DETAILS
Free, no booking required
Craft Victoria - Main Gallery
Watson Place, Melbourne VIC, Australia
DATES
Thu 15 May 11am – 5pm
Fri 16 May 11am – 5pm
Sat 17 May 11am – 4pm
Tue 20 May 11am – 5pm
Wed 21 May 11am – 5pm
Thu 22 May 11am – 5pm
Fri 23 May 11am – 5pm
Sat 24 May 11am – 4pm
Future Ambition is an exhibition featuring seven artists, designers and makers in Craft’s Main Gallery: Isabel Avendano-Hazbun, DNJ Paper, Other Matter pty ltd, Pit Projects and Shahn Stewart.
Future Ambition showcases innovative and ambitious works by artists and makers investing in new pathways forward – presenting creative and conscious furniture, lighting, artworks and installations – with the hope for a better tomorrow. The development of sustainable art, craft and design creates specialised knowledge and skills that are highly valued in the commercial world. This exhibition examines the unrealised potential of this creative intellectual property and highlights ways artists can achieve positive real-world outcomes as they invest boldly in our collective future.
The exhibition includes: Designers DNJ Paper who have created unique handmade ‘wallpaper’ from pre-consumer textile waste, transforming the fabrics offcuts from their award-winning MPavillion 10 Uniform Commission in 2024; collaborative duo Pit Projects (Anni Hagberg and Michael Gittings) who ‘mine’ illegal tips in Melbourne’s West scavenging for discarded materials, using their deep material and creative knowledge to transform discarded glass, metal and terracotta into glazed and enameled lighting and experimental forms; and Isabel Avendano-Hazbun who has advanced her 2024 research project Industry, an exercise in creating and applying honest sustainability practices within a small designer/maker studio with the aim of creating a circular economy model. Using recycled bicycle inner tubes, Avendano-Hazbun experiments with the properties of rubber to produce an innovative alternative textile, hand weaving the material on a loom to upholster a chair she exhibited at Craft in The Chair in 2022.
Future Ambition is presented by Conscious Craft – a Craft Victoria initiative showcasing innovative creations by makers and designers who are actively considering sustainability and ethics in their production methods and use of materials.
Participants
Isabel Avendano-Hazbun
Isabel is an interdisciplinary designer/maker trained in textiles and fine-furniture. Her practice focuses on creating high-quality works that address the environmental responsibilities of makers and consumers. Mainly using discarded and repurposed materials as a medium Isabel skilfully manipulates and transforms waste into captivating contemporary pieces. Her works challenge embedded ideas of an object’s worth, where those that consider sustainability and aesthetics are more valuable. Isabel believes that objects that balance sustainability and aesthetics are vital, and she strives to create pieces that embody this principle.
DNJ Paper
DNJ Paper is an award-winning research and design studio situated in Melbourne, Australia, and is led by designers Daphne Mohajer va Pesaran and Jake Nakashima-Edwards. They employ a range of techniques, both traditional and non-traditional, to create paper clothing, accessories and objects. They aim to address pressing social, aesthetic, and conceptual questions related to fashion and textiles design. They use handmade recycled rag paper, produced in their studio, as well as handmade Japanese paper, also known as washi. The washi is sourced from small studios located throughout Japan, and each sheet comes with comprehensive information on the conditions of its production. All pieces are considered a work in progress, never fully finished, and are designed to evolve over time. The intention is to allow for wear, repair and decay. Wherever possible, DNJ reduce, reuse, regenerate and recycle.
Other Matter
Other Matter is a sustainable materials studio, founded in 2021 by artist Jessie French. It’s mission centres on developing innovative solutions to plastics that can be recycled infinitely, helping to transition industries to more sustainable practices. The studio is committed to developing real-world solutions to replace less-sustainable materials across diverse industries, while integrating functionality and thoughtful design.