Welcome to Design Fringe 2022 – a place for the ambitious, the innovative, the shape-shifting and the
magic-making. Design Fringe holds a (very artistically designed) mirror up to the who’s who and what’s what of the design
industry and celebrates innovation across design of all kinds.
Continuing the legacy of its first iteration as Fringe Furniture, Design Fringe honours the legacy of the last 35 years of the program while continually reimagining the future of design. This exhibition celebrates the changing face of design and the work of ambitious new design leaders.
Be bold
IMAGE > [top] Kaspian Kan, What's the Takeaway?, 2021, Takeaway containers, paper, steel, paint, broken lamps, 65 x 80 x 60
cm. Image courtesy of the artist.
IMAGE > Fringe Furniture [installation view], 2019. Image courtesy of the
artists and Melbourne Fringe. Photograph: Tanya Votchanskaya.
This year, Design Fringe asks participating designers to ‘Design the Future: Don’t Waste Time’. Linked to the major global
challenge of sustainability, the exhibition encourages both designers and visitors to rethink our relationship with objects, as well as
raising awareness to help us to make better choices about what we buy in order to reduce the amount of waste we produce.
This year’s exhibition will take over all our gallery spaces, as well as Carlisle Street Art Space located in the St Kilda Town Hall. The
accompanying program will stretch beyond the galleries and exhibitions with a suite of events, workshops and artist conversations that
explore the design world of the future.
There will be two nights to celebrate:
The Launch of Design Fringe
Carlisle Street Art Space
Thursday 16
September, 6-8pm
The launch of Design Fringe with a special address from the Mayor, Marcus Pearl .
Exhibition opening
Linden New Art
Friday 17
September, 6-8pm
Exhibition opening and the announcements of the Design Fringe winners.
Be brave
IMAGES > [top and above] Visitors at 2019 Fringe Furniture, 2019.
Image courtesy of Melbourne Fringe. Photograph: Tanya Votchanskaya.
IMAGE > Portraits of designers on their doorstep, 2021.
Image courtesy of the artists.
Be creative
If you are a designer and would like to enter your work into this year’s Design Fringe exhibition,
there is a two-step process.
Register your entry: 9
May > 1 July
Registrations open on 9 May, when you can enter some basic details about yourself and pay the registration fee. The deadline to enter
is 1 July.
Enter your
works: 18 July > 10 August
The second round of registration is from 18 July until 10 August, when we will follow up with you to get all the details of the
wonderful work you will be entering into the show.
Please make sure you
read the Artist
Information Pack
[download here] before registering.
The breadth of talent and skill that Design Fringe attracts can genuinely be considered a barometer
for the city’s vibrant and cutting-edge design community.
Design Fringe, 2020
IMAGE > Visitors at 2019 Fringe Furniture, 2019. Image courtesy Melbourne Fringe. Photograph: Tanya Volt
+ Visit Melbourne Fringe's website
This exhibition is presented in partnership with Melbourne Fringe & Carlisle Street Art Space.
Project Partners: