Designing Women

Spanning nearly 40 years, from 1980 to 2018, Designing Women highlights the ongoing role of female designers as a dynamic and critical force in shaping contemporary design culture. From fashion design, contemporary jewellery, and product design, to architecture and digital innovation, Designing Women draws from the NGV Collection to showcase over 50 significant works of design – across diverse creative fields – all united by their female authorship.

Increasingly, our cities, services, products and brands are profoundly enhanced by the creative prowess of women. Designing Women shares that female designers, often overlooked in a male dominated industry, are producing sophisticated, iconic, and thought provoking work of exceptional quality.

From modern-day trailblazers including Zaha Hadid and Neri Oxman, to local heroes such as Elliat Rich and Helen Kontouris, Designing Women draws into focus the accelerating opportunity for women to shape the future, in a world increasingly defined by design.