Design: Building on Country

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 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 is chair of the National Centre of Indigenous Excellence and a director of the National Australia Day Council

Paul Memmott AO 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.

Product details:

Authors: Alison Page and Paul Memmott

Publisher: Thames & Hudson Australia

Dimensions: 131 x 22 x 197 mm

Pages: 228

Format: Paperback

Publication date: 27 April 2021

ISBN: 9781760761400