Berri Drum
A couture designer, Berri has always been creative with one eye on ethical fashion and social justice. From starting her accessories label Hand Hook Yarn from the ground up, and now moving into full garment fashion and creating one off pieces which are inventive and playful. Berri’s work is dynamic and her style is always unconventional and flamboyant. Berri works with a range of materials such as yarn, rope, suede, leather and metal. With no formal design training Berri has a natural gift for putting colours and textures together, and creating hypnotic movement through her pieces, which emanate charm and originality. Berri has a unique perspective on the art/fashion field by pursuing a career in the industry without formal training, demonstrating that creativity comes from within.
www.handhookyarn.com
Meg Kolac
Meg Kolac’s VCE Design and Technology folio was selected for Top Designs 2007, which helped with her acceptance into the Bachelor of Design (Fashion) course at RMIT University.
She has completed internships with local designers such as Roy, Megan Park and Scanlan & Theodore. In her final year, her work was showcased at Melbourne Spring Fashion Week and throughout her studies, Meg further developed her interest in Fashion Illustration.
Since graduating, Meg has exhibited at The Melbourne GPO for the RMIT Showcase, The Clothespeg Exhibition at ICAS Singapore, Cose Ipanama for L’Oreal Melbourne Fashion Festival, at The Melbourne Fringe Festival with the presentation of her debut collaborative exhibition, and Blondes to Brunettes Hair Salon, where she has installed numerous window displays. She has had illustrations published in Lip magazine. Since 2011, Meg has worked in Childrenswear Design, developing clothing for leading Australian retailers. She has embraced the opportunity to learn the ropes of the Australian commercial fashion industry, while she continues to grow and develop in her career, both in design and illustration.
www.megkolac.com
LAB DE STU
LAB DE STU is a multi award-winning and forward thinking Melbourne design collective created by Adam Lynch, Andre Hnatojko, Dale Hardiman & Nico Evans in 2011. Used as a vehicle to promote their work and design ethos, with the support of each other and each other’s success, this business and marketing model pushed the group to new heights within a short period of time allowing them to exhibit not only within Australia but also internationally.
Although separate as designers, they showcase a wide selection of designs together, more focused around experimentation, furniture and objects, and using strength in numbers to show the Australia and International design community what local design is capable of. The LAB DE STU designers use self-constructed design briefs created for market needs drawing on research and knowledge to specify such instructions, allowing for new methods of thinking and a more sustainable approach to be invested.
www.labdestu.com.au
Naomi Fogel
Naomi currently works as Exhibition Designer at Museum Victoria covering projects across Melbourne Museum, Immigration Museum, Scienceworks Museum as well as nationally touring exhibitions. Having studied Textile Design and Interior Design at RMIT, she is a hands-on designer with experience working on a variety of projects. Prior to working in the public sector she was working in boutique design firms on projects including retail, hospitality and commercial fit outs as well as the occasional set design on the side for fun.
Will Mahon
Will Mahon is Creative Director of Atticus Design. Atticus Design are a small graphic design studio based in Footscray, offering creative communication solutions in branding, logo design, print design, packaging, and web design.
Atticus Design strive to deliver engaging, creative solutions tailored to each of their clients’ needs, in the arts, not for profit, retail and corporate sector.
www.atticusdesign.com.au
Belinda Smullen
Since graduating from Swinburne University of Technology in 2005 Belinda has worked as a Communication Designer within small Melbourne studios and in more recent years has been a member of the design studio at Museum Victoria designing exhibitions, environmental graphics, interactive interfaces as well as educational and marketing material. Belinda now runs her own freelance Communication Design business and last year joined forces with her husband to open a contemporary locavore cafe in the Dandenong Ranges.
http://belinda-smullen.squarespace.com
Clare Cousins
Clare Cousins Architects (CCA) was founded in 2005. Based in North Melbourne, the studio works primarily in residential architecture and aims to create engaging and inspiring environments for people to inhabit. Each project is a considered response to site, context, programme, affordability and sustainability, and is developed through a highly collaborative interaction with clients.
In addition to many residential projects, Clare Cousins has created interiors for Aesop, T-bar and Koko Black, exhibition design for Game Masters at ACMI, as well as pro bono work for Victorian bush fire survivors
http://clarecousins.com.au/
Jacqueline DiBlasi
Jac is an accomplished Graphic Designer, currently working at Destination Melbourne. Jac studied at Swinburne University and graduated with First Class Honours in Communication Design – Graphic Design. During her degree she had a 12-month stint in New York as an Intern for boutique agency MSLK. In her current role Jac is responsible for the mammoth task of creating the Official Visitor Guide to Melbourne in both English and Chinese each season, together with designing the Official Visitors Maps and the new iPad applications for Destination Melbourne! In her spare time, she’s working on a cookbook with her photographer sister and can’t wait to see it on bookstore shelves.
www.destinationmelbourne.com.au
Matthew McCarthy
Matthew earned an Honours degree in Graphic Design at Swinburne University of Technology in 1995. From there he went to San Francisco, a job and city he loved, where he worked on the rebrand of WIRED magazine. A little while later, in 1999, he founded Clear and has never looked back.
Since the company’s inception Matthew has been proud to work with some of the most significant cultural institutions in Victoria, from the rebranding of Museum Victoria (incorporating the Melbourne Museum, the Immigration Museum and Scienceworks), the State Library Of Victoria, to Melbourne University Press, to 200 Gertrude Street, Heidi and the Victorian AIDS Council.
In addition to developing lasting creative relationships and inspiring excellent results, Matthew’s role is to oversee the design direction of the studio and projects. ‘I’m passionate about every single project we take on,’ he says. Clear’s work has been published and awarded locally and internationally which is nice.
http://www.cleardesign.com.au/
Rebecca Naughtin
Rebecca Naughtin was born in Warragul, and obtained her Bachelor of Architecture degree with first class honours at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology in 2004. Rebecca started Melbourne architectural practice Rebecca Naughtin Architect in 2012 after being at Director at Allen Naughtin Architects since 2008.
During University, Rebecca focused on digital technologies and unusual fabrications. She was involved in exchange projects to Gehry Partners and MIT in Boston. Her focus on advanced and innovative technologies has enabled her participation in works at La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona and she has exhibited her designs at the Rotterdam Architectural Biennale in the Netherlands.
Rebecca Naughtin Architect’s portfolio involves residential, commercial, institutional and pro bono work. Her designs focus on sustainability and innovation with particular emphasis on client engagement and helping her clients realise the potential if their projects.
www.rnarchitect.com.au
Andrea Innocent
I am a professional artist and freelance illustrator working in a shared studio space in Melbourne, Australia. I tell stories. With pictures. These stories, often of the bizarre and the quirky, are told using character design and detailed digital illustration. I like to combine colour and graphics, blending these with found photographic and textural images in the works.
After beginning my career by exploring aspects of Asian culture, inspired by Japanese folklore and ghost stories as well as current events, my new works utilize an eclectic mix of mediums, including charcoal on washi paper, photography, installation, interactive media and sculpture. Let’s be making happy pictures!
www.otoshimono.org
Chris Murphy
After having his work exhibited in the 2005 Top Designs exhibition Chris Murphy went on to Graduate from Swinburne University of technology with a Bachelor of Design (Communication Design) in 2008. He is currently working as a founding partner of Motherbird, a young Communication Design studio, whose work includes Art Direction, branding & identity, advertising, print, signage, illustration, photography web and digital design for a diverse range of clients working on both large and small projects.
Being actively involved in projects that will be of social value to our local and international community’s is of chief concern to Motherbird. Design has the ability to change the way we think and live our lives. Having the skill set to do so, Motherbird engages in projects that have made a conscious decision to better our world while helping us become more socially responsible as designers and individuals.
www.motherbird.com.au
Scott Eddington
Scott returned home in 2010 after working for 5 years in London. Scott worked under the reign of Nuno Mendes across his three venues: Viajante, The Loft and Bacchus.
Prior to working for Nuno Mendes, Scott worked at Maze under James Durrant and at Zuma under Ross Shonhan. Scott commenced at Mamasita in Feburary 2011 was the co Sous Chef at Mamasita for 8 months until being promoted to head chef in March 2012.
www.mamasita.com.au
Rohan Anderson
Rohan is a modern-day hunter gatherer living in an old schoolhouse just outside Ballarat in regional Victoria. Raised on a small farm near Jindivick in Victoria, Anderson developed not only an affinity for nature, but also an understanding, and appreciation of, the role nature plays in providing sustenance.
Rohan is primarily concerned with how to live off the land to provide his family with fresh, local food. He has become a passionate hunter, fisherman, forager, gardener and sometimes barterer. Describing himself not as a chef, but rather a family cook, Rohan is influenced by rustic, peasant-style cooking, with minimal fuss involved.
Rohan chronicles his adventures, slow food philosophies and (sometimes contentious) views on his hugely popular blog, Whole Larder Love. He released his first book, also called Whole Larder Love, through Penguin in September 2012.
www.wholelarderlove.com
Paul Douglas
Paul has had fifteen years experience as a chef; beginning his career working in some of London's top fine dining restaurants before traveling to New Zealand and Australia. Since settling in Melbourne Paul has worked for a number of small and large event catering companies, restaurants and cafes. In 2011 Paul moved to the Dandenong Ranges where he now owns and operates a contemporary locavore style café called The General Food Store.
www.thegeneralfoodstore.com.au
Jessie DiBlasi
Jessie DiBlasi is a Melbourne-based photographer. Her work is a personal investigation of multiculturalism and its impact upon everyday life. Presenting photography that captures the complexities and similarities found amongst our society, Jessie aims to document tradition in its various forms. Currently, she is working on her first, self-published book – a documentary style cookbook titled Nonna to Nana, capturing and celebrating the traditions, histories and recipes of a fast-disappearing generation of matriarchs.
www.jessiediblasi.com
Dominic Allen
Dominic is an Australian director and producer whose work includes short and feature films, music videos, commercials and television documentaries. His documentary films include Estudio 101, about eclectic Australian band The Cat Empire recording their second album in Cuba; One Cup, about Fair Trade Coffee and East Timor; and Squeezed, about the impact of Trade Liberalisation in Asia. In 2009 a short film based on a Kafka story titled Two Men won him the Melbourne International Film Festival Emerging Australian Filmmaker Prize, and the 2009 Inside Film Awards Rising Talent Award.
As a producer of feature films Dominic's credits include Shadowplay (2009), Blind Company (2009) and Grey Matter (2011). Dominic is a director at Melbourne production company Camera Club and is currently working on a tv series titled Back of House and producing his next film Jomo with Rwandan director Kivu Ruhorahoza.
https://vimeo.com/dominicallen
Darren Paul
Darren Paul is currently a Senior Geotechnical Engineer with Golder Associates, and the recipient of the 2008 Young Professional Engineer Award. Graduating from Melbourne University with a Bachelor of Engineering and Bachelor of Science Degree, Darren commenced his career as a field engineer. He went on to complete a Masters Degree at the Imperial College, London. He was awarded the Lapworth Medal as Dux of the Engineering Geology Masters Course. He trained as a project manager and has applied these skills on a number of projects within Australia and overseas.
Darren was the Geotechnical Project Manager for the Nakheel Tall Tower in Dubai, United Arab Emirates which aims to be the highest (and probably heaviest) structure ever built. Darren’s commitment to the profession has been recognised by his invited participation in the Engineers Australia Emerging Engineering Leaders Pilot Program and through his attainment of Chartered Status. Darren is involved in various professional societies, has presented at many industry events and has written a number of technical papers.
www.vic.engineersaustralia.org.au
Luke Deylen
Luke Deylen is an Interactive Developer with a Bachelor of Multimedia (Business Marketing). He is currently working his first job in the industry outside of university, in advertising. Over the last 2 years he has worked with clients including BMW, MINI, Myer, Officeworks and Bunnings Warehouse, creating rich interactive experiences for websites, smart phones and tablets.
He is the industry representative on the Top Designs Multimedia judging panel, and his own manipulated photography work was selected for Top Arts when he was in high school. In his spare time Luke likes to develop games for iOS and Android, as well as more traditional mediums such as card games. His dream is to one day run his own indie game business.