Simone LeAmon

If you missed it - check out your DIA Guide to Melbourne Design Week 2026. It’s hard to describe just how alive Melbourne becomes during Melbourne Design Week. Across eleven days, the city transforms into a national stage for design innovation, experimentation and exchange, with talks, exhibitions, workshops and tours presented by leading and emerging voices from across Australia and around the world. Taking place from 14-24 May, this year’s program includes more than 400 events and the involvement of more than 100 DIA Hall of Fame luminaries, Fellows, members and partners, so we felt it was time to create a dedicated DIA × MDW Guide celebrating the contribution of our community to one of the nation’s most significant design events. So here it is, your DIA x MDW Guide for 2026. Get out and experience it. Support Australian designers and our members. Follow, share and champion their work online and in person. Enjoy the energy — it’s big. Head to the DIA website to find your guide- design.org.au MDW is presented by @ngvmelbourne and @creative_vic @design_institute_au

After more than two decades, Bowling Arm® returns as part of this year’s Melbourne Design Week, appearing across two very different but equally exciting exhibitions exploring design, sport, material culture and contemporary creative practice. Originally developed in 1999, Bowling Arm® began as a deceptively simple idea: six leather bangles made from the discarded waste of Australian cricket ball manufacture. Retrieved, cleaned, polished and assembled by hand, the remnants were transformed into jewellery carrying both material memory and cultural resonance. What began as an experiment in re-seeing industrial by-product quickly became a little phenomenon, circulating through boutiques, exhibitions and international design networks. Well ahead of its time, Bowling Arm proposed waste as resource, and design as a way of shifting perception. Across more than 22,000 units distributed to date, the work has diverted approximately 132,000 leather remnants from landfill. You can see Bowling Arm® CLUBHOUSE Presented by @found.golf and @uptherestore 14–24 May Up There Store 69 Flinders Lane, Melbourne Opening Night, Thursday 14 May 6:30–9:30pm SUPERHOT SHOP Presented by @daniellebrustman Rear 47 Easey Street, Collingwood Opening Party, Friday 15 May Very special to see this project from 1999 finding new conversations and audiences within Australia’s contemporary design scene once again. Images: 1 Bowling Arm by Simone LeAmon 2/3 Good Sport campaign, 2010. Photo @tobiastitzphotography 4 Rosanna Orlandi & Bowling Arm 2012 5 @paolaantonelli & Bowling Arm 2023 6 @tokujin_yoshioka & Bowling Arm 2011 7 Ebony, Lesa & Bowling Arm On the Spot Arts, Tonga 2016 8 Me, Melinda Young& Bowling Arm @unnaturaljeweller 2020 9 Heath Ledger & Bowling Arm. Sydney Premiere of Ned Kelly 2003 Photo Patrick Riviere Getty 10 Bowling Arm campaign 2000. Photo @sebastiangollings

55 slipped by last week… almost quietly. No big fanfare, something far more beautiful — a homemade birthday cake baked by Mum and shared at our favourite restaurant with family. Feeling grateful and excited about everything still to come.

A Good Friday walk with Gaius. Slow steps, fresh air, and a moment to pause. Grateful for the lovely day. Happy Easter everyone.

Forty years ago my father designed a remarkable home. I remember the project vividly: dad drawing late into the night, endless conversations with builders, and standing on site watching the concrete pours as the architecture slowly took shape. In many ways this house cemented my love of architecture and design, and my deep respect for the people whose skill, patience and belief bring original and bold ideas into the world. Yesterday Andrew and Stella who commissioned the residence, welcomed us back to walk through their home one last time. After decades of family life, children, grandchildren, gatherings and celebrations the house is now on the market. As Andrew said quietly, living here has been a gift: "Ken did magnificent work". Very proud of my dad. The house received the Master Builders Association Homes of the Year Award, 1988, Best Innovation in Housing for Design and Construction. Architect: Kenneth L Leamon Builder: RAE Construction 13 Sarah Crescent Templestowe, Victoria View the video here: .au/property-house-vic-templestowe-150176600

Tie-Up, 2026 by Fiona Abicare. Originally conceived as a strapless mini-dress moulded to Abicare’s body, Tie-Up is suspended horizontally and emptied of its wearer. The oversized bow becomes both structure and symbol: binding adornment, desire and restraint. Part of @Linden_New_Art 40th anniversary exhibition. Courtesy of the Artist and @sarahscoutpresents Melbourne. #LindenNewArt #40Years #ExpandedSculpture #ArtAndDesign #FionaAbicare ContemporaryArt

MAKE DESIGN COUNT Be counted. Be recognised. The Design Institute of Australia (DIA) is leading a national survey to inform its submission to the Australian Bureau of Statistics for the 2027 update of the Occupation Standard Classification for Australia (OSCA) published in 2024. The outcome will shape how designers are recognised, supported and valued for years to come. The survey takes approximately 15 minutes and is open to all practising designers across disciplines, industries and career stages. This is your opportunity to contribute directly to the evidence underpinning the DIA’s national advocacy for the profession. Take the survey MAKE DESIGN COUNT at sign.org.au/make-design-count Deadline: COB 10 March 2026 #MakeDesignCount #DIA #DesignAdvocacy #DesignAustralia #australiandesignAustralianDesigners australiandesign

The past few days have been such a joy catching up with the collectible design community, seeing old friends and long-time collaborators, and being reminded just how much collective energy powers design creativity in this space. At Melbourne Art Fair 2026, the introduction of FUTUREOBJEKT feels timely and bold. Part stage, part salon, it offers a focused platform where collectors meet designers and encounter exquisitely made design. Grateful for the conversations and shared commitment shown by MAF to pushing the contemporary collectible design scene forward in Australia. Open this weekend at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre. @melbourneartfair 1. @_timothymoore @mayatili 2. @georgiasmedley @myfdoughty @eskeillar 3. @rakumba_lighting @adamgoodrumstudio 4. @varendorff 5. @eleniarbus 6. @volkerhaug 7. @nickrenniehfd 8. @_daltonstewart 9. @adamcornishdesign

Dear friends, I’m delighted to be writing to you as the new Chief Executive Officer of the Design Institute of Australia. DIA plays a vital role in championing design and advocating for designers across the country, and it is a privilege to join the Institute at this moment. With a career spanning design practice, education and cultural leadership, I strongly believe in the power of design to shape culture, industry and everyday life, and in the importance of working collectively to ensure its value is recognised across society. The year ahead presents an exciting opportunity to foster a strong and generous culture across DIA, while reinvigorating the Institute’s path to purpose and prosperity. I see design as a fundamentally creative discipline and as foundational infrastructure, shaping the systems, services, products and environments that define daily life, while opening space for imagination, joy and new possibilities. Design must sit at the heart of decision-making across government, industry and society. I would also like to acknowledge and thank outgoing CEO Jo-Ann Kellock for her remarkable dedication to the Design Institute of Australia, and to wish her every success in the next chapter. In the months ahead, I look torward to working with the Board and listening to members, to designers not yet engaged with DIA, and to partners across business, education, government and the community sector, while deepening connections across disciplines, states and industries. Together, we can strengthen DIA for the profession, connecting people and ideas and advancing a confident, ambitious future for Australian design. We are grateful to DIA members and partners for their support, which makes this work possible. If you would like to learn more about how you can support DIA or be involved, we welcome you to get in touch. With best wishes for a fulfilling and inspiring 2026. @design_institute_au design.org.au

Road trip to the Northern Rivers, New South Wales. Sunlight, long days, shared meals with family, salt in my hair. Perfect.

Making Christmas: Gifts for 2025 Ellen Kiellar Vintage silver teaspoons (golf and croquet), glass, blackened sterling silver. Alexander Fink-Leamon Gaius in copper and enamel. Robyn Faulkner Rose quartz, 18 karat gold. Dee Leamon Pop’s silver teaspoons, glass, 18 karat gold. Debbie Prigmore Glass, 18 karat gold. Vanessa Chew Pearl, vintage plastic beads, 18 karat gold. Carol Kelly Vintage cloissone beads, glass, pearls, 18 karat gold. Fiona Abicare Iron pebbles, 18 karat gold. Gemma Savio Glass, vintage plastic beads, 18 karat gold. Thank you to my beautiful collaborator @blanchetilden #MakingChristmas2024 #Handmade #jewellery #homemadegifts #jewellerydesign

Thrilled to see this thoughtful feature by @mcdidero in Domus online about my new role with the Design Institute of Australia. @design_institute_au https://www.domusweb.it/en/design/2025/12/10/simone-leamon-design-institute-australia.html