Work Shop: On Permanence in Contemporary Practice
Presented by Fomu Studio & Waverley Mills
DETAILS
Free, no booking required
Fiona Lynch Office
75 Langridge Street, Collingwood VIC, Australia
DATES
Thu 14 May 10am – 4pm
Fri 15 May 10am – 4pm
Sat 16 May 10am – 3pm
Thu 21 May 10am – 4pm
Fri 22 May 10am – 4pm
Sat 23 May 10am – 3pm
For Melbourne Design Week 2026, Fiona Lynch Office continues Work Shop, the studio’s platform for experimentation. It is a working environment where ideas are made visible, tested and refined in real time.
Bringing together Fomu Studio and Waverley Mills through two seperate exhibitions, they draw a shared thread to Tasmania, where both companies have designed and made in a place defined by quality, history and a deep connection to land and making.
Within the front gallery, Fomu Studio presents new works alongside earlier pieces, prototypes and sketches, placing making in plain view. In the adjacent room, Fiona Lynch’s Waverley Mills collection traces wool from raw fibre to finished form, revealing its transformation through handling, assembly and time.
Together, the exhibition reflects on what endures. It brings into view the unfolding of how products take shape, where forms are distilled, materials articulate their own presence, and objects assert a quiet permanence beyond trend.
Participants
Fomu Studio
Established in 2017, Fomu Studio is a Melbourne and Tasmanian-based design studio with an aim to design and create objects that embody simplicity, using beautifully considered form and details to enhance the overall functionality of the design.
After years of experience in furniture making and the fashion industry, Andrew and Gabrielle merged their expertise to establish Fomu—a multi-disciplinary design studio. Their ethos revolves around blurring the boundaries between art and design, believing that the art of living is expressed when designs are thoughtfully created to resonate with people, transcending mere functionality.
Sustainability is fundamental to their design philosophy. They prioritise minimal material wastage, create timeless designs, and collaborate with skilled craftspeople in Melbourne and Tasmania to ensure refined outcomes and positive relationships.
Fomu has gained international recognition, being featured in publications such as Vogue, Milk Decoration, Architectural Digest, and more.
Waverley Mills
In 1874, a Scottish migrant named Peter Bulman believed Tasmania could do more than grow wool—it could craft it into something extraordinary. He proved it by producing and selling the first woollen goods made entirely on Tasmanian soil, laying the foundations for what would become Waverley Mills.
As Australia’s last fully vertical woollen mill, Waverley Mills continues to weave not just cloth, but continuity—a rare thread of local industry, natural fibre, and human skill that spans generations.