Registrations Now Open – 2022 Australian Furniture Design Award

The fourth biennial Australian Furniture Design Award has been announced, and registrations are now open for aspiring designers and architects to be considered for Australia’s richest furniture design prize.

First launched in 2015 by Stylecraft in partnership with the JamFactory, the Australian Furniture Design Award was created as a way to celebrate and nurture Australian design talent. The biennial award recognises the most interesting furniture and lighting design currently being made in Australia, focusing in particular on new design concepts, creative thinking, sustainability, developing new and existing materials, and innovation in design production processes.

Registrations are now open for designers, architects and makers to enter. The winner receives $20,000, an invitation to develop a commercial range or product with Stylecraft, and a two-week professional development residency at JamFactory in Adelaide, making this the biggest prize in design in Australia. The most significant aspect of the prize though is the recognition of receiving this prestigious award, as Tony Russell, Stylecraft Brand Director, says. “For me the core essence, and most pleasing aspect, of AFDA is recognising new and existing Australian design talent. To have their submission recognised as part of winning the award, and the opportunity to then design a commercially viable range of furniture distributed by Stylecraft is a unique opportunity.”

First launched in 2015 by Stylecraft in partnership with the JamFactory, the Australian Furniture Design Award was created as a way to celebrate and nurture Australian design talent.

Presented by National Gallery of Victoria and Stylecraft, the 2022 Australian Furniture Design Award is a two-stage competition. The first stage is an open call for a new and original furniture or lighting design concepts, along with information on the entrant’s professional practice. The jury will review stage one submissions and shortlist up to five competitors to present their realised designs for stage two judging and exhibition at the Stylecraft showroom during Melbourne Design Week, 17-27 March 2022.

Sydney-based designer Seaton McKeon won the inaugural award with The Sun The Moon and Me, a freestanding light and mirror object that defines and portrays the map of stars in the night sky. In 2017 Alice Springs-based designer Elliat Rich received the award for Place, a conceptual vanity-sculpture with a mirror and a neatly concealed draw constructed from stacked and coloured dowel. In 2020 Sydney-based industrial designer James Walsh won with Anthropic Bench, sustainable composite of rammed earth with recycled glass filings formed into columns under a timber top.

Registrations close on 15 October 2021 and the shortlisted competitors will be exhibited at Stylecraft’s showroom during Melbourne Design Week 2022.

The winner receives $20,000, an invitation to develop a commercial range or product with Stylecraft, and a two-week professional development residency at JamFactory in Adelaide, making this the biggest prize in design in Australia.