Design innovation

Australia’s first innovative designs included an aerodynamic wooden throwing weapon that returned to its owner and a unique musical instrument, both of which were developed by Indigenous Australians thousands of years ago. Today, Australian designers are making an impact in fields ranging from fashion to architecture, and from industry to jewellery.

Australia’s first inhabitants were the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, who arrived more than 40 000 years ago. They had their own unique spiritual beliefs, a reverence for the land and a rich and diverse culture.

They were also the country’s first designers. They developed the boomerang, a specially shaped throwing stick that travels in a curved path and returns to its owner when thrown properly. Boomerangs were produced in many different shapes and sizes and were used as weapons, for hunting and sometimes for recreational activities.

Indigenous Australians also developed the didgeridoo, believed by some to be the world’s oldest wind instrument. Made from a hollowed piece of tree branch around 1.5 metres long, the instrument is blown with vibrating lips, producing a rich and haunting sound.

Other designs included the woomera, a throwing ‘holder’ that enables a spear to be thrown with increased power and over a greater distance, and some of the world’s first stone tools.

Indigenous Australians have an ongoing art tradition that is one of the oldest in the world and is acclaimed internationally and within Australia. Australian contemporary design often pays homage to Indigenous art and design and also reflects the country’s culturally diverse society, which includes more than 6.5 million migrants from around 200 countries.

Australian design today is marked by a fresh style and an ability to meet the needs of the global market for innovative, cost-effective and environmentally sensitive design. Contemporary designers include architects and interior designers, graphic artists and web developers, jewellers, industrial designers, fashion designers, furniture makers and textile artists.

Thousands of designers have graduated from Australian universities and further education institutes, making design studios a thriving part of the Australian services sector. The Design Institute of Australia estimates that there are around 350 industrial design businesses and up to 1900 associated designers in Australia.

According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, around 50 000 Australian businesses are involved in just three design sectors—commercial art and display services, advertising and architectural services.

The high quality of Australian design is maintained by industry associations, many of which conduct regular awards to recognise excellence in particular fields, including architecture, industrial design, fashion, jewellery and graphic design.

Architecture

Australian architects are in high demand internationally. The Royal Australian Institute of Architects estimates that 1400 Australian architects practise in other countries, mostly in Asia, where nearly half are resident in Hong Kong and Malaysia, and the Middle East.

Australian designers and architects have attracted increasing international attention for their innovative and environmentally sustainable designs, covering a diverse range of architectural projects including planning, institutional buildings, medical and sporting facilities, and high-rise residences.

In recent years, Australian designers have focused on creating healthy buildings under the Green Star rating system, which evaluates environmental design and performance. Criteria include energy and water efficiency, quality of indoor environments, and resource conservation.

Australia’s greenest and healthiest purpose-built office building, Council House 2 (CH₂), which opened in Melbourne in 2006, set a new world standard (six stars) for sustainable design and construction for all future high-rise buildings. This visionary, United Nations award-winning building has the potential to change forever the way the world approaches ecologically sustainable design. CH₂ has sustainable technologies incorporated into every conceivable part of its 10 storeys.

Distinctive Australian architecture is also recognisable in the Queenslander, a style of housing suited to tropical climates, the wool shed and the beach house, which have developed in response to climate, history, place and identity. Characteristically, these designs use local materials as well as corrugated steel and emphasise space, light and a connection to the landscape. Glenn Murcott, who won the Pritzker Prize (often referred to as the "Nobel Prize of architecture") in 2002, is an outstanding example of an Australian architect highly regarded for his environmentally sympathetic residential designs using local materials.

Australia is home to some of the most unusual and outstanding buildings in the world. Internationally recognised Australian icons include the Sydney Opera House (designed by Danish architect Jørn Utzon) and the new Parliament House in Canberra (designed by Australian architect Romaldo Giurgola). Harry Seidler designed many distinctive buildings, including the circular Australia Square Tower, the MLC Centre in Sydney and the Australian Embassy in Paris, which used innovative concrete construction techniques.

The Sydney Opera House, which was completed in 1973, incorporated many architectural innovations, including the pioneering use of computers to calculate the stresses and loads on the two-way curved roofs, and the development of a way to build the roofs in concrete.

Industrial design

Australia has a strong record of practical industrial design innovation, dating back to the ‘stump-jump plough’, which was designed to jump over tree stumps and other obstructions without breaking the ploughshare.

Since 1958, the Australian Design Awards have recognised some of Australia’s earliest design icons, including the Hills Hoist, a rotary clothes-drying line that can be raised and lowered by hand, the Victa lawnmower, a lightweight two-stroke machine with blades mounted on a disc, and the cochlear implant. Other leading Australia designs include the ‘black box’ flight recorder, the ultrasound scanner, the world’s first nanomachine, and resilin, a replacement for rubber made from a protein found in insects.

In 2007, more than 200 innovative design models and products were entered in the awards, now known as the Australian International Design Awards. Finalists and award winners ranged from redesigned commonplace objects such as a urinal and a clothes peg, to a sophisticated scanning device to detect melanoma. The Clever Peg clasps at both ends so that clothes can be hung in tiers, one below the other. The waterless urinal (Caroma H2Zero) received an Australian International Design Award and the Award for Excellence in Sustainable Design.

SolarScan, a device for detecting melanoma, was awarded the Powerhouse Museum Design Award. It uses a high-resolution digital camera mounted in a handpiece to capture images of suspect lesions. The Australian International Design Award of the Year went to an LED bicycle lamp powered by a lithium‑ion battery and controlled from a handlebar‑mounted keypad.

The Australian International Design Awards have been administered by Standards Australia since 1991, underlining the Australian Government’s commitment to promoting Australian design and innovation nationally and internationally.

Interior design and furniture

As early as the 1950s, Australian designers Grant and Mary Featherston achieved success with an alternative chair to the over-stuffed, bulky lounge suites of the pre–World War II period. Their now-famous contour chair can be still found in living rooms, fashionable design stores and museums.

Today, Australians continue to produce striking interior designs and furniture, with increasing international success. Marc Newson has established himself in the European design market, where his colourful furniture and interiors reflect the fluid shapes found in the natural environment.

Australian furniture and interior designers have achieved many short-listings at prestigious industrial design competitions. Schiavello of Melbourne undertook a major furniture fit-out of the World Bank, and the Australia-based New Zealand company Formway won two gold medals at Neocon in Chicago (1999 and 2002), the world’s largest exhibition for contract furniture.

Annual Interior Design Awards supported by the Design Institute of Australia celebrate and promote outstanding commercial and residential design.

Fashion and textiles

Australian fashion is characterised by a rich and colourful mix of vibrant and exuberant styles. Australian designers who have achieved international acclaim include Akira Isogawa, known for the impressive cross-cultural infusion of his work, and Collette Dinnigan, a regular on the international circuit whose high-profile fans include Naomi Watts, Helena Christensen and Charlize Theron.

A new generation of designers takes its inspiration from Australia’s surf culture, graffiti, art and music to create its own unique sense of style. Flamboyant brands like Mambo (established in 1984) work with graphic and visual artists to produce striking surfwear and other designs.

Australian fashion manufacturers and designers use a wide variety of fashion textiles and designs, ranging from hand-coloured, printed and painted silks to lightweight wool and designs based on traditional Indigenous art. Mary Shackman’s bold and striking textile designs and colourful prints have been used by some of Australia’s best known fashion designers. From the 1980s, Indigenous textiles gained increasing prominence, particularly the cotton and silk batiks of the central Australian communities of Ernabella and Utopia, screenprinted fabrics by Tiwi artists and desert designs from Western Australia. Designers such as Jenny Kee, Linda Jackson and Katie Pye helped to promote Indigenous textiles.

Australian fashion excellence is recognised through a number of prestigious awards and exhibitions, including Australian Fashion Week, the National Retail Association’s Australian Fashion Design Awards and Festival and the Australian Wool Fashion Awards.

Jewellery

The biennial Australian Jewellery Design Awards, established in 1968 by the Jewellers Association of Australia, recognise excellence in design and craftsmanship. Entry pieces are made predominantly from Australian precious metals and/or natural gemstones, pearls or opals.

Graphic design

Australia has a thriving graphic design industry. Leading practitioners are honoured in the biennial awards organised by the Australian Graphic Design Association. The 2006 awards attracted more than 2700 entries in 221 categories.

One of Australia’s most successful early designers, Ken Cato, built an international reputation from the 1970s as a talented graphic designer capable of powerfully articulating a concept or brand through visuals, objects, interiors and landscapes. His design practice was the force behind memorable graphics such as the Australian Made logo and the Qantas Airways logo.

Key facts

Indigenous Australians were the nation’s first designers.
Today, there are an estimated 350 industrial design companies in Australia.
Around 50 000 Australian businesses are involved in art, advertising and architecture.

Further information

This fact sheet is also available to download (PDF)

last updated January 2008

Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade