Melbourne Design Fair (MDF) is an annual 11-day program of talks, tours, exhibitions and workshops that celebrate and interrogate design through its varied disciplines, including: communication design, industrial design, service design, gaming, architecture, landscape architecture, urban design, fashion, craft and functional art. MDF is an opportunity for people within these disciplines — including designers, educators, thinkers and businesses — to come together to share ideas, show and sell new work and consider how design can be used as a force for good in an increasingly complex and precarious world.
Curation of the program is led by the NGV Department of Contemporary Design and Architecture team; Ewan McEoin, Simone LeAmon and Myf Doughty alongside Timothy Moore, Director of Sibling Architecture.
The program is curated into two streams; a program of local and international exhibitions and presentations organised by the NGV, and the Satellite Program of events and exhibitions organised by the design community.
The Satellite Program makes up 90 per cent of the program with events held at ateliers, studios, retail spaces, universities, galleries and public spaces throughout Melbourne and regional Victoria.
MDW is an initiative of the Victorian Government through Creative Victoria, and delivered by the NGV. The program is built on the enthusiastic engagement and participation of the design sector and the general public. Since 2017 the program has grown in scope and scale from just under 100 programs in 2017 to over 300 in 2021 making it Australia’s largest international design event.
