The future of design shines brightly, judging by the work of QUT’s 2022 graduates of Fashion, Industrial Design, Interaction Design and Visual Communication, who have finished their studies with a week-long Design Festival.
The Graduate Showcase attracted more than 1000 people, including industry associates, work integrated learning partners, the wider design community and friends and family, to an on-campus event for more than 180 design graduates, with work also available for viewing online via the QUT 2022 Design Festival website.
The evening, hosted by QUT’s School of Design was followed by an Open House and finally the Graduate Awards Ceremony, sponsored by Brisbane BMW and held at The Calile Hotel.
Designs that attracted accolades included a steam sterilisation desktop appliance to allow private medical practices to reprocess reusable metalware instruments, a portable menstrual hygiene kit for those who lack access to wash facilities and privacy, an interactive installation questioning the future of food production in the face of a shifting climate, and a discrete but portable device aimed at relieving anxiety.
Melanie Finger, Senior Lecturer in Transdisciplinary Design and the Academic Lead Engagement for the School of Design, said many of the designs were created from opportunities with industry partners for work integrated learning and had already set many students on promising career paths.
“It’s exciting to see how the students responded to clear societal needs and make those first steps towards forging their own identity and championing new trends across the industry,” Ms Finger said.
“This is evident across all the disciplines and our designers really stepped up, including working with Indigenous communities and sustainable practices in the pursuit of inclusiveness and a more environmentally friendly industry.”
The winners of the Graduate Awards are as follows:
Industrial Design
- Shanae Cooper, Intellidesign Award, for LENA, a portable menstrual hygiene kit for people who lack access to wash facilities and privacy. It can carry, wash and dry reusable pads with discretion and ease and was designed to become a part of the existing Dignity Kits on the market.
- Isaac Bonora, BMW Group + QUT Design Academy Award and the Professor Vesna Popovic Industrial Design Leadership Award, for the modClave, a steam sterilisation desktop appliance that enables small to medium-sized private medical practices to reprocess reusable metalware instruments such as scissors, tweezers and forceps. Traditional autoclaves are often too expensive for clinics which have led many to increase their reliance on single-use instruments that are often hardly used before they have to be thrown away.
- Liam Georgeson, Street + Garden Award for RAPID™, an intraoral scanning device designed for use on cleft palate infants which incorporates a host of improvements over current intraoral scanners, enabling faster and safer scanning.
- Kyah Clark, People’s Choice Award, and Design Institute of Australia Community Award, for Muse, a portable device designed to mitigate the effects of anxiety. Paired with an app, it can help the user to monitor their own progress and identify alterations in their thinking that may be causing them anxiety
Visual Communication
- Eliza White, EyeJack Award for Arcadia Farms Branding, which employees AR packaging design to bring to life static label beef industry designs, instantly connecting in-store consumers with farmers, on farm.
- Chantel Bates, People’s Choice Award, for ‘Echoes’, an art-based video projection series showcasing Indigenous connections to Barrambin.
- Ella Jones, Design Institute of Australia Community award for ‘The Living Room’ which explores a blend of physical, digital and emerging mediums.
Interaction Design
- Cait Hopper, Romeo Award, People’s Choice Award, Design Institute of Australia Community award and Interaction and Visual Design Memorial Scholarship, for Future Supa, a digitally enhanced, physical dramatic play space set in 2080. Co-designed with stakeholders along the food supply chain using the artificial intelligence DALL-E 2, it focuses on current and future food production challenges.
- Maori Kinjo, Moonward Award, for The AR Sand Garden, an interactive sandbox advocating play, creativity, and rest.
Fashion Design
- Michael Shin, The Fabric Store Kickstarter Award and the Australian Wool Education Award for his collection ‘So Much Fun’
- Amihan Aquilizan, Alla Moda Textile Award for the label Ama Namin (Our Father) and the Design Institute of Australia Community award.
- Yuria Haga, Salon x Papas Fashion Future Award for the ‘Zero’ collection
- Juliana Dore, the Bonita Bursary in recognition of excellence, industry readiness and career potential, for the ‘Of Gold’ collection, with Sophie Crook runner up for her ‘A Paisley Affair’ collection.
- Charlie Cooke, Australian Wool Education Award for the ‘In Mind’ collection
- Cecilie Wormington, People’s Choice Award for her ‘The Clothes I wear Help Me Know My Power’ collection
Sponsor Adobe recognised the work of 12 of our students with a strong creative vision and inspiring style: Lily Stephen, Yongju Jun, Claire Belén Whiteford, Christina Chan, Leo Liang, Nicholas De-Vitry, Luthfia Ilmi Setyaningtyas, Neve Walsh, Jen Li Wan, Bronte Mark, Jaime Forson, and Toby Benson.
Visit the QUT Design Festival to see more award winners and other outstanding QUT student work.
All photos from the 2022 QUT Design Festival Showcase event by Masimba Sasa
Media contact:
Amanda Weaver, QUT Media, 07 3138 3151, amanda.weaver@qut.edu.au
After hours: 0407 585 901, media@qut.edu.au
