Making HISTORY

A joint project by two Australian design heavyweights, the Futures Collective' installation in heritage Villa Alba painted a graphic picture of contemporary designers and makers.

- KAREN MCCARTNEY

Sometimes it takes a very particular set of circumstances embracing place, people, ideas and effort to create something evocative and magical that transcends the sum of the parts. The 'Futures Collective' installation in the grand frescoed rooms at Villa Alba Museum in Melbourne's Kew is one such experience. Set in and around an imposing 1880s house renowned for its rare decorative scheme of murals and stencils (the work of Scottish-born, Melbourne-based decorators the Paterson Bros) the house remains remarkably intact.

Inserted into this all-encompassing ambience of faded splendour is the work of a number of local and international designers who all express, in different ways, the overarching theme of the March Melbourne Design Week - 'design the world you want'.

Natural collaborators, the drivers behind the exhibition are the two Fionas: interior designer Fiona Lynch who works in both Victoria and NSW, and retailer extraordinaire Fiona Lyda, whose Sydney business Spence & Lyda will find an additional format and location as she expands into Melbourne later this year.