Fringe Furniture 2015

Fringe Furniture, the longest-running event in the annual Melbourne Fringe Festival, invites this year’s audiences to look Between the Lines. This theme, central to the festival as a whole, asks audiences to look closely at design, to discover meanings beyond the practical, and to interpret messages implied in the work of some of our city’s most innovative and evocative emerging and established designers.

To be held at Abbotsford Convent, this year’s Fringe Furniture hosts 125 works from 108 artists – 70 of whom have never exhibited their work at Fringe Furniture previously. Forty exhibitors are returning Fringe Furniture artists, including founder of the Melbourne Fringe Festival Bruce Filley, Alex Lesniowski and Ryan Straford.

Fringe Furniture is an open-access design event; any artist or designer can respond to the theme and submit a piece of work for display. Entries are encouraged from a broad range of design forms, including furniture, lighting, homewares, wearable objects, decorative arts, and permanent and ephemeral works.

Each year, the Fringe Furniture Awards recognise excellence in a range of categories including sustainability, emerging talent and craftsmanship, presented by a number of industry partners who provide professional development opportunities for the winning designers.

New to Fringe Furniture in 2015 are the artist talks, an opportunity to hear the artists speak about their work and ask questions. The artist talks will run every Sunday (20th, 27th & 4th) at 3pm, throughout the exhibition. Fringe Furniture will also be hosting Tactile Tours, designed to introduce blind and low-vision visitors to experience and enjoy the exhibition. An experienced accessibility guide will lead the tours, and visitors will be encouraged to engage with the works.

Fringe Furniture is the longest-running event in the annual Melbourne Fringe Festival. The first exhibition was held in 1986, and it has been part of the festival every year since.

Melbourne Fringe – 100% independent.

Fringe Furniture

FREE

17 September – 4 October (Wed – Sun, 11am – 5pm)

Abbotsford Convent: Sacred Heart Chapel Oratory and Ironing Rooms

1 St Heliers Street, Abbotsford VIC 3067

Image credits: Matty Fuller (top) and Adam Giannikos (bottom)