Design: Building on Country

Design: Building on Country
Alison Page and Professor Paul Memmott, edited by Margo Neale

Aboriginal design is of a distinctly cultural nature, based in the Dreaming and in ancient practices grounded in Country. It is visible in the aerodynamic boomerang, the ingenious design of fish traps and the precise layouts of community settlements that strengthen social cohesion. 

Alison Page and Paul Memmott show how these design principles of sophisticated function, sustainability and storytelling, refined over many millennia, are now being applied to contemporary practices. 'Design: Building on Country' issues a challenge for a new Australian design ethos, one that truly responds to the essence of Country and its people.

About the series: Each book is a collaboration between Indigenous and non-Indigenous writers and editors; the series is edited by Margo Neale, senior Indigenous curator at the National Museum of Australia.

About the Authors:

Alison Page is a Walbanga and Wadi Wadi woman. She is an award-winning designer and film producer whose career links Indigenous stories and traditional knowledge with contemporary design. She appeared for eight years as a regular panellist on the ABC television show The New Inventors, and in 2015 was inducted into the Design Institute of Australia's Hall of Fame. She is an adjunct associate professor at the School of Design, University of Technology Sydney, and the founder of the National Aboriginal Design Agency.

Paul Memmott is a descendant of Scottish potters and painters. He has had a 50-year life experience and career working as an architect, anthropologist and agent for change with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples across Australia. He is a transdisciplinary researcher based at University of Queensland, recognising the need to join with Indigenous communities and organisations to bring transformative approaches to improving quality of lifestyle and wellbeing in the face of longitudinal disadvantage and the endeavour for self-determination. One of his books, Gunyah, Goondie + Wurley: The Aboriginal Architecture of Australia, won three national book awards.

Dimensions: H 19.7cm x W 13.1cm x D 2.2cm

ISBN: 9781760761400

Publisher: Thames and Hudson Australia Pty Ltd

Publication Date: 2021

Format: Paperback

Number of Pages: 228