The largest-ever international presentation of Victorian design will be showcased at Asia’s premier design event, Hong Kong Business of Design Week (BODW) in December 2018.

Melbourne is the event’s first Southern Hemisphere Partner City and follows Italy’s 2017 showcase as Partner Country.

From 3 to 8 December 2018, BoDW will offer an invaluable platform for the Victorian design community to exchange ideas, network and explore new business and trade opportunities with international design leaders and influential business figures.

Under the theme “Think · Collaborate · Create”, Melbourne’s program involves over 170 designers, design organisations and institutions.

Victoria’s Minister for Creative Industries, Martin Foley said Melbourne’s significant strengths in design will come to life in Hong Kong providing opportunities for both established names and rising talent.

“From globally recognised success stories to our rising new design talents, Victoria has so much to be proud of and this program represents our largest ever design-focused international trade mission,” said Minister Foley.

“This is an incredible platform to showcase Melbourne’s design strengths to an audience of potential collaborators and trade partners and we are proud to be backing our designers to take on the world,” he said.

Highlights include:

DesignInspire Melbourne Pavilion: DesignInspire is a major exhibition and trade show at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre. The Melbourne Pavilion will showcase Victoria’s design strengths and draw people together for meetings, events and networking.

The Melbourne Pavilion, curated by NGV Senior Curator of Contemporary Design and Architecture, Ewan McEoin, and designed by local architectural and interior design practice, DesignOffice, will feature approximately 90 Victorian designers and five Victorian universities.

Across the themes of design and identity, invention, learning, making, play and wellbeing, award-winning, iconic and exemplar displayed works will include: Facett, the world’s first modular hearing aid by Blamey Saunders hears and Leah Heiss; Tait’s outdoor furniture collection ‘Seam’ by Adam Cornish; Nightingale Housing by Breathe Architecture; The nuraphone by Nura, the world’s only headphones that automatically learn and adapt to your hearing; the International Indigenous Design Charter, between Indigenous Architecture and Design Victoria, Deakin University’s School of Communication and Creative Arts and IKE, and the Design Institute of Australia; Professor Peter Lee of University of Melbourne’s technology for fabricating low-cost prostheses; and LinktGO, a mobile tolling solution, by Transurban, ARQ Group and Bluedot Innovation, to name a few.

BoDW speaking program:  The Victorian approach to design will be celebrated with more than 20 speakers from Melbourne – or around one third of speakers in the program. Across a wide variety of creative disciplines speakers include: Abigail Forsyth of KeepCup, Dr Ken Cato of Cato Brand Partners, Rodney Eggleston of March Studio, Ken Wong from Mountains digital games studio, Brian Morris of Melbourne and Olympic Parks, Jefa Greenaway of Greenaway Architects and Victorian Government Architect, Jill Garner.

DesignInspire Business Showcase: Accompanying the curated exhibition in the Melbourne Pavilion, a well-crafted representation of Melbourne design businesses interested in trade and export will participate in a Business Showcase.

The Victorian design sector contributes more than $5 billion to the Victorian economy including $400 million in design-related exports. Victoria’s tertiary institutions educate more designers than any other state, including the largest share (30%) of international students studying design in Australia.

China is the largest export market for Australian design services with 28% of all exporting Victorian design firms having clients in mainland China.

Melbourne’s presence at Business of Design Week is supported by the Australian Fashion Council, Australian Graphic Design Association, Australian Institute of Architects and the Design Institute of Australia.

For more information visit, www.creative.vic.gov.au/design