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.