Australian Design Centre plays a critical role in celebrating the work of Australian artists who embrace the highest degree of skill and who continually explore material, process and ideas to advance contemporary craft and design practice.

Object Space is our window gallery located at the Australian Design Centre HQ on William Street, Darlinghurst, on view 24 hours a day.

Kettles

21 March - 4 May

These handmade kettles are unique, collectible pieces designed to last a lifetime.

Each kettle is made from a single sheet of stainless steel with handles of celery top pine. Hammered and welded into shape by hand, these objects are both beautiful and functional.

Designed and made by Sean O’Connell, this work was developed through Tasmania Makes, a Design Tasmania initiative.

About Sean O’Connell
Sean lives in subalpine Tasmania on the shores of yingina / Great Lake. He grew up in the Blue Mountains near Sydney and studied at various institutions, completing his PhD at Sydney College of the Arts.

Sean’s practice spans jewellery, metalwork, photography, and sculpture - the common thread is a deep love of materials. He works in very intimate and laborious ways, preferring to engage closely and directly with materials and processes.

Sean has won awards in Australia and internationally and is represented in several state and national collections. His work was shown in the inaugural National Gallery of Victoria Triennial and won the Itami Award at the Itami International Craft Exhibition in Japan.

Kettles, 2023, 2024 (left to right image top)
stainless steel, kangaroo leather
$2000
non-induction, gas and electric use only

stainless steel, kangaroo leather
$2000
non-functional artwork

stainless steel, bovine leather
$2000
non-induction, gas and electric use only

Oil-blackened stainless steel, charred celery top pine
$2000
induction/gas/electric use

stainless steel, huon pine
$2000
induction/gas/electric use

Image top: Sean O'Connell, Kettles, 2024. Photo: Amy Piddington

Download the complete Media Release for Kettles here.

Kettles

21 March - 4 May

Watching a beautiful kettle boil is a joyful, meditative experience. Hammered and welded into shape by hand, these kettles bear the mark of their designer/maker, Sean O’Connell.

رُفات قِدّيسٍ (rufat qiddys: object of a holy person)

8 February – 20 March 2024

The monuments that we leave behind will tell our story and offer a counter narrative told by us. rachel ramsis farag's ceramic work pays homage to the Black feminine, Arab and African Lesbians, solidifying their existence as beautiful and divine.

Mini Mind Garden: Minka Gillian

30 November 2023 – 31 January 2024

Using a variety of found and second-hand materials, this installation reflects the beauty in nature and human responsibility to the environment. Mini Mind Garden is an imaginary and playful internal landscape mimicking the natural world.

Studio 63: Ebony Russell and Alexandra Standen

22 September–22 November 2023

Responding to their shared love of vintage Australian lusterware this project by
Ebony Russell and Alexandra Standen focuses on a collaborative series of ceramic sconces and lamps.

Lynn Pavey: Febrile Momentum

3 August – 21 September 2023

Febrile Momentum (2023), is inspired by Kati Thanda – Lake Eyre. It's three-dimensional, textile intricacy, echoes the forms found across the lakebed.

For Our Elders

15 June - 26 July 2023

Showcasing a selection of hand-crafted ceramic works created by the Elders' Ceramics Group for Campbelltown Arts Centre's exhibition: Budjari Mudjingaal, meaning 'good friends' in Dharawal language.

Kirsten Haydon: Ice Holds

30 March – 7 June 2023

Inspired by the salient condition of ice as it preserves knowledge and histories from the surrounding environment and atmosphere within its structure, Kirsten Haydon explores the concept and actions of ‘holding’ in her work, while considering the transition, and movement of Antarctic landscapes.

Chili Philly: Crochet Social 2023

4 February – 22 March 2023

Phil Ferguson, aka Chili Philly, brings Object Space to life for Sydney WorldPride with their delectable crochet creations, school dance social-style!

Alchemical Worlds: Reflections

24 November 2022 - 28 January 2023

This work connects ancient patterns with climate science research on coral and trees.

Yurilyimanha Wajarri Barna

28 October - 22 November 2022

yurilyimanha wajarri barna - moving about on Country, was named by Aunty Elvie Dann in Wajarri country of the Murchison region in Western Australia. An opportunity to connect to Country and share cultural knowledge whilst crafting kangaroo pelt bags.

Hope: An ADC and GOST collaboration

7 - 28 October 2022
A creative exchange between Australian Design Centre and Canberra’s Gallery of Small Things (GOST), Hope presents two simultaneous exhibitions in each venue, bringing NSW and ACT-based makers to new audiences.

Dinner Table Syndrome

9 August - 28 September

Sue Jo Wright is a Sydney-based artist using textiles to explore the concept of ‘Dinner Table Syndrome’, a term used to describe the alienation deaf and hard-of-hearing people experience every day at important social gatherings — such as at the dining table.

Tjanpi Desert Weavers

14 July - 1 August 2022


Tjanpi artists use tjanpi (grass) to make spectacular contemporary fibre art, weaving beautiful baskets and sculptures and displaying endless creativity and inventiveness.

Indigenous Jewellery Project

2 June - 13 July 2022

The aim of the Indigenous Jewellery Project is to strengthen and continue existing traditions and facilitate artists to develop a career as exhibiting contemporary artist jewellers through upskilling.

The Miner's Wife

31 March – 31 May 2022

A textile work is inspired by the Coober Pedy tradition of the miner’s wife having first pick of the quarried opals.

Subplot

4 March – 28 March 2022

Otto Paton raises questions about the hidden forces that shape our future while investigating the impact of development on the urban landscape.

High (safe)-Tea

10 February – 3 March 2022

High (Safe)-Tea presents a traditional tea party playfully reimagined with an emphasis on hygiene and safety in a COVID-19 safe manner.

Apothecary Now!

18 November 2021 - 02 February 2022

Inspired by Renaissance apothecary jars (or albarellos), Sassy Park’s pots use techniques and motifs that link the current Covid-19 pandemic to history

Windowsmiths: Murmuration

20 May - 7 July, 2021

Murmuration - A Pliable Formation is a contemporary installation by the Windowsmiths.

Gingham All You’ve Got

25 March - 13 May
Eloise Rapp uses regular cotton business shirts as the base material for her work commenting on the urgent need to repair, reuse and revalue used textiles as robust materials.

Fashion Futures

4 February - 20 March 2021

In partnership with UTS Fashion & Textiles, we present a selection of work by the 2020 graduates. Three designers will be featured in our William Street window gallery for two weeks each. The designers are: Joshua Saacks, Kerry Brack and Sally Jackson.

Patterns In-between

26 November, 2020 - 27 January, 2021

Patterns In-between is Bic’s self-examination of living between two cultures and acknowledgement of the reality that exists ‘in-between’. 

Connecting Cultures

9 October – 24 November, 2020 

Connecting Cultures showcases wearable collections from Indigenous Australian brand, Gillawarra Arts and Colombian brand, Mami Watta Collections.

WORKSHOPPED20: Object Space

9 August - 30 September 2020 

On display, work by Alex Gilmour, WORKSHOPPED20 superstar.

The New Neighbours: Meredith Woolnough

09 June - 29 July 2020

On display in Object Space is the work The New Neighbours by Meredith Woolnough as a part of the exhibition Open House: 3rd Tamworth Textile Triennial.

In the Fire Zone: How to Cook a Knife

26 March - 27 May 2020

Designer-maker, contemporary jeweller and winner of the Australian Design Centre Award for Profile 19, Dianne Beevers investigates what might happen if people learn how to make their own domestic tools. This exhibition reveals her first accomplishments in knifemaking showing two Damascus kitchen knives.

Sweet Spot: Julie Paterson

31 January - 18 March 2020

Sweet Spot is a collection of stencil symbols and the marks that they make. In this work Julie Paterson cross pollinates her multidimensional practice as a designer, painter and printmaker. The collection of symbols, originally part of landscape paintings, create a library of shapes that leap from the canvas.

Bright Start

21 November 2019 - 22 January 2020

Bright Start features the work of first year students of the Bachelor of Design Degree and is part of the Designing Bright Futures exhibition program produced by Australian Design Centre in partnership with UNSW Art & Design. 

Intergradation: Taerim Claire Jeon

3 October - 13 November 2019

Intergradation is an exhibition of the Jogakbo (Traditional Korean patchwork) work of a Sydney based artist Taerim Claire Jeon. This exhibition is presented in partnership with the Korean Cultural Centre, Australia. 

Gadigal Mural Exhibition

2 July - 13 August 2019

Gadigal Mural is an Object Space exhibition, celebrating NAIDOC 2019 and the United Nations International Year of Indigenous Language. 

Jane Theau

1 August – 25 September 2019

Just shopping, always shopping is one of a series of large-scale lace drawings depicting people in unexceptional, everyday moments

Stephen Goddard

28 May - 26 June 2019

Welcome. by Stephen Goddard explores typographical design, punctation and meaning in street signage.

How do you read the sign? If you trespass will you be prosecuted, or that no trespassing violators will be prosecuted and should be allowed to stay?  

Suzanne McRae

11 April - 26 May 2019

Suzanne McRae's work is immersed in sentimentality and the haunting nature of memory. These once cherished creatures, inhabitants of the past, live on today. 

Gunybi Ganambarr

1 February - 3 April 2019

On display in Object Space is the work of acclaimed Yolngu artist Gunybi Ganambarr as part of the exhibition STEEL: art design architecture. 

Dennis Golding

22 November 2018 - 23 January 2019

Kamilaroi/Gamilaraay artist Dennis Golding exhibits one of his newest superhero capes titled My Cape, which empowers human and posthuman experiences of being on country. 

Dorothy Filshie

5 October - 14 November 2018

Fish Out of Water is an exhibition of the textile object work of NSW artist Dorothy Filshie.

Esme Timbery: Shellwork

2 August - 3 October 2018

The iconic artworks, Untitled 'Sydney Opera House' and Untitled 'Harbour Bridge' by Bidjigal artist and elder Esme Timbery celebrate the important shellwork tradition of the La Perouse community and Timbery's contemporary practice. 

Euphemia Bostock

21 June - 29 July 2018

Fashion Collection 1987 by artist Euphemia Bostock is a collection of handprinted garments featuring original designs created for the 1987 Au Printemps Department Store exhibition ‘Australis down under’ in Paris.

Vita Cochran

5 April - 22 May 2018

Textile artist Vita Cochran embraces bold colour and geometric designs through her hand-embroidered handbags and applique hangings. 

Play Up

8 February - 24 March 2018

This project involved the making of objects to support humour therapy in dementia care and was a collaboration between Tasman Munro, a social designer interested in creating objects that bring life to communities and Jean-Paul Bell, a humourmanitarian with a long history in the arts and health industry. 

Gunjan Aylawadi

6 October – 15 October 2017

Sydney-based paper artist Gunjan Aylawadi presents HAKK, a large-scale, intricate paper installation.

Adam Cornish

23 November 2017 - 31 January 2018

Adam Cornish's Trinity Collection is based on the nautilus shell and was the first project he designed for Alessi.