It was a fantastic night at the Ivy in Sydney where 550 guests gathered to celebrate the best in Australian contemporary design for this years prestigious IDEA awards .  Helen Kontouris won the Designer Of The Year Award which is voted throughout the year by design industry professionals

www.idea-awards.com

Helen also won another award for her Breathe outdoor collection in the Product category at the IDEA awards.  It was a fantastic evening in Sydney!!!
Manufactured by Sun Weave (Hong Kong) www.sunweave.com

I came across Stephen Klein's work around 18 months ago.  Since then I have been following his work closely.  He has a raw + unexpected composition to his photography that I really admire & am inspired by.  I also think his colour palette is really very contemporary & borders on the look of oil on canvas at times. Have a look for yourself http://www.stevenkleinstudio.com.

Helen Kontouris gave a talk at the National Gallery of Victoria on her 101 chair which is part of the Cicely & Colin Rigg Design Award http://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/rigg2009/ The exhibition runs until the end of August 2009.

I was curious to see what the Milan Furniture Fair 2009 was going to be like this year.  Many friends & colleagues had decided to sit this year out.  Their thinking was that Milan was going to be a sober affair compared with previous years & that manufacturers were looking to be present just to show solidarity & long standing tradition.  In some ways most of this was true yet I felt that it was just as exciting as other years & that there was a clear shift towar

This is a big year for outdoor furniture with the launch of 4 collections for SunWeave in Hong Kong. Helen Kontouris has designed a diverse range of outdoor products ranging from day beds to deep lounge collections.  These designs are all about lifestyle & getting back to lazy days + nights.  They will be launched with Sun Weave’s Italian agent Talenti at the Salone del Mobile.

The Cicely & Colin Rigg Contemporary Design Award is a generous legacy of the late Colin Rigg (1895–1982), a former Secretary of the National Gallery of Victoria Felton Bequests’ Committee. This ‘Award of Excellence’ focuses on contemporary design practice in the state of Victoria. This award is arguably the most prestigious offered to a contemporary designer in Australia, with a prize of $30,000.

The La La Lamp manufactured by Kundalini has been selected to be part of a permanent collection for the 'Fondazione Cosmit Eventi' (Italy).  This exhibition will continue to travel, showing the collections of the selected designers products to prestigious museums & galleries.

In September 2008 Helen Kontouris was appointed a Strategic Product Development role by Schiavello relating to the seating area of their business.  It is a huge honor to be working with such a progressive & innovation driven company.

This year the Chubby sofa collection was launched with Schiavello, in a showroom inspired by the children’s book 'Where The Wild Things Are'.  A forest of vines hanging from the ceiling, massive plywood monsters & a fantastic colour palette all brought the theme for the showroom alive.  Seeing peoples amused faces as they walked in the door was worth all the effort for Schiavello I am sure.

Conversations of Things New was an exhibition of Australian designers who manufacture with Italian design companies. Getting a break with one of the Italian businesses can help establish a designer’s career.
The exhibition, curated by Heidi Dokulil of The Parcel Group, and organised with the help of the Italian Trade Commission and Object Gallery, looked at the process taken to achieve this success.

Part of the St Margaret’s Design and Architecture Festival in September, Conversations of Things New was an exhibition of Australian designers who manufacture with Italian design companies. Getting a break with one of the Italian businesses can help establish a young designer’s career.
The exhibition, curated by Heidi Dokulil and organised with the help of the Italian Trade Commission and Object Gallery.  The second exhibition was held in Sydney.

Saturday In Design in Sydney.  Each year Sydney & Melbourne fight over who won the title of the best day in design.....showrooms compete to out do previous years standouts for the best design, best place to grab a few design prizes, catch up with colleagues & old friends....and of course the after parties.  It all fun & a great way to get all the Australian design community together.  This year the La La Stools were launched with Schiavello.

Saturday in Design.  Always big on the design calendar.  Loads of new design from the showrooms that open their door to the industry & public.  It's a mini Milan in many ways.  Exhausting, inspirational & fun.  The 101 chair was launched with Schiavello & it was really well received.