DO WORKS seeks to unite architects and artists in the creation of furniture and objects, providing a platform to explore innovative ideas and practices.
For Melbourne Design Week 2024, their initiative "Call Out" serves as a vibrant conduit for designers to generate ideas purely for the sake of design, underscoring the enduring significance of furniture as a medium for creative exploration and intellectual agency.
This exhibition, located in the historical Union Bank building in Prahran, Melbourne—a structure designed in 1918 by architect Walter Richmond Butler—presents an array of thought-provoking works from distinguished local and international design firms. Among the contributors are Baracco + Wright, Five Mile Radius, Nüüd Studio, Simulaa, Sean Godsell Architects, Second Edition, and EXCX. Each firm brings its unique perspective, interpreting a new world founded upon ethics, ecology, and energy.
For Angus Grant and Dalton Stewart, founders of DO WORKS, "Call Out" is both a continuation of their previous work for Melbourne Design Week (Trade Between, MDW 2023) and a manifestation of their personal design ethos. "Collaborating with others opens up new ways of thinking," they explain. "We don't have a specific end goal. Instead, we are reveling in the process of meeting people, expanding our network of designers, and engaging with the broader community. This ongoing collaboration reinforces our approach to architecture, reimagining architects as researchers of social and environmental material systems. By continuously forming and nurturing these relationships, we fulfill our mission."
"Call Out" brings contemporary challenges into sharp relief, showcasing how each firm reflects on its research practice through the lens of furniture design. This exhibition portrays an evolving architectural practice that moves away from the grand authorship of the 20th century towards more nuanced, responsive solutions suited to our diverse, modern context. It emphasizes the role of furniture as a dynamic medium through which designers can explore and express complex ideas about our world.
