The Museum of Sydney is hosting a series of talks and panel discussions exploring mid-century interior design, furniture making and architecture within Australia. The discussion series aligns with the museum’s highly received exhibitions Marion Hall Best: Interiors and The Moderns: European Designers in Sydney.
Spanning Sundays across September, October and November, each speaking event will dive a little further into Australia’s design history. Combining furniture, interiors, architecture, retail and the wider social climate. The Museum of Sydney’s discussion series uncovers the prominent personalities who forged Australia’s unique Mid-Century identity and their continued legacy in contemporary design.
Marion Hall Best and Australian Interior Design delves into the career and impact of one of Australia’s most prominent – and daring – interior designers. Discussing her influence on designers, both then and now, are ex-Vogue Living Editor David Clark; interior designer with CO-AP Architects, Tine Engelen; design historian, Michael Bogle; and curator of the Marion Hall exhibition, Michael Lech.
Making Australian Modernism: Furniture explores the effect of modernist thinking in the everyday lives and objects of mid-century Australia. The Moderns exhibition curator, Rebecca Hawcroft, is joined by fine and decorative arts auctioneer, Andrew Shapiro, to identify the anonymous cabinetmakers, celebrated designers and retail stores that defined Australian modernism.
Making Australian Modernism: Architecture celebrates the country’s instrumental architects who disseminated modernist influences from the UK, America and Europe. Curator of The Moderns, Rebecca Hawcroft, is joined by co-founder of Dinosaur Designs and daughter of émigré architect, Henry Rossler, Liane Rossler, to discuss how shifts in global architectural thinking were interpreted in local design.
Modern But Not Minimalist aims to debunk the connotations combining the modernist movement with minimalism. Former MAAS curator and professor of the Interiors Architecture program, Judith O’Callaghan, is joined by The Moderns curator, Rebecca Hawcroft, and design historian, Catriona Quinn, to highlight the modernist designers who veered away from expectations, working in highly ornate styles.
Secure your tickets here.