Excellence in student design

Excellence in student design

By Niccola Anthony

RMIT students from The Exchange at Knowledge Market are leading the future of design with a strong showing at the Victorian Premier’s Design Awards.

The awards, which have been running since 1996, recognise and reward designers who display excellence design. This year, three of out of the 12 finalists in the student design category were from students whose work can be linked to The Exchange. The featured pieces were Caroline, Parrot and UMI.

Both Parrot and UMI were developed at The Exchange as student major projects, while Caroline was designed by a team of RMIT students and tutors to serve as urban furniture around Victoria Harbour.

The Exchange at Knowledge Market is a year-long collaboration between RMIT University and Lendlease that aims to create a communal space for a series of public workshops, exhibitions, forums and events.

The Premier’s Design Awards and The Exchange share common values – to spark conversation in the community about hot topics facing cities in the future and the role that design can play in shaping a better environment and society.

Caroline by Komal Lakhanpal, Hannah Mei Tak Li, Awnili Shabnam, Minghui Guo,  Akshal Krishna Kumar, Dyan Mae Cai and Mohammadalmas Surti is a series of 3-D printed high resolution benches made from transparent PETG plastic, which reflect light to give-off a rainbow chromatic effect. The design is part-furniture item, part-art installation – intended to provide aesthetic pleasure at the same time as serving functional utility.

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