Editor’s picks: Melbourne Design Week 2023

Melbourne Design Week returns from 18 May with an 11-day program of talks, tours, exhibitions and workshops touching on all corners of design. Architecture Media associate editor Georgia Birks presents 10 events you won't want to miss.

"From Country, materials are taken, transformed, and to Country, they ultimately return." Presented by Wardle, this discussion will explore the stories that materials tell about the environment, the people who make them, and the transactional exchanges in their production and disposal. Practice partners John Wardle and Meaghan Dwyer will be joined by architectural graduate and researcher Michael McMahon, a descendant of the Bundjalung people. Rory Hyde of the University of Melbourne will moderate the discussion.

Women and people of colour lead the conversation in this exhibition, critiquing the hyper-individualism of capitalism and calling for a more collaborative approach grounded in the principles of collectivism. How can the knowledge systems and cultural practices of Indigenous and diverse communities shape a more sustainable and equitable society? Perspectives is presented by Collective Futures and The Australian Institute of Architects.

"Would you rather embrace deep-fake technology, or destroy it forever? Design single-mindedly for accessibility, or for aesthetics? Make design awards free, or ban them altogether?" At this event, designers engage in debate on issues big and small, from AI to the environment. Which way will you go? Would You Rather? is presented by Re.Design.

Presented by Australian tableware company The Good Plate, this unique evening is a celebration of dining and tableware design. After an interactive four-course meal, guests will receive keepsakes to take home: the bowls and plates they used.

"If I am more fortunate than others, I need to build a longer table, not a taller fence." Flack Studio presents this curated exhibition, which responds to the idea of gathering around a table. Works of art and design will facilitate conversation and connection through creative responses to the table and the memories, rituals and habits we associate with it.

Presented by Jingwen (Jina) He, this event will examine the roles of public art, "placemaking" and "activation" in shaping cities. Speakers include Jo Muir, project lead of creative urban places at the City of Melbourne; Stacie Ng, design strategist at Relative Projects; Lynda Roberts, senior adviser of creative communities at RMIT University; and Simon Abrahams, creative director and CEO of Melbourne Fringe.

Set beside the Birrarung, this two-hour workshop will speculate on a near-future flooded world. Participants will engage in "play design" thinking to intimately reconnect with water. The workshop will begin with the launching of a zine that recollects stories of water care in Melbourne. The zine includes a game to be played along the Birrarung, in which participants are invited to reimagine their own relationships with water through interrelational and intergenerational play.