Coinciding with NGV Melbourne Design Week, leading Melbourne interior designer Fiona Lynch is opening the doors to Work Shop, a permanent gallery in Collingwood. Located adjacent to her eponymous design studio, the gallery is a curatorial showcase of experimental design, fine art and objects from leading Australian and international artists and designers.
Renowned for her artistic approach to interior design and award winning projects, Fiona says Work Shop is the realisation of a long held dream, informed by her early career in fine art. “Prior to studying interior design I studied Fine Art at RMIT in Melbourne,” she says. “This unique path has always been reflected in my work and the way we approach design. Work Shop will afford my studio and I the opportunity to explore this further, identifying commonalities across mediums and materials, and examining the dialogue between art and design in a way that challenges and inspires.”
In its opening exhibition titled Ideas to Intuition, Work Shop will feature contributing artists including New York based lighting designer Mary Wallis, Australian contemporary artists Makiko Ryujin and Jiaxin Nong, and British porcelain artist Olivia Walker. Revealing an innovative and daring use of their chosen mediums, these works are exhibited alongside original designs from Fiona's own studio. Showcased against a rich and earthy textural backdrop, the effect is captivating. Excited to see how it evolves over time, I'm so glad the gallery is permanent as I'd love to visit one day.
As well as presenting an evolving array of discovered works, commissioned pieces and original designs, Work Shop is also envisioned as a testing ground for Fiona's award-winning interior design practice; an experimental design laboratory without the confines of convention.
“In this age of instant gratification, it’s very easy to get caught up in the end result, disregarding the creative process required to arrive at a resolved outcome,” says Fiona. “For our first exhibition we’ve called on our contributing artists to investigate the tension between the constructed and deconstructed, the resolved and incomplete, the built and undone, encouraging the viewer to discover beauty at all stages of creative evolution.”
Located at 7 Glasshouse Road, Collingwood, Work Shop and its debut exhibition Ideas to Intuition will open on Friday 15 March from 5pm to 7pm as part of the official NGV Melbourne Design Week program. The first exhibition will run for three months - visit between 10am and 5pm Mon to Fri, and 11am to 3pm Sat to Sun until March 24th, and by appointment thereafter.