Friday 23 January 2015

Designed in Melbourne - Australia Day 2015

Don't forget the ice…. it's Australia Day.


Celebrating Australia Day with a refreshing glass of wine at the beach.
Celebrating Melbourne designers Max Beck (Wynn's Coonawarra wine label - 1954), Ed Kayser (Regis glass and carafe - 1969) and Richard Carlson (Decor BYO wine cooler 1978)


This Australia Day when you grab the esky, a stubbie of VB or lob the well worn Kookaburra cricket ball over the fence you would probably know these products are as Australian as a meat pie.

No matter how you choose to celebrate January 26th this year, more than a few of the products you will use were designed in Melbourne and have endured in our globally competitive market.

My research is particularly concerned with products that have endured and the research questions the common view that products are designed for obsolescence. The Decor BYO wine cooler designed in 1979 by Richard Carlson is in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York and also available today for $22.00 at a store near you.


Designed in Melbourne - Decor BYO Wine cooler designed by Richard Carlson 1979


Australian design icon the Regis glassware range designed by industrial designer Edward Kayser for Crown ACI. The Regis carafe is still in production.

This year it is fifty years since Stuart Devlin AO designed our decimal coins and more than 15,200,000,000 coins have been minted. That is just our coins. Stuart who grew up in Geelong and studied in Melbourne has designed coins for over 30 countries.


Designed in Melbourne - Decimal Coins - Stuart Devlin 1964

If you have a cup of tea with your lamington it is likely the cordless kettle has a round base. In 1994 Gerry Mussett and Paul Taylor working with the Centre for Design team and Kambrook staff created the Axis Eco Kettle with the now universal round base. 'We wanted to bring the kettle to the table and out of the kitchen…..like you would a teapot or water jug.' said Paul Taylor.


Designed in Melbourne - Kambrook Axis Eco Kettle designed by Paul Taylor and Gerry Mussett 1994


Design registration for Axis Eco kettle innovative base design adopted worldwide.

Products designed in Melbourne that you might use on Australia Day.

Kookaburra cricket ball - Kookaburra - Moorabbin 1890
Chanell 9 logo  - Brian Sadgrove - Albert Park 1970
Decimal coins - 5c,10c,20c,50c,$1 - Stuart Devlin - Geelong/London 1964
Polymer bank notes - $10 Max Robinson, $20 Garry Emery, $50 Brian Sadgrove.
Lamington tin - Willow - North Melbourne 1928
Nylex kitchen swing top bin - Lionel Suttie - Richmond (Icon Plastics) 1966
Wiltshire Barb B Mate - Wiltshire - South Melbourne 1980s
Wiltshire Bar B Tongs - Outerspace Design Group - Richmond 1986
Redheads matches  - Brian Sadgrove - Albert Park
Willow Alpine cooler - David Flynn - Tullamarine
Decor BYO Wine Cooler - Decor - Richard Carlson - Hawthorn 1978
Regis Carafe - Edward Kayser - 1968
Esky - Willow/Nylex/Esky
Knog bike locks and lights - Catalyst Design - Richmond
Knog - Go Pro and iPhone flash units - Catalyst Design - Richmond
Crumpler Bags - Crumpler Design - Melbourne
Globe shoes - Derek Yuen - Port Melbourne
Tomato sauce bottle - Jim Samartgis - Decor
Victoria Bitter stubby  - ACI Glass - Footscray 1967
Crown lager bottle  - ACI Glass - Footscray 1970
Cascade beer bottle - Julian Ditchburn - Hawthorn
Ronstan yacht fittings - Ron and Stan from Black Rock
E-Series tram - CobaltNiche/Bombardier Design - North Melbourne/Dandenong
Quest EFPOS card payment terminals - Outerspace Design Group - Richmond
Channel 7 logo - Cato Brand Partners - Collingwood
Holden Commodore and Caprice - Holden Design - Port Melbourne
Ford Territory, Falcon, and Ranger - Ford Australia - Broadmeadows
Any power board  - Frank Bannigan, Robert Pataki Design, Peter Talbot - Caulfield
Cordless kettle with a round base designed by Gerry Mussett and Paul Taylor - Kambrook
KeepCup  - CobaltNiche - North Melbourne 2009
Robert Timms coffee  - Cato Brand Partners - Collingwood 1970s
Baby capsule - Robert Pataki and Phillip Slattery - Caulfield - 1984
Visit the Zoo and use the Art Processors digital app on an iPhone - Art Processors - Collingwood
Orbitkey - Charles Ng - South Yarra
Drink lots of water….321 water bottle  - Charlwood Design - 2009
Clean up with the Oates Tilt a Matic mop - Charlwood Design - 2005
…..and finally remember don't party too hard!
Booze Bus  - CobaltNiche - North Melbourne


Designed in Melbourne - Willow cooler designed by David Flynn 2013


Early Willow cooler designed and manufactured in North Melbourne. Circa 1960


Designed in Melbourne - Australia Day 2015. 
Max Beck (Wynn's Coonawarra wine label - 1954), Ed Kayser (Regis glass and carafe - 1969) and Richard Carlson (Decor BYO wine cooler 1978)


Designed in Melbourne - the VB stubby beer bottle 1967


This Australia Day raise a glass, like I did to our designers and those who commission them.

4 comments:

  1. Interesting story and great photos Ian! -Grace Xie

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  2. Fascinating study Ian! One forgets how rich Melbourne's design history is until you tally up the products! Makes me proud to be a Melbourne based designer!

    - Kon Wong

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  3. How about those trash can/Recycle bin stand in Melbourne?

    Tom Matano

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  4. This is great Ian - I think you mentioned you are working on a book - it's great content and would make a valuable design education resource. All the best for 2015.

    Ian McArthur

    ReplyDelete