Design Tasmania
Corner of Brisbane and Tamar streets
Launceston, 7250
Tasmania

info@designtasmania.com.au
+61 3 6331 5506

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The centre of design for our island.

Design Tasmania is a not-for-profit design centre dedicated since 1976 to furthering design in Tasmania through our exhibitions, collection and store.

Our programs, activities and advocacy are designed to embrace diversity, encourage inclusivity and champion professionalism, bringing design to as many as possible.

Gary Cleveland AM (1930-2020)

Founders

Design Tasmania was founded in 1976 by Gary Ogle Cleveland AM and Pat Cleveland, and was envisaged by Gary Cleveland as the heart-centre of design for Tasmania.

In 1991 Gary established the Design Tasmania Wood Collection, now with over 80 pieces and on permanent display in various curatorial iterations throughout the galleries. Exhibitions of this collection have toured from Launceston and Hobart to Hawaii, Beijing to New York, Parliament House to Germany, Sweden, Finland and Japan.

Today Design Tasmania welcomes more than 100,000 visitors a year in person and hosts globally accessible presentations online, continuing to fulfil Gary's mission to have Tasmanian design recognised worldwide.

“I aspired to bring together elements such as a place for reflection, a space for children, an area to display ideas in a challenging way, and above all a place where imagination was dominant”

–Gary Cleveland AM

History

For over 40 years Design Tasmania has supported the careers and practices of thousands of design creatives from our island, Australia and beyond to advance the value of design in our daily lives.

Our public programs offer over 100,000 visitors a year the opportunity to engage in design and culture to celebrate some of the most highly regarded practitioners in the field of design. From weaving workshops to international innovators and kids' tours, the galleries showcase activities for everyone from the design curious to established design professionals.

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Design Tasmania Wood Collection

The Design Tasmania Wood Collection is an evolving collection of contemporary Tasmanian wood design. It is the only museum collection of its type in Australia.

The collection was established in 1991, with the aim to champion and showcase Tasmanian wood designers and makers, and to highlight Tasmania’s unique position in the global design industry. There are 80 pieces in the Collection, and work is acquired biennially (every two years) with the support of Design Tasmania’s Fellows donor program.

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Staff

Jane Haley

Locum CEO

A passionate Tassie gal, Jane Haley has worked in the arts all her life and all over Australia. Her career encompasses a broad range of arts organisations, starting as the education officer for Salamanca Theatre Company and including the management of Arts Access Victoria, the Queensland Theatre Company, the Arts Council of Australia (ACT), Sidetrack Theatre and Ten Days on the Island. Jane has expertise and experience in policy and strategy development, the management of not-for-profit cultural organisations and private sector support for the arts. She has directed policy and program initiatives for the Victorian government, Arts Queensland, the NSW Department of Education and numerous arts organisations.

Jane’s keen interest in strengthening the creative and cultural sectors in Australia has led her to leadership positions with professional arts industry and advocacy bodies including ArtsPeak (the national peak body for arts service organisations), the Arts Industry Council of Victoria, and the Australian Institute of Arts Management. Jane returned to Tasmania in 2013 to work with the University of Tasmania before getting back into the arts as CEO of Ten Days on the Island, where she led the reinvigoration of Australia’s only statewide regional international arts festival. She finished this role in December 2021 and is now engaged in completing her PhD through the University of Tasmania.

Michelle Boyde

Artistic Director

Trained at RMIT, Michelle Boyde has a broad-thinking and cross-disciplinary approach to design, with a unique and transferable skill set that spans fashion, interiors, object and installation.

As an independent designer, curator, collaborator and design consultant, Michelle has worked extensively within the national creative industries across Australia for organisations such as Chunky Move Dance Co, Mona, NGV, RMIT, Menzies Institute for Medical Research, Bakehouse Studios, State of Design, Melbourne Fashion Week and most recently as curator for Design Tasmania at Melbourne Design Fair.

Michelle has lived and worked in Hobart since 2011, immersing herself in the local creative and cultural communities across the island, and has become a cultural agent of significant force and reputation in that time. Michelle divides her current time between her independent practice situated in an old apple coolstore she shares with colleagues in Moonah, and co-facilitation of an ongoing, informal fashion training program ‘Ya’rnin, Recovering Kinship Through Design’ with Tasmanian aboriginal artist, designer, cultural worker and project leader, Michelle Maynard.

artisticdirector@designtasmania.com.au

Lauren Barker

Accounts

Lauren is a registered BAS Agent and holds a Diploma in Accounting as well as a Certificate IV in Business. Lauren started out in Education but the numbers always spoke to her, leading her to pursue studies in finance and start her own business as a Bookkeeper in 2013. When she's not crunching numbers, she can be found doing literal crunches as a Pilates Instructor or training in the gym, as she holds a National Powerlifting title as well as a Ms. Figure Classic, Tasmania Bodybuilding title.

accounts@designtasmania.com.au

Julia Gosling

Admin Officer

Fresh from completing a Diploma in Graphic Design, Julia joins Design Tasmania as the Administration Officer.

Julia has a background in new media, working for many years as a Front-End Web Developer and Accessibility Consultant in London for a range of clients including Microsoft, Apple, Canon and American Express. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in History and Politics and a Graduate Diploma in Information Technology. As well as her role with Design Tasmania, she works freelance creating online spaces for local small businesses.

When she’s not at work, Julia is one half of DJ team Cogwebs and Strange – a radio show which goes out weekly on Meander Valley Community Radio (96.9FM) and several internet radio stations in the UK. She also enjoys veggie gardening and can be seen most days at her local dog park with her Boston Terrier, Loki.

Board of Directors

Megan Perkins

Chair, Director since 2020

Megan is a Tasmanian born and based designer and passionate advocate for design, culture, women and her local community. As a Founder and Creative Director of her self-titled practice she delivers branding, communication design and strategy for cultural institutions and events, products and artists. Recognition for her design includes an Australian Graphic Design Association Pinnacle, and globally with a Dieline First Place and Pentawards Gold. Before launching her practice in 2020 Megan honed her craft as design lead for Mona and Dark Mofo, building the festival brand from its inception. Megan believes good design brings joy to everyday life, and is a powerful tool to revitalise and unify regional communities, and convey a sense of place.

As the daughter of renowned Tasmanian maker Kevin Perkins her connection to Design Tasmania runs deep. Represented in the Wood Collection, Kevin is a founding designer for the organisation. Megan is also a previous recipient of the Design Tasmania award, and recognises first hand the value of opportunity, and the big impact that support, and facilitation can provide Tasmanian designers and their practices.

David Kewley

Treasurer, Director since 2020

David is the managing director of his public practice accounting firm DK Accounting & Advisory. With a masters of taxation and experience lecturing in both statistics and accounting theory, you will frequently find David nerding out over some spreadsheet or paragraph of new legislation.

David has a passion for community building, and in recognition of his extensive voluntary contributions to a range of grassroots groups and not-for-profit boards, he has received multiple Tasmanian Young Achievers Award nominations, and was honoured to be a Tasmanian Volunteers Award finalist in 2019. Outside of his business, David spends his spare time training for half-marathons or enjoying a casual game of table tennis.

Suzanne Derry

Director since 2022

Suzanne Derry is a principal lawyer with 15 years of experience in the arts at Arts Law (the national community legal centre for the arts in Australia). She is committed to using the law as a tool to achieve more fair arrangements for creatives, greater economic benefit for artists and stronger and more engaged relationships in the creative sector. Suzanne has delivered legal training and services across federal, state and local governments, as well as to arts organisations, creative businesses and cultural institutions.

Suzanne adores audio, and has composed music for the sheer joy of it for many years and recently produced a podcast called Less is More, looking at the community in Launceston’s response to some of the key sustainability challenges of our time. 

Christie Sweeting

Public Officer, Director since 2023

Christie has lived and worked in lutruwita/Tasmania for most of her life. She has a background in the creative industries including fine art, design, events and festivals – both as a practitioner and administrator, specifically in marketing and branding. Currently she is employed in the public sector and has worked in several agencies including Tourism Tasmania and Brand Tasmania.

She is passionate about design and believes good design is not only ascetically pleasing but can also make a positive difference to communities considering social, cultural and economic factors. With connections to Tasmania’s timber industry, she understands the value of this exceptional resource to users of this material including the state’s designer-makers.

Christie values having the opportunity to contribute to the Tasmanian community through volunteer positions and brings to the board knowledge and connections to help business development. In her down time, she enjoys all what Tasmania has to offer and is studying Creative Arts and Health and Wellbeing at the University of Tasmania to complement her Batchelor of Fine Art.

Rohan Nicol

Director since 2022

Dr Rohan Nicol is Associate Professor of Fine Art and Associate Head of the School of Creative Arts and Media (CAM) at the University of Tasmania (UTAS).

Rohan is an experienced artist with an international profile achieved through a hybrid practice spanning contemporary art, craft, design, and curatorship. His work focusses on the role and impact of art, craft, and design to establish new practices that reconcile domestic habits with the questions of globalisation and pressing environmental challenges. He has published in leading global journals on design ethics and led global teams in collaborative research projects that focus on changing harmful domestic consumption habits. These projects present new living, manufacturing and production models that are scalable and offer prospects for the repair of our planet. Other projects focus on various forms of arts-led innovation (regional and local manufacturing), through collaborative projects that have realised and documented positive impacts on culture, community, and economies.

Zoe Rimmer

Director since 2022

Zoe Rimmer is a Pakana (Tasmanian Aboriginal) community member from a large extended family from Flinders and Cape Barren Island, with Ancestral connections to the northeast coast of Lutruwita/Tasmania. Zoe has grown up connected to her community, country and culture, and has learnt the cultural skills of basket making and shell stringing from her Elders – traditions she is now passing on to her own daughter, 11-year-old Eve. Zoe has worked in the museum and cultural heritage management sector for the past 19 years and is currently an Indigenous Academic Fellow at the University of Tasmania (UTAS) where her PhD candidature follows on from her work in repatriation and First Nations museology. She is passionate about increasing First Peoples voice and perspectives across cultural institutions and public spaces; as well as facilitating the revitalisation of cultural knowledge and practices. Her interest in public history and the importance of truth telling also motivates her work.

Until recently Zoe was the Senior Curator of First Peoples Art and Culture at the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery (TMAG). Zoe continues to work as an independent curator, most recently collaborating on the new interpretation facility at the Cascades Female Factory and regularly working with MONA FOMA curators.

Zoe is also Deputy-Chair of the Tasmanian Aboriginal Heritage Council; a member of the National Museum of Australia’s Indigenous Reference Group and sits on the Board of Directors of Karadi Aboriginal Corporation. She is an alumni of the National Gallery of Australia’s (NGA) Indigenous Arts Leadership Program and has previously had a role as Co-Chair of the Advisory Committee for Indigenous Repatriation.

Designers & Makers

Design Tasmania exhibits, promotes, and provides mentoring support for Tasmanian designers and craftspeople.

We enable Tasmanian designers and artisans to show how design makes a difference, not just to a privileged few, but to all in our community.

We encourage creative risk-taking and facilitate the creation and exhibition of new works, to broaden the national and international audience for Tasmanian craft and design, and champion a culture of creativity, inclusion and innovation.

We promote Tasmania as a dynamic leader in the Australian design landscape through commitment to collaboration, innovation and meaningful action.

Our advocacy for designers can be measured through exhibition outcomes as well as professional development programs, national and international communications campaigns and more. Many of these programs prioritise our Designer Members and advocate strongly for showcasing excellence in design.

Designers & Makers

Annual Report

Design Tasmania produce an Annual Report each year that is available for public access and download by clicking the link pertaining to the calendar year below.

2022

2021

2020

2019

2018

2017

2016

2015

Support Us

Your membership and donation pledges help demonstrate the public value of Design Tasmania. By joining us you become a part of a community that helps to enrich the cultural landscape of art, craft and design on our island.

Fellows & Members

Image Credit: Emily Dimozantos 2020.

Our volunteer showing the Design Tasmania Wood Collection to an interested visitor

Volunteer at Design Tasmania

Join the gallery volunteer team at the centre of design on our island

Design Tasmania is one of Australia’s leading not-for-profit design organisations. A hub for Tasmania’s designers, makers and enterprise, Design Tasmania is dedicated to nurturing and championing creative practice, making design accessible to all.

A cultural tourism destination in Launceston in Tasmania’s north, Design Tasmania welcomes more than 50,000 visitors each year and promotes design and craft through the unique Tasmanian Wood Design Collection, a changing program of exhibitions, and the wonderful array of Tasmanian designed work for sale in our Store.

Design Tasmania’s volunteers provide a welcoming and informative experience for visitors. Please join our volunteer team and help deliver Tasmania’s best design, art and culture. For more information contact Julia at:
info@designtasmania.com.au