Illuminating historical past of design, with some enjoyable!

Craft / “Gentle, Color, Humanity”. At Canberra Museum and Gallery, till Might 28. Reviewed by MEREDITH HINCHLIFFE.

“LIGHT, Color, Humanity” is the inaugural exhibition for a brand new CMAG gallery area that faces on to London Circuit and Civic Sq..

Alastair Swayn was considered one of Canberra’s main architects – he designed a lot of the buildings surrounding the Canberra Airport. He was additionally captivated with Australian design. Earlier than he died prematurely, he established a basis and this exhibition is the 2023 Showcase Legacy.

Three rules outlined Swayn’s work: gentle, color, humanity.

Like many different designers, Swayn believed that individuals have been born equal and had a proper to be heard equally. The general public buildings he designed supported this precept.

The three components to this exhibition are represented: gentle by means of images by John Gollings of Swayn’s constructing, color by means of an exhibition of Australian-designed objects from curator Ian Wong’s assortment and humanity by means of a movie and narrative textual content that focuses on humanity-centred design.

Cubes within the area are full of objects from Australia’s publish World Struggle II previous, grouped in colors. The intriguing hyperlink to the items is that they have been designed and manufactured in Australia. Included are the yellow stack hat which kids wore when on their scooters or bikes – designed by Bryon Fitzpatrick. He taught on the then Canberra Faculty of Superior Schooling earlier than leaving Australia to show on the Rhode Island College of Design and different establishments in America and Europe.

Australian inventor Frank Bannigan based Kambrook, the corporate which is chargeable for high quality and reasonably priced electrical home equipment. He labored in a transformed storage in his house in Kambrook Street. He was one other designer who labored to carry high quality merchandise inside everybody’s attain.

One in all his first main merchandise was the powerboard, developed within the early ’70s. This rapidly grew to become a worldwide hit and stays an important family merchandise as we speak. Search for this object within the blue dice.

Décor merchandise are ubiquitous in our kitchens. The model originated in Melbourne in 1958 and the corporate has been awarded many Australian Design Awards. The merchandise are available in a spread of colors, so examples will be present in each dice.

Round “home windows” give visible entry to the objects – at each baby and grownup top. As a tribute to native designers and producers, Wong from Monash College, has included the F!NK jug. As well as the round “home windows” into the cubes have a F!NK-manufactured encompass – within the wall color.

The exhibition embraces not solely Swayn’s architectural rules, but in addition the rules of CMAG – social historical past and artwork.

I discovered it an enchanting exploration, illuminating the historical past of Australian design and, importantly, enjoyable!