The Big Design Market: Almost Winter

Tara Whalley established her fashion brand in 2015, after returning to Australia after a year of working with war-affected Mayan weavers.  It was this time in Guatemala that formed Tara’s painting practice – translating experience into artwork for fabric print and a clear direction for the basis of her fashion signature style.  Her collections are made in Melbourne with natural fibres and feature Tara’s hand painted artwork. Tara’s work has been featured in Paris Fashion Week (2021), New York Fashion Week (2020), Vogue, The Age, The Design Files, In Style, Lamington Drive and won the Frankie Magazine 2019 Fashion Designer Award.

Ceramics designed with function and beauty, Bridget Bodenham’s aim is always to seek new ways and forms to adapt to each individuals style and desires. Creating tactile and unique forms is her biggest passion all while keeping to concept of not limiting people to just using their new piece in one particular way. The final pieces have been made with a fierce love for the art form that is ceramics. From the wheel, through hands, and kiln firings and finally to the customer, each creation is unique.

A self taught, full time potter with a focus on wheel thrown pieces, the body of work Arcadia Scott creates brings together form, function and tactility within a cohesive colour palette that is inspired by her love of design and Mother Nature. From her leafy studio in Woodend, Victoria, she handcrafts a broad range of ceramic tableware, large serving ware, travel cups, flower vessels and planters. Every piece is unique and shows her preference for clean forms, curved edges and textures.

Always passionate about craft, making and adornment, Chloe McColl fell completely in love with jewellery making during her studies at Monash University. She finds inspiration in an array of places; her ocean surroundings, flora and fauna, her love for travel and exotic cities and landscapes. She aims for her jewellery to share this love and beauty; for pieces to offer a personal connection for the wearer.

Luke Abbot Designs is a jewellery brand that started 2012. After returning home from an exchange program at the Hiko Mizuno College of Jewellery in Shibuya, Japan, Abbot went to work designing and making. Using a diverse range of traditional metalworking techniques as well as 3D printing and laser-cutting, Abbot’s work spans centuries of technology. Having spent most of his life in rural NSW, the work reflects a love for the small details of the natural world.

Tiny Pots Melbourne is the miniature pottery practice of artist and miniaturist Hamish Bassett. Hamish makes one off, miniature wheel-thrown stoneware and porcelain pottery.

Amble Outdoors is a sustainably made outdoors brand for women, specialising in the creation of raincoats, activewear, beanies and technical clothing. Materials are 100% recycled, with a carbon neutral supply chain, with one tree planted for every order and over 300,000 post consumer bottles recycled into our fabrics so far.

Uki works with a number of small, mainly family-run businesses from different regions of Japan, whose lines are designed in-house or in collaboration with a Japanese artist or illustrator. They carefully select products in person for their appeal to the thoughtful Australian customer who values the innovation, refined aesthetics and functional engineering characteristic of Japanese design, and particularly favour designers who promote wholesome, analogue experiences like letter writing, meditating and healthy eating.

Launching twoface LABEL in 2020 Christina and Paulina produced a capsule collection of Australian knitted Merino cardigans and skirts becoming an instant hit and offering versatile options to the regular outerwear wardrobe. twoface LABEL found a niche in the market for garments that are made with quality at the heart and evoke nostalgic memories of Luxe Vintage Sportif. 2023 will see the return of their iconic twoface LABEL cardigans in colourful pops of colour as well as their capsule of Winter weight pieces.