Australian Furniture Design Award 2024

The National Gallery of Victoria and Stylecraft present the Australian Furniture Design Award 2024 (AFDA) as part of Melbourne Design Week. AFDA is an opportunity for design practitioners to submit a new and original furniture or lighting design concept to be in the running for Australia’s richest furniture design prize.

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The Australian Furniture Design Award began in 2015 as Australia’s richest furniture design prize.

The Award celebrates the most interesting furniture and lighting design being created in Australia today, with a particular emphasis on new design ideas, critical and creative thinking, sustainability, material development and research that explores innovative production processes.

Now in its fifth iteration, the NGV and Stylecraft present the Australian Furniture Design Award as a two-stage competition with the first stage being an open call for a new and original furniture or lighting design concept and information on the entrant’s professional practice.

From the entries received, a shortlist of entrants will be invited to proceed to Stage Two and present their realised designs for exhibition and judging at the Stylecraft showroom during Melbourne Design Week 2024.

All shortlisted competitors will receive an honorarium of $2,000 (ex GST) to assist with the realisation of their design for exhibition.

Please note: Both the design concept submitted in Stage One and the realised design submitted in Stage Two must not have been published, exhibited or commercially produced prior to the time of the AFDA exhibition, 22 May 2024.

STAGE ONE
Registration opens 30 August 2023
Stage One opens 06 September 2023
Registration close 11 October 2023^*
Stage One close 18 October 2023 (1PM AEDT)
^*Competitors must register first to enter the Competition

STAGE TWO
Stage Two opens 08 November 2023
Stage Two workshop 06 December 2023
Stage Two close 22 April 2024 (1PM AEST)
Freight Period 23 April – 13 May 2024
Stage Two presentations (Shortlist attendance required) 22 May 2024
Exhibition opens 23 May 2024

Anne-Claire Petre, Founder Anaca Studio, Melbourne
Elliat Rich, Designer, Alice Springs
Ewan McEoin, Senior Curator, Contemporary Art, Design and Architecture, NGV (Chair)
Hamish Guthrie, Co-director, Hecker Guthrie, Melbourne
Tony Russell, Brand Director Stylecraft, Melbourne

The winning designer will receive:

Cash prize: AUD$20,000 (ex GST) cash prize with associated press activity.

Stylecraft invitation: an opportunity to develop a commercial range or product with Stylecraft.

JamFactory residency: an invitation to do a two-week professional development residency at JamFactory in Adelaide: travel costs and accommodation will be provided as part of the Award. The winner will have the opportunity to develop a tailored program, during which they will have access to facilities and technical assistants to experiment with new ideas and materials, prototype new work or explore new making processes in JamFactory’s ceramics, glass, furniture or metal and jewellery studios or related local manufacturers.

Sydney-based designer Seaton McKeon won the inaugural award in 2015 with The Sun The Moon and Me, a freestanding light and mirror. In 2017 Alice Springs-based designer Elliat Rich received the award for her sculptural vanity, Place. In 2020 Sydney-based industrial designer James Walsh won, impressing the jury with Anthropic bench, which combined rammed earth with recycled glass filings to produce a sustainable and hard-wearing composite. Most recently, Ashley Eriksmoen received the award in 2022 with The Dream, or: the view from here is both bleak and resplendent a signature work that conveys the potential of postconsumer waste for transformation and reuse.