Join Dowel Jones as they transform one of the National Wool Museum's galleries into a house filled with their collaborative projects, including furniture, lighting, ceramics and textiles. Entirely custom made, this exhibition is designed, developed and manufactured for the space.
Discover the Dowel Jones design process in which everyone plays a part - from manufacturers to fellow designers, emerging artists and local children, all are equal in the Dowel Jones creative community.
Dowel Jones is one of Australia's leading design studios that is made in Geelong and celebrated globally. Founded in 2014 by Adam Lynch and Dale Hardiman, this exhibition marks 10 years of this award-winning practice and celebrates their colourful, dynamic and playful approach to make furniture that is 'anything but ordinary'.
As a UNESCO City of Design and the hometown of Dowel Jones, Geelong is the ideal place to hold this exhibition. Dowel Jones has included as many people from the area as possible from local community to industry, celebrating the creativity of this City.
A literal shining light among the designs in the Ten Years of Dowel Jones exhibition is the James Street Gallery artists' entry, Arcade Pendants. Strung in a line across a section of the exhibition, the 10 pendants are wired, bulbed and lit up, bringing each of the unique works to life. For this exhibition, Dowel Jones commissioned James Street Gallery artists, to recreate the Arcade Pendant in papier-mâché and painted the pendants in their own unique styles.
The Self Portrait Rug was a major collaboration with MoPA (Museum of Play and Art) and GH Commercial, both Geelong-based businesses. In the spirit of primary school tea towels, children were asked to draw their portrait and then the images were digitally printed onto a 10 metre by two metre rug.
Nurturing their relationship with the online social media community, Dowel Jones ensures that their reach is far. Asking their social media faithful if they would like to be included in the exhibition, they received the names of 1,395 people, by way of comment, from around the world.
Names were custom-printed onto fabric in Sydney specifically for this chair and upholstered in Melbourne. The Big Friendly was designed by Australian furniture designer and artist CJ Anderson for Dowel Jones in 2020.
Greater Geelong Deputy Mayor, Anthony Aitken
The Dowel Jones story shows us how creatives and designers can thrive and build community in this industry. Geelong has a proud history of design and stories like Adam and Dale's are a big part of why the City of Greater Geelong first applied to become a UNESCO Creative Cities Network City of Design. This is exactly the sort of creativity and collaboration we strive to inspire here in Greater Geelong.
Padraic Fisher, National Wool Museum Director
We are thrilled to partner with designers Dowel Jones who are reimagining one of our galleries with furniture, lighting, ceramics and textiles. Ten Years of Dowel Jones is a masterclass in collaborative projects and excellence in modern-day craftsmanship.
Dale Hardiman, Dowel Jones
We wanted to include as many people from the area in the exhibition as possible, this isn't just about us, Dowel Jones – it's about everyone around us. There are 643 children on the rug, 1400 names on a chair, and then the collaborations – so over 2000 participants making this work, and we will be crediting them all.
Ten Years of Dowel Jones is on display at the National Wool Museum until 24 November 2024.
