but when I first saw it, I thought of it as a pet – something small and cute that needed a nice home…

RF: Well, it’s like a lot of my work, there’s a whole lot of embellished language that appeals to people in different ways. There’s always a context there that people relate to…and I like to create a dialogue. The fact it’s been pierced creates a sense of undulating movement. The image that I had, I suppose, was that it was initially a hemispherical blob of mercury – like a blob of mercury sitting on a table – and the sickle shape has pierced into it and it’s perhaps the movement of the fluid or liquid caught in time. So, there’s that sort of action there. The back of it is narrower and the front of it is sort of pushed forward.

MP: From your experience, to what extent do prototypes usually differ from their final forms for production?

RF: It varies and I think for us and our approach with Fink, it’s probably quite different to a lot of other companies. It’s quite multi-directional and I see two extremes with the processes of making. On the one hand, there’s the concept, the feeling, the emotion and the aesthetics of it and on the other hand, there’s the way that mechanical and hand-forming processes can create an object…and how these both can combine. I guess the thing with F!NK is that it has allowed a whole new cache of knowledge and understanding of potential forms, processes and surfaces…that I wouldn’t have had, if I had just maintained a hand-making or craft-based process. But, it varies from prototype to prototype. The variation and the change will usually happen during the prototyping process and then it will be taken to manufacture, but in some cases, we take the design a certain distance and then we experiment with the tooling and process to determine the final shape…but it really depends on what you’re doing.

MP: How would you compare F!NK’s approach to design with Alessi’s approach today?

RF: F!NK was, in a lot of ways, a reaction to Alessi. I mean, they were an inspiring company…because they were contemporary and they were putting contemporary silversmithing on the international stage. The similarities with F!NK would be that Alessi are still quite interested in the craftsmanship of things and they still try to help and support small craft industries in their region. A lot of the pieces have a similar quirkiness to what we do and there’s quite a bit of innovation in terms of the objects. Alessi is always looking at new ways of doing things, which is similar to us – new surfaces and to some degree, new processes. They also collaborate with artists. Well, Alessi probably collaborates more with designers and architects, whereas we collaborate with craftsmen and artists. I think the difference, perhaps, is that we were always exclusively interested in the handmade nature of it and that each object is a little bit different. The popular word now is ‘bespoke’ – and this is where we came from and what we are interested in.

MP: What are you working on now?

RF: There are a few different things. I can’t tell you about the big commission that I am currently working on, except to say that it’s pretty exciting and it’s absorbing huge amounts of energy and it’s going to be fantastic when it is launched in October this year! But, I guess, personally what’s been happening over the last few years is that I’ve been more involved with my one-off work, lighting and developing ways of creating objects that haven’t been seen before. This involves a lot of playing around with thermo-forming processes. I’ve been working on some interesting one-off work which utilises the 500 tonne metal press that we’ve got to basically destroy bits of metal, but in a controlled way (I call it ‘abstract expressionism’ as a metalworker!), that’s on the verge of being totally out of control – what I’m talking about is the piece in the Canberra Times [this article can be found on the official F!NK website, dated June 26, 2010]. I use the big press to stretch and forge the materials in ways that are otherwise unachievable. So, that’s been quite exciting! Then we are going to release a light – it will probably be one of a few similar shapes – it’s called ‘Swinging Moon’. That’s taking the research and development of ideas, processes and products from my one-off prototyping realm into F!NK. We’ve also done a collaboration with Australian artist, Jonathan Baskett. We didn’t have a lot of involvement with the overall design…but we’ve organised the components. They’re salt, pepper and sugar shakers made out of pyrex or bora silica glass in the shape of a maraca…with stoppers made of anodised aluminium. They’re fun and quirky objects, but it’s difficult to keep the price down.

MP: How much of your time is spent doing commission work?

RF: At the moment, probably about 50%. The good thing about commission work is that you can always say “no” to it. In some cases, it means that it’s a bulk sum of money which allows you to explore something that is beyond the realms of your general capacity and you can manifest ideas that you’ve had. When somebody asks for a design, or asks you to design something, there’s always a cache of ideas that you’ve had sitting there that you can utilise or draw on. One of the reasons that I started F!NK was because I was doing a lot of commission work. I suppose at that point in my career, everyone wanted something for nothing and they tended to look in magazines and say “Can you make me this? But I want it half the price for what it sells for in the shop!”. I didn’t really like the situation then, but now we’ve had the opportunity to determine what we want to take (and what we don’t) and I suppose people are coming to ask for something that is unique to them. It’s like one-off work in a different realm.

MP: Do you have your workshop on site where you live?

RF: No.

MP: Would you like to?

RF: In some ways I would, but I don’t know if Gretel would like that! I would be working all the time! I get so caught up doing with what I am doing that I lose track of time and just can’t stop! It is actually good to have them separated and have time away from working where I just spend time in the garden and do experiments at home with the kids! Having the brain space is sort of necessary. But we do have an office at home and sometimes that means you can get caught up doing things on the computer and not taking time out.

MP: What do you see as your greatest achievement in your design career?

RF: I think some of the processes I’ve developed, if anything. New processes and new ways of doing things open up an entire new visual language. I think they’re probably what I think of as a greatest achievement – it’s not necessarily a piece or a design, it’s got more to do with seeing things differently and trying to create new objects and visual languages to challenge people. I spent a couple of years in Europe on different occasions and living in Italy and Germany and England…and I just thought “NO!” – being in Australia is actually an opportunity to do something radically different and have a different response rather than following the traditional metaphors. I was more interested in being ‘counter-developmental’ and hence not wanting to do things that had a symmetrical nature and using processes that allowed products to be made which people hadn’t seen before – different surfaces and materials, and that’s still what interests me.

MP: I was reading in the interview you gave for the Canberra Times recently that the “bush-in-the-city” aesthetic has always had a strong influence on your work.

RF: Australia and the spirit of the land and the nature of the landscape play a huge influence in my work. It informs my visual language and my experiences growing up in the country has meant I’ve felt responsible to put those things out there which are tied to the landscape and Aboriginal culture, that type of thing. I spent a lot of time as a teenager and as a kid travelling around Australia as well, and I had a lot of experiences that not many people would have had.

MP: Where do you think F!NK will be in 10 years time?

RF: Crikey! We don’t do business plans! We’d like to keep it in the upper ends of the design industry, innovating and offerings things that aren’t seen in other businesses – something that is recognised as Australian. My dream, I suppose in a way, is to do what happened with the Scandinavian design industry where it was based on the crafts and hand-making knowledge and process and having certain elements about it that are identifiable. There are lots of dreams I have for F!NK – doing things beyond object production like big commissions. The notion of Fink is something that goes against the grain and offers a different perspective, that’s always been the idea behind it. Something that is not mainstream. This makes it difficult as most big and successful companies take the bread and butter line…and that’s what makes the money. For us, that’s the jug. The jug allowed so much of this to happen really because of its success. In 10 years, we want to still be surviving and to be relevant.

MP: And still in Canberra?

RF: I guess so. We do projects and design products for places all over the world and all over the country, so I don’t mind. I like the void, I’ve always like the desert and space and Canberra is kind of good like that. It’s a modern city that is interspersed with bits of nature and clean blue skies. It’s also not too far from the coast and from Sydney which means you can easily do day trips! Maybe we will still in be in Canberra…

I would like to thank Robert for enabling this interview and for sharing his wonderful insights into his design work, and also fellow curator, Eva Czernis-Ryl.

Benini and Fashion at the Foro Italico

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Collection: Powerhouse Museum

When the large crate containing the Bruno Benini archive arrived in the basement last year, it was opened with as much anticipation as if we were opening a treasure trove! In it were photographs Bruno captured of another world, a world where everything was beautiful, albeit in different ways – elegant and sophisticated to gritty and decaying.

As we continue to look through and document the archive, there are exciting discoveries all the time! It was no different with 2009/43/1-5/2, a box of negatives which revealed a small number of photos from Bruno Benini’s 1958 overseas trip. As Hazel Benini, Bruno’s wife, tells us:

In 1958 he flew to London via New York, where he met up with Helmet Newton and his wife June… He photographed Janice and Wendy in Portobello Road for Crestknit (Australia). He moved on to Italy catching up with relatives, journeyed on to Rome meeting up with Janice. He photographed her for Sportscraft at the Olympic area, and at the Tivoli Gardens out of Rome with an Italian model wearing dresses by Ninette of Melbourne. He used a male model for Crestknit sweaters at the Colosseum which made a magnificent background. He returned to Melbourne in September 1958, with great experience and knowledge acquired from this European trip. (Hazel Benini Memoir, 2009)

The negatives I was looking at are mentioned by Hazel above, of Janice Wakely in Sportscraft fashion at the Foro Italico, a sports complex in Rome. Janice Wakely recalls:

The time in Rome was superb, because he [Bruno] only had a limited number of garments, and he brought them over with him… He said I can’t wait to get to Italy, I can’t wait to get to Rome. I’ve got to go back, I’m just ecstatic about going back to Italy… (Janice Wakely Interview, 2010)

In the top image we can see Janice at an indoor swimming pool used as the ‘warm up pool’ during the 1960 Olympic Games. A marble mosaic depicting a classical mythological scene is visible in the background of the photograph, as well as aquatic figures in marble mosaic on the poolside floor.

Collection: Powerhouse Museum

In the photograph shown above Janice is standing alongside one of sixty statues depicting athletic male figures in a classical style. These statues are each 4 metres in height, and are made of Lunense marble, hence the name Stadio dei Marmi or ‘Stadium of the Marbles’. This sports stadium was also used in the 1960 Olympic Games for hockey tournaments, as well as an athletics ‘warm up track’ (Bulletin du Comité International Olympique Mai 1958 Numéro 65).

Collection: Powerhouse Museum

Again we see Janice modelling by an athletic male statue, here a bronze hammer thrower in mid movement, in what is now the Palazzo del C.O.N.I. or the offices of the Italian National Olympic Committee. At the time these photographs were taken, construction was underway at the Foro Italico for the 1960 Summer Olympic Games. However, the locations we see in Bruno’s photographs were not built for these Olympics.

The Foro Italico, originally named Foro Mussolini, was commissioned by Benito Mussolini and built between 1928 and 1938, to encourage the Italian people to physical fitness and to ‘strengthen the body politic’. The many examples of athletic and heroic bodies which can be seen in mosaic, marble and bronze testify to this aim. These figures in Bruno’s photographs not only evoke the power and physicality of the athlete and the upcoming Olympic Games, but also the aspirational body. The Foro Italico provided a setting for the juxtaposition of brute masculine strength against elegant femininity, but also a continuation of the idealised body – from classicised athlete to fashion model. This series of photographs show the skill of Bruno Benini as photographer and artist in the complexity, beauty and playfulness of his visual vocabulary.

You can see these photographs and many, many more in Creating the look: Bruno Benini and fashion photography until 18 April 2011.

Alysha Buss
Assistant Curator, Creating the look: Benini and fashion photography

Design underground #2- telling stories about textiles

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Photography by Sotha Bourn © Powerhouse Museum, all rights reserved

On Wednesday 4 August, Christina Sumner, Principal Curator Design & Society, led an enthusiastic group of twelve visitors on a design underground tour of the Museum’s textiles collection. Visitors were treated to an up close and personal encounter with eight key textiles spanning the 14th-20th centuries and various geographical regions, including: Australia, India, Bangladesh, Peru, Italy, Tahiti, West Africa and Turkmenistan.

One of the first textiles Christina showed the group was this Tahitian tiputa (poncho) made from bark cloth, c.1815 (above). The tiputa is special on several counts: certainly as it’s nearly 200 years old and a rare example of top quality tapa from Tahiti, and for the evidence of European influence in the leafprint pattern, but also for its association with Governor Lachlan Macquarie to whom the tiputa once belonged. It was good to give this an airing as 2010 is the bicentenary of Macquaries’s appointment in 1810 as governor to the colony of New South Wales.

Photography by Sotha Bourn © Powerhouse Museum, all rights reserved

Above is a tapestry-woven top, made from lama or vicũna wool in pre-Columbian South America between about 1400 and 1600. The group were in awe of its astounding condition and bright colours (remember, it is 500 years old!), the use of tapestry weave and the identification of the small repeating feather motif, which in one section, actually appears to have been carefully repaired at some time.

Photography by Sotha Bourn © Powerhouse Museum, all rights reserved

Both the pre-Columbian top and the West African Hausa man’s embroidered tunic (above) are made from narrow strips of handwoven cloth sewn together lengthways. However, while the top is tiny, the white cotton Hausa tunic – known locally as a babba riga – is huge by any standard. The narrow strips of cloth for these men’s tunics were woven by men and traditionally they also carried out the embroidery.

Photography by Sotha Bourn © Powerhouse Museum, all rights reserved

The group inspected the embroidery on the tunic closely, examining the couched pointed motifs known as ‘eight knives’ on the front pocket and over the shoulder, and the dense areas of eyelet embroidery known as ‘one thousand ant holes’. Today these tunics are still worn, but are almost all machine woven and decorated.

Photography by Sotha Bourn © Powerhouse Museum, all rights reserved

In addition to having a close look at traditional textiles from Tahiti, South America and West Africa (as well as India, Bangladesh, Turkmenistan and Australia) the group also saw a length of luxurious purple velvet from 16th century Europe. Velvet weavers, being keen to attract a good share of the market, developed a number of techniques in order to create a variety of attractive special effects. The technique used to weave this piece is called ‘pile on pile’, in which the pattern is created by cutting the velvet pile to two different lengths. This particular ‘pile on pile’ design was used by Venetian magistrates of the 16th century as a badge of office.

Christina Sumner and Melanie Pitkin

Editor’s note: Next week, some fellow curators will be leading a number of other design underground tours, including one on shoes, couture and lace! Check out the Sydney Design website for more information.

Using design for affirmative action: reflections on the HotHouse Symposium

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Professor Tony Fry, Griffith University. Image courtesy of Felicity Fenner

Last week, some colleagues and I attended the HotHouse Symposium – a “collective experiment” initiated and led by the National Institute for Experimental Arts (NIEA) at UNSW in association with Object Gallery and the City of Sydney. More than 100 curators, designers, artists, theorists and academics came together to workshop solutions using art and design to “solve” world problems and improve the role and sustainability of city spaces.

On a personal note, I went to the conference to broaden my understanding of the role of design in the 21st century and to see how, as a curator working in a public museum institution, we might be able to incorporate new approaches to communicating design so as to influence positive change and perception. In other words, how could the Powerhouse Museum use objects from its design collection to inspire affirmative action, particularly with regards to recycling, energy consumption, water usage and other ‘eco-friendly’ decisions? For example, how could we use Frank Gehry’s Wiggle chair (which is made principally of cardboard) to encourage people to re-think the materials that surround them – materials that are expensive and unsustainable to produce, materials that denote covetousness and expressions of wealth rather than necessity, the lifespan of materials and ultimately, the waste that they produce? How could we use William Morris’ furniture, or other pieces from the Arts and Crafts Movement, to inspire visitors to return to making things by hand and being active producers of their own culture? Or, more generally, what are some other ways we can use our design collection to show the retrospective impact designed objects have on nature, culture and ultimately business?

'Wiggle' chair designed by Frank Gehry, 2003/83/1. Collection: Powerhouse Museum

Before becoming a curator, I spent some time working in Museum Evaluation and Audience Research. One area we wanted to know about our audiences, but which proved almost impossible to ascertain, is how much have visitors learnt – what have visitors taken away from a visit to our Museum, or more specifically an exhibition, that they didn’t know before? Finding out this type of information is extremely difficult because people come to a museum or exhibition with preconceptions and prior knowledge, which ‘contaminates’ new information, as they inadvertently join all the dots together. But, if it’s affirmative action we are seeking, rather than just an increase in knowledge (that is, our aim is to get visitors to take that ‘extra’ step), then we can more readily measure this change through collective observation and statistics – for instance, a 20% reduction in energy consumption in the local Sydney area. Sure, the Museum couldn’t claim sole responsibility for this, but it could at least claim to have played a significant part.

When thinking about how to get people to commit to affirmative actions, which don’t just apply to being ‘green’, I’m constantly reminded of ‘The Fun Theory’, an initiative of Volkswagen which considers fun to be the easiest way to change people’s behaviour for the better.[1] It’s a simple idea, but it’s so effective. Click here to see some examples. This brings me to wonder, how could a museum adopt ‘The Fun Theory’? Generally speaking, visitors who walk or take public transport to the Museum could be rewarded with a discounted ticket or complimentary morning or afternoon tea (neither of these may necessarily be considered ‘fun’ though, just an incentive!). But, how and more importantly, should we consider interpreting museum collections in the context of ‘The Fun Theory’ if we want to use these as a vehicle for inspiring affirmative action?

As the Museum’s Inspired! Design Across Time exhibition starts to be dismantled, and planning begins for a new and exciting re-think of our arts and design collection, these are some of the many questions and areas for discussion that my fellow curators and I ponder…

[1] I must acknowledge Jodi Newcombe who introduced ‘The Fun Theory’ to me in her HotHouse presentation.

A Fashionable Idea: Shaping Expression

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Photography © Alex Perry. Image courtesy of Black Dahlia

This Saturday 7th August, as part of Sydney Design 2010, the Museum is hosting Framed! – an all-day photographic shoot exposing the ins and outs of creating ‘the look’. In this post, wardrobe stylist Anna Raju of Black Dahlia, explores the role two key Australian fashion designers have had both on her work and the Australian fashion industry as a whole – Alex Perry and Gail Sorronda.

For most of us, the world of fashion is shrouded with intrigue. There is a mystique and a yearning to be part of it or have the opportunity to experience it from its margins. The visual explosion of colour, texture and form of the garments and subjects invokes myriad fantasies seeped within us when the ensemble is framed in a stylized setting – the creation of the fantasy world. Beautiful fashion spreads conceal the meticulous process taken to capture that moment which tells a story, the vision of the team and for me as a wardrobe stylist, I pay a tribute with my styling to the creations of the designers showcased.

Framed! brings forth the opportunity for everyone to view that process and watch the various roles played out in a creative team and we (the team), in turn, bring to life the magic of couture inspirations that have graced the pages of profiled magazines. In styling for Framed! and Captured!, I was inspired by two influential Australian designers, who in their journey, have augmented Australian fashion to greater heights and added to the movement of experimental designers.

Photography © Alex Perry. Image courtesy of Black Dahlia

Alex Perry; the creator and brand synonymous with luxury, prestige and quality is one of Australia’s renowned ateliers and reigns at the helm of high fashion. His shows display high voltage glamour attracting a mega following and the key to his continuing success is his keen understanding of making a woman look and feel a million dollars. Perry’s garments enchant their viewers with a captivating flow of dazzling detail setting the bar for masterful design. Behind his enamouring personality lies the potent artistic mind that augments splendour and showcases beauty in its many forms. From the delicate princess to the formidable queen, his designs answer womens’ desire to express themselves in exquisite style. And so it is appropriate that a tribute to one of Australia’s designer royal is paid by featuring his creation in Framed!.

Photography © Little Hero. Image courtesy of Black Dahlia

The poetic approach to fashion is encapsulated none better than with Gail Reid who designs under the name Gail Sorronda (Sorronda being her mother’s maiden name). Her non-linear meteoric rise in the fashion world started with the debut of ‘Angels at My Table’.

Photography © Little Hero. Image courtesy of Black Dahlia

Behind each yearly collection showcasing her trademark look, the dramatic contrast of black and white, is a philosophical idea questioned and examined leading to creations cementing Gail as the fashion vigueur à compter. The voyeuristic alter-ego exploring opposite and equal reactions continuously experiments with silhouettes, bringing opposite textures together with a continuation of ‘noir romanticism’. The garments surprise its viewer for its sense of exaggeration balanced by a temperate restraint. This gives voice to Gail’s mantra for design discipline. Herein lies the artist who merges thought with beauty and grace with her whimsical designs and her blog shines light to the arresting mind that conjures up such creations. Gail Reid or Gail Sorronda, the label to me is a beacon for contemporary high fashion, a force that unites impression and premise and a vehicle for an appreciation for the many faces of art.

Anna Raju, Stylist

Powerhouse memory quiz #2- design

Published by Melanie Pitkin 1 Comment

Photography © Powerhouse Museum, all rights reserved

Design on your mind? Have a go at guessing what some of these iconic design objects are from the Museum’s permanent collection! Here are some clues:

1. Relative of the Lockheed
2. Stepping out
3. Dutch for dry
4. Cardboard furniture
5. Squid
6. London 2010 aquatic centre

We will post the answers next week!

Design underground #1 – In the fashion vault

Published by Melanie Pitkin 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , .

Photography by Sotha Bourn © Powerhouse Museum, all rights reserved

Yesterday afternoon we kicked off the Design Underground tours as part of Sydney Design 2010 with an insightful, behind-the-scenes look at the expansive storage facilities of the Museum’s costume and accessories collection. Led by Suzanne Chee, the tour started with an overview of conservation work at the Museum and the breadth of the fashion collection. The first garment the group encountered was a crocheted dress designed by Romance Was Born and worn by Cate Blanchett at Federation Square, Melbourne in September 2009 (see image below). Dubbed by some as the ‘old-school granny rug’, the dress certainly turned a few heads among the group!

Collection: Powerhouse Museum

But, in order for garments like this to be kept in good condition, you need to ensure the correct climatic and humiditiy conditions and appropriate storage measures. Compared with the display of objects in exhibitions where the temperature is maintained at around 20 – 22 degrees, the long term storage of textiles requires a slightly cooler and constant temperature of 18 degrees (with a 50% relative humidity). When the store was setup in the 1980s, it was modelled on the Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York and The Kyoto Costume Institute (which have lots of hanging space). But, overtime, the Museum has increasingly opted to lay garments flat as this reduces the pressure placed on the shoulders and the seams created by hanging. This is moreso the case for the ‘heavier’ garments of the 18th and 19th centuries.

Photography by Sotha Bourn © Powerhouse Museum, all rights reserved

Textile lengths, rugs and yardage are stored on aluminiuim rolls protected and covered with acid free tissue paper which can be easily moved about for study and display. Accessories, such as shoes, bags and gloves, are displayed flat in trays and filled with padding to help retain the object’s form.

Photography by Sotha Bourn © Powerhouse Museum, all rights reserved

In the above image Suzanne shows the group how hats are stored and cared for. This is a Rugby League cap dating to 1914. It is placed on a wooden hat stand with a padded support shaped exactly to the size of the cap (if it was going to be displayed, it would be on an acrylic stand instead as it is slightly more pleasing to the eye!). The hats, as with a large part of the dress collection, are stored in compactus units, as you can see below.

Photography by Sotha Bourn © Powerhouse Museum, all rights reserved

Following the tour, Suzanne showed the group how to make their own padded coathangers (of Museum standard!) to display their own precious garments over light refreshments. Everyone was particularly impressed by Suzanne’s ‘textiles-inspired’ cupcakes which were devoured in no time!

Photography by Sotha Bourn © Powerhouse Museum, all rights reserved

If you’d like to take part in any other upcoming Design Underground tours, please click here or download the Sydney Design iPhone app here. The next tour we’ll be blogging about is ‘Telling Stories About Textiles’ with Principal Curator, Design and Society, Christina Sumner.

Suzanne Chee, Conservator and Melanie Pitkin, Curator

What is the role of fascination in design?

Published by Melanie Pitkin 0 Comments Tags: , , , .

Photography © Powerhouse Museum, all rights reserved

Good designs are often as fascinating in their finished form as the many hidden challenges that are met in realising them. But which designs actually leave the designer fascinated, wanting to use it as a learning experience to discover more about the people who interact with it? One such design is the interactive “Be a Fashionista Table”, created by the Museum’s Department of Interactives for the Frock Stars exhibition.

Photography © Powerhouse Museum, all rights reserved

The “Be a Fashionista Table” interactive was designed to uncover the experience of being a celebrity at an exclusive VIP party of a fashion show by actually getting visitors to role-play being a celebrity. Using a number of cameras and a touch screen, visitors can photograph themselves in various poses, ‘rubbing shoulders’ with celebrities in digitally projected backdrops and be a stylistic trend setter for a mock fashion magazine. The touch screen also enables them to arrange their party Polaroid photos of themselves and their fashion accessories in the magazine before they ‘publish’ them (the photos are only captured for a few hours). This process of ‘expressing oneself’ in front of the camera for a fashion magazine made me wonder – What is real about the “hero shot”? Is it an artistic projection of our self-esteem and self-belief that surfaces when the cameras are out? I also wondered, what is real about being a celebrity? Is it within all of us to be one, in a sense, by wearing our pride or sense of fun on the outside? Good designs often begin with such cultural and philosophical enquiries, but some continue to make the designer wonder long after it has been a hit.

Photography © Powerhouse Museum, all rights reserved

More frequently these days, designs have a tendency to play a role of revealing the logic of their hidden workings and innovation as well. It’s not so much to glorify their workings as to facilitate peoples’ many modes of learning through acting on their curiosity. For example, one of the cameras that were used to take photos of peoples’ shoes was protected by a clear window in the casing of the interactive. I designed this, keeping in mind that it would also be used, like a keyhole, for people to peer into the interactive to see the mysterious glow of LED’s, chaotic criss-crossing of cables and spinning heat fans.

Photography © Powerhouse Museum, all rights reserved

The most rewarding and heart-warming experience in designing this interactive, however, was to discover that the Museum’s visitors had begun to find an additional meaningful purpose for it. One day, as I was ‘flipping’ the pages of the mock fashion magazine on the screen to see the photos people had captured, I came across an astonishing set of images. A pair of newly graduated university students had used one of the cameras to record an important moment in both their lives, their graduation in fact. They did this through displaying a photo of their iPhone which displayed a photo they had previously taken of themselves holding their graduation certificates together.

It leaves me to wonder one last question – How can an interactive mixed reality design empower people to become record keepers of their creative collaborations?

Krister Gustafsson
Industrial Designer, Powerhouse Museum