A studio visit with Aviva Mira for Clothes for Chairs
Aviva is a Melbourne-based fashion designer and maker exploring the fashion industry’s impact on our physical environments. Working across garments and sculptural textile objects, her work draws on urban spaces to examine the economies of waste, bringing attention to what gets discarded and what remains. Through pattern-making, hand stitching, starching and other forms of textile manipulation, her practice is in constant evolution, always anchored by texture, playfulness and thoughtful craft.
Find Aviva’s finished chair at Clothes for Chairs — a group exhibition inviting fashion, textiles and design practitioners to reimagine discarded garments as functional seating for Melbourne Design Week.
21.05.26–24.05.26
Abbotsford Convent Industrial School
1 Saint Heliers Street, Abbotsford
Link in bio
Exhibition Celebration — you’re invited
Join us on Saturday 23 May 4–6pm in the Sacred Heart Courtyard at Abbotsford Convent to celebrate the opening of two exhibitions presented as part of Melbourne Design Week 2026.
Clothes for Chairs, presented by Future Archive, brings together thirteen Melbourne designers and artists transforming reclaimed chair frames and textile waste into functional seating.
Also celebrating PAGEANT: A Retrospective (2010-2025), a reflective exhibition featuring installation-based fashion, design, visual art, and film that explores future fashion directions. PAGEANT: A Retrospective (2010-2025) is showing in the other half of the Industrial School across the same dates (21-24 May, 11am-6pm).
Both exhibitions will be open to view with the celebration spilling out into the courtyard — weather permitting.
Free and open to all. Please RSVP via the link in bio so we can make sure there are enough drinks to go around.
Supported by project partner @after_anz@abbotsfordconvent@pageant_studio
#MelbourneDesignWeek #ClothesForChairs #TextileReuse #circulardesign
A visit with DGianna Studio for Clothes for Chairs
DGIANNA Studio is the practice of Danielle Gianna, a Melbourne-based designer and artist working between textile, object and interior. Her work moves fluidly across fashion, sculpture and design, from aggregate and textile furniture to wearable art, recontextualising discarded fabrics and found materials into forms that sit between function and art. Driven by intuition and material experimentation, Danielle lets materials guide her process, allowing them to shift, resist and define their own outcome. Rooted in playfulness and curiosity, each piece is one of a kind — a moment of exploration frozen in time.
Find the finished DGianna Studio chair at Clothes for Chairs — a group exhibition inviting fashion, textiles and design practitioners to reimagine discarded garments as functional seating for Melbourne Design Week.
21.05.26–24.05.26
Abbotsford Convent Industrial School
1 Saint Heliers Street, Abbotsford
Link in bio
How can discarded clothing be used to restore function and value to an otherwise unusable object?
A few places remain in the Clothes for Chairs workshop on Saturday 16 May. A full day of hands-on making at @abbotsfordconvent as part of Melbourne Design Week 2026.
Working with reclaimed chair frames and post-consumer clothing, participants will experiment with sewing, hand stitching, weaving, knotting and upholstery techniques — applying garment-based thinking to functional object design. The focus is on material exploration and process, guided making sessions and dedicated time to develop your own approach.
Workshop outcomes will be exhibited alongside resolved chair works by thirteen Melbourne designers, artists and makers as part of the Clothes for Chairs exhibition, 21–24 May. Then yours to keep.
🔗 Tickets via the link in bio 🔗
Saturday 16 May, 10am–4pm
Abbotsford Convent — Linen Room
Presented by Future Archive
Supported by @after_anz
#FutureArchive #TextileReuse #MelbourneDesignWeek #circulardesign
A studio visit with @corneliavanrijswijk for Clothes for Chairs
Cornelia Van Rijswijk is a Welsh/Dutch artist and designer based in Naarm/Melbourne. Her practice sits at the intersection of fashion and material experimentation, with a focus on reworking and upcycling pre-loved garments using end-of-line fabric remnants. Working through deconstruction, Cornelia renews these materials with intricate mending techniques, painted motifs and embroidery — a signature thread found across everything she makes.
Find Cornelia’s finished chair at Clothes for Chairs — a group exhibition inviting fashion, textiles and design practitioners to reimagine discarded garments as functional seating for Melbourne Design Week.
21.05.26–24.05.26
Abbotsford Convent Industrial School
1 Saint Heliers Street, Abbotsford
Link in bio
Clothes for Chairs Melbourne Design Week 2026.
Workshop
16.05.26
Abbotsford Convent Linen Room
Exhibition
21.05.26–24.05.26
Abbotsford Convent Industrial School
Clothes for Chairs reimagines how clothing can be used beyond the body. Through processes of wrapping, weaving, stitching and reconstruction, ‘waste’ materials are re-engineered into new surfaces, structures and forms.
Melbourne Design Week is Australia’s largest and leading annual design festival and takes place from 14–24 May 2026.
The 2026 program spans 11 days of 400+ events, exhibitions, talks, and installations throughout metropolitan Melbourne and regional Victoria
Melbourne Design Week is a vital platform for emerging and established creative practitioners, offering the Australian design community and audiences the opportunity to engage with a diverse program of talks, tours, exhibitions, installations, and workshops
Melbourne Design Week is an initiative of the Victorian Government through Creative Victoria and is curated and delivered by the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV).
Visit the links in bio for Clothes for Chairs exhibition & workshop listings in the designweek.melbourne program.
@ngvmelbourne and @creative_vic #NGV #MelbourneDesignWeek #CreativeVic and #CreativeState
A studio visit with @hey.raco & @first.draft.melbourne for Clothes for Chairs
Hey Raco is the practice of Isabella Raco, a designer and researcher working at the intersection of textile material systems, digital technologies, design and social impact. As a PhD candidate at the RMIT University School of Design, her work investigates how creative autonomy can shift our relationship to materials and clothing, shifting from passive consumption to active stewardship within a circular economy.
First Draft Melbourne is the practice of Oscar Howard, an industrial designer with a focus on circular systems, biomaterials and upcycling. In addition to studying Industrial Design (Honours) at RMIT, Oscar creates custom one-off bags repurposing waste materials into design-driven pieces of carry wear.
Find the finalised Hey Raco x First Draft chair at Clothes for Chairs — a group exhibition inviting fashion, textiles and design practitioners to reimagine discarded garments as functional seating for Melbourne Design Week.
21.05.26–24.05.26
Abbotsford Convent Industrial School
1 Saint Heliers Street, Abbotsford
Link in bio
Introducing 𝘊𝘭𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘪𝘳𝘴 by @_futurearchive___ — a group exhibition inviting fashion, textile, and design practitioners to reimagine discarded garments as functional seating.
Clothes for Chairs is as much an experience as an exhibition. On 16 May, Future Archive are running a public workshop, where participants participant are provided with a reclaimed chair frame and textile waste – particularly worn or unwanted garments – to create a new textile outcome.
Fast forward to 21 May, these outcomes will become part of the exhibition, sitting alongside work from 10 local designers stemming from the same prompt.
Clothes for Chairs aims to reduce waste, both from the textile industry, using clothing that has lived out its original purpose, and from landfill, with all chair frames having been collected roadside over multiple years. Joining this mission as an event partner is @after_anz , a community-focused textile recycling organisation that redirects unwanted clothing and fabric.
Whether it be a functional piece, or a decorative upgrade to the 𝘧𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘳drobe, Clothes for Chairs is bound to inspire.
𝗖𝗹𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗶𝗿𝘀 𝗪𝗼𝗿𝗸𝘀𝗵𝗼𝗽
Saturday 16 May
Linen Room
𝗖𝗹𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗶𝗿𝘀 𝗘𝘅𝗵𝗶𝗯𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻
21 — 24 May
Industrial School
🔗 Read more via link in bio.
A studio visit with @clingy_bags for Clothes for Chairs
Clingy is a slow fashion accessories brand based in Brunswick, specialising in novelty bags. Clingy was founded by Isobel Murray in 2020 with a dream to make beautiful things consciously. Since the beginning Isobel has explored a range of textiles such as Pinatex; a new material made from pineapple plant leaf fibres, second hand garments and blankets, deadstock fabrics and fabrics made with organic fibres. Isobel remains committed to finding ways to use textile waste created in her own practice. Throughout the exploration of fabrics and techniques a focus on multifunctional use has emerged and a desire to make people laugh when they encounter a clingy thing.
Find Clingy’s finalised chair at Clothes for Chairs — a group exhibition inviting fashion, textiles and design practitioners to reimagine discarded garments as functional seating for Melbourne Design Week.
21.05.26–24.05.26
Abbotsford Convent Industrial School
1 Saint Heliers Street, Abbotsford
Link in bio
I’m excited to be presenting Clothes for Chairs for Melbourne Design Week 2026
Exhibition
21–24 May 11am–6pm Abbotsford Convent — Industrial School
&
Workshop
16 May
10am-4pm
Abbotsford Convent — Linen Room
This project invites a group of local designers + workshop participants to reimagine how discarded textiles can be used beyond the body.
Through processes of wrapping, weaving, stitching, mending and reconstruction, ‘waste’ materials are re-engineered into new surfaces, structures and forms on reclaimed chair frames.
Spanning fashion, textile, object and material-led practices, the works move between garment, upholstery and sculpture — from playful and colourful interventions to highly detailed handwork, sculptural abstraction and intuitive material experimentation. Together, they explore how materials can shift from waste to use.
Featuring works by Aviva Mira Clingy — Isobel Murray Cornelia Van Rijswijk DGIANNA
Future Archive x Mitchell Mackintosh Heather Lee HeyRaco x First Draft Melbourne It’s My Roommates — Amelia Carlisle Lauren Mavromati Bourke Olive Made Pocket Money
& rapid ideation outcomes from the Clothes for Chairs workshop
Supported by AFTER
#MelbourneDesignWeek #FutureArchive #TextileReuse #CircularDesign
Earlier this year I travelled to Prato, Italy to undertake a one month residency at @lottozero to learn about Prato’s historical textile industry. I went here to connect with one of the words most advanced and long-standing circular economies - the recycled wool supply chain.
My favourite part about this process is that no dyeing is required in the regeneration of these fibres, instead they’re sorted by the highly skilled cenciaolis into tonal palettes that once shredded and mixed together determine the colour that results.
Prato is also known for developing the wet-shredding process, whereby wool is gently pulled apart through mechanical processing in water rather than ripped apart while dry. This results in the wool fibres remaining longer – compared to dry shredding – so that it can be spun tighter and create a stronger, higher quality yarn.
Details from ‘Bonfire of the Vanities’ shown as part of Uncertain Endings for Melbourne Fashion Week 2025.
Show curated by @_julia.english_ and @remiecibis shown at @darkhorseexperiment
This body of work was developed during my residency at @lottozero in July this year
