Saturday in Design // Melbourne, 2012.

It was that time of year again when those vague “I’ll drop into the showroom sometime” promises finally come to fruition and designers gorge on concerning doses of baked goods, cheese, wine and champagne while perusing a range of local and international products. Yes, last Saturday, Melbourne hosted this year’s Saturday in Design event.

For those who aren’t local or those who were not brave enough to face the gloom that was Melbourne’s weather, here’s a little round up of the day’s events.

Standouts for me included Corporate Culture and Jardan whose juicy range of freshly launched products deserve a blog post on their own. Zuster and Insitu both had the most striking styling, as did Jardan. Hassell’s black balloon installation for Space was the most intriguing and How We Create was just plain fun.

Fellow Saturday in Design go-ers, what did you see and love?

–Ella.

Insitu went hard with the colour blocking, creating perfectly styled environments by V Arch.

Jardan temporarily relocated to the stunning space at Rokeby Studio. It was a mix of old favourites and plenty of new products, all flawlessly styled.

Another Melbourne local, Tait , relaunched their brand, dropping the “outdoor” part of the name and releasing new wire chairs “The Volley” alongside new planters.

Zuster’s Melbourne made furniture and joinery were my favourite last SiD. Some killer styling on the top floor in black, white and neon ensured it didn’t disappoint this year.

After lusting over Gubi’s catalogue, it was a treat to see Gubi pieces launched in the flesh at Corporate Culture.

Poltrona Frau at Corporate Culture.

At Great Dane, corded seats were assembled throughout the day and later auctioned. Leather upholstery remnants were made into wrist straps in the showroom. There was more to see here but my photography failed me. Boo.

Hassell’s installation of cascading black balloons for Space.

Clare Cousins paired up with Temperature Design to create this outdoor festive fringed curtain so I could momentarily forget that my boots were not soaking wet. Shorter lengths of ribbon with “wishes” were used to enter the door prize. I’m not sure who wrote the wishes but they made me giggle. So true.

Viabizzuno temporary space by Geyer.

Signature Floorconcepts shredded their products into little confetti pieces for their colourful photobooth.

Custom carpets and rugs by Tappeti.

Interface commissioned six artists and designers to create installations using their products. The work of Suters (left) and Emma Coulter (right) pictured above.

An undulating sculpture using EchoPanel and a layered wall using fabrics from Woven Image.

No disrespect to chilled water but it must be pretty tough to make chilled water dispensers seem vaguely fun. Studio Equator’s installation for Zip Industries was drawing in the crowds. I even spotted people dancing in there.

Zenith and Godfrey Hirst teamed with Rothe Lowman to create this geometric, hyper-coloured space.

Lighting designer Christopher Boots and furniture designer Ross Gardam at the DQ Collective. If you haven’t been to Christopher Boots’ website, go now.

Checked out Oblica to see those fireplaces I keep specifying and that keep getting cut out. One day. Gorgeous greenery by Glasshaus.

New talent was exhibited at Launch Pad including the delicately detailed “Tryst” stool by Tate Anson (left), “Ida Side Table” by Campbell Yule and Anastasia Tubert and “Unfold Desk” by David Harwick.

An emerging artist sketching for ChairBiz as part of their “Artists at Work” program. Somewhere between the twenty two showrooms I’ve lost her name…anyone know?

The How we Create open air precinct. The vibe was like a mini music festival, but replace instruments with machines that make moulded cups, metal bowls and turned timber. The makers gave these out to the visitors.

[Photos by Ella Leoncio for yellowtrace.]