DESIGN

One to watch: Brandon Els

A talented young designer emerges on Queensland's Gold Coast. Talent scouts: get in now. »

New Australian snowboard brand Koast Kollektive will be unveiling a series of illustrated boards in an exhibition at the Saatchi & Saatchi Gallery, Sydney, this Thursday 3 September. The boards feature a wide range of illustration and graphics styles from both established and emerging artists in Australia and from around the world. »

Stick ’em up!

A great alternative to paint or wallpaper, these wall decals by Sydney duo Vinyl Design add a pop of colour and visual interest to any room. Why live with a blank white wall when you can have a giant Pong on it? »

“Problem + Chainsaw = No Problem!”

A couple of mates, Rob Moffett and Benjamin Baker, were passing the time of day at work while making shipping pallets by kicking around ideas for a cartoon. Their first idea was called Helpy the Helpful Turtle. “It was a faux-educational show about a man-sized turtle who spends each episode being abusive and failing miserably... »

Newcastle’s thriving zine scene

Newcastle is home to two amazing resources for zine makers and readers. A zine is — well, I’ll let this typewriter explain. The community arts and media organisation Octapod houses a library of zines that the National Library of Australia assessed in 2004 as a “collection of national significance”. It started when one of Octapod’s projects, the... »

Robots, comics and one helluva slide night

The Sydney Design 09 festival starts this Saturday, 1 August. Kollektor has already given you a heads-up about five great ticketed events, the talk on the Bruno Benini archive and the tour of treasures from the Caroline Simpson Library. Here are three more events to consider: a collection of cool talks. Pecha Kucha – the Japanese... »

Fancy papers: design treasures from the Caroline Simpson Library

“Seeing this collection is a challenge to your ideas about colour and pattern in the past,” says Megan Martin, Head of the Historic Houses Trust’s Caroline Simpson Library & Research Collection. Indeed, flipping open a copy of Ackerman’s Repository of Art, a journal published in London from 1809 to 1828, reveals samples of vivid orange... »

Surya Graf designs for the home

This three-panel screen by young Brisbane designer Surya Graf is a great way to divide up a space without it being a folding wall. Its open form is based on plant forms and the structure of DNA. The panels are CNC machined from marine-grade plywood and finished in clear or black varnish, with custom colours... »

Heads up – five diary dates for Sydney Design 09

While the Sydney Design 09 festival (1–16 August) is still more than a month away,here are five important dates to consider for your diary. »

Whippet good: designer Hugh Thomas

Here are a couple of impressive pieces of work by a young Sydney-based industrial designer, Hugh Thomas. This is his Whippet Chair, an intriguing, fluid take on a small chair. Its ergonomic tractor-seat is comfortable but not overly so, making it good for use in places that need fast patron turnover like cafes. »