Michelle Boyde

Michelle is a designer and curator living in coastal Tasmania on the traditional homelands of the Pydarerme peoples.

With a Bachelor of Design from RMIT’s School of Architecture and Design, and background in contemporary dance, Michelle approaches design in a broad-thinking and cross-disciplinary way, with a unique and transferable skill set that spans fashion, interiors, object and installation.

Michelle has designed and curated extensively within the national arts industry for organisations such as Chunky Move Contemporary Dance Co., Mona, NGV, Bakehouse Studios, State of Design and Melbourne Fashion Week. With a recent focus in Tasmania’s boutique hospitality and tourism industries, she has worked as a designer and design consultant with clients including Sullivan’s Cove, Salty Dog Hotel, Eat Drink Mona, Dark Mofo’s Winter Feast, Riverfront Motel, Jo Cook Food, Taylor+Smith and eco-venture Spring Bay Mill on Tasmania’s rugged East Coast.

As well as her independent design work, Michelle is co-founder and curator for Unconscious Collective, a Tasmanian-based art collective founded in 2014. Her work with the group has been acquired by the Tasmanian Government Art Site Scheme as well as Menzies Institute for Medical Research, and has been presented by Dark Mofo, Mona Foma, Unconformity, Monash University and MPavilion. Projects include a social dreaming and sleeping event at a 1960s motel, sound sculptures using the dreams of primary school children, the design of hanging bio-sensor equipped pods for snoozing audience members, and a suite of cardiophonic furniture. The group's work has been supported by Australia Council for the Arts, Arts Tasmania, Tasmanian Regional Arts, Catalyst and NAVA, and received substantial acclaim in its short lifespan.

As a design mentor and educator, Michelle is currently working with Tasmanian aboriginal designer and cultural practitioner Michelle Maynard, as co-founder and facilitator of ‘Ya’rnin’ - Recovering Kinship through Design’, a 2-year pilot program with the goal of establishing informal fashion design training and employment pathways for Tasmanian aboriginal artists from across the island.

Michelle is also a current peer assessor for Arts Tasmania and Australia Council for the Arts, and held the role of Tasmanian editor for online Indo-Pacific focused journal Garland Magazine (2015-20).

View Michelle's work in PLAY; presented for Mona Foma in 2021.

PLAY

Melbourne Design Fair: PRESENT, 2022
Curated by Michelle Boyde.