Designers Australia Awards 2023 - final jury announced
DIA – Awards
• Prominent and respected jurors include Brian Parkes, Emma Williamson, Grace Lillian Lee, Gene Bawden, Sophie Travers, and Claire Beale (Convener).
The Design Institute of Australia (DIA) released the final three of six jurors invited to judge the high-profile Designers Australia Awards 2023.
The Awards were initiated in 2021 after finding an industry void and recognising the need to identify designers and their design process. The three cross-disciplinary categories—place, use, interact—replace the traditional categories and bring together Australia's broad design community to celebrate ethical, innovative, and impactful design thinking.
The prominent jurors represent a broad cross-section of Australia's design landscape and include:
• Grace Lillian Lee
Grace Lillian Lee is a proud multicultural artist, known for drawing inspiration from her Indigenous heritage. Grace is a descendant of the Miriam Mer people of the Eastern Islands of the Torres Strait Islands and celebrates her culture through the act of weaving, culture, story and activation. Her works and adornments are recognised by the intricate, high quality woven works and installations, inspired by traditional Torres Strait Island weaving, stories of family, longing for a greater sense of belonging and an imagined future.
Grace founded the not-for-profit Indigenous Corporation—First Nations Fashion +Design (FNFD), a national platform for cultural expression and celebration by way of fashion, performance and multi-disciplinary practices. Grace's work with First Nations communities concentrates on engaging young people, artists and Elders in a space that encourages representation, pride in culture and development of textile practices, whilst also supporting cross-generational knowledge sharing. Grace's artworks and collaborative pieces have been acquired by national and international institutions and galleries, as well as private collections. In 2021 Grace was the first inaugural recipient of the National Carla Zampatti Women in Leadership Award for the Australian Fashion Laureate award.
• Sophie Travers
Sophie Travers was appointed as CEO of the Australian Tapestry Workshop in May 2023, bringing with her a wealth of experience in the arts and cultural sector gained internationally.
Sophie joined the ATW from Collingwood Yards where as CEO she was fortunate to work with some of Melbourne's most dynamic artists and creative organisations among a vibrant local community in Melbourne's inner north. Prior to this she held leadership roles at City of Melbourne and Australia Council for the Arts as well as several British arts organisations. She has worked internationally from Berlin, Brussels and London and brings a diversity of relationships with international artists and arts institutions to ATW. Sophie is a Director of the board at TarraWarra Museum of Art and Chunky Move and is member of Deakin University's Arts and Cultural Management Advisory Board. She was previously a Director at res artis, international artist residency network, and has held numerous mentoring and advisory roles over her career.
Sophie speaks six languages, holds a first class Honours degree from Cambridge and has written extensively for arts journals in Australia and the UK. She moved to Australia in late 2003, after living and working in more than a dozen cities worldwide.
• Claire Beale (Convener)
Claire Beale is a creative designer, curator, advocate and educator who makes stuff happen. Her aim is to challenge and engage the wider community in the conversation around design, and create opportunities to showcase the value that design brings to our economic and cultural capital.
Claire is the DIA's Awards Committee Chair, and Jury Convenor of the Designer’s Australia Awards. She is also the immediate past National President, former DIA Director and former Chair of the DIA’s National Advisory Council. She was made a Life Fellow of the Design Institute of Australia in 2019. Claire holds Bachelor degrees in the fields of Textile Design, Fine Arts (Honours) and a post graduate qualification in Tertiary Education.
Over the past 15 years, Claire has held a number of key roles including Design Tasmania’s first Executive Director, Academic and Programs Manager in the School of Fashion and Textiles at RMIT University and Executive and Academic Operations Manager at LCI Melbourne.
Previously announced jurors include Brian Parkes, JamFactory CEO; co-founder of The Fulcrum Agency Emma Williamson; and Gene Bawden, Head of the Department of Design at Monash University, Faculty of Art Design and Architecture and co-director of XYX Lab.
The Awards are partnered with Dulux Venetian Plaster, Smeg, Wood Solutions, Brickworks, and The Australian’s WISH magazine.
The National and President’s Prize winners will be celebrated on 26 October.