The 2012 Top 4x4: Design Sydney vs Design Melbourne is the seventh of the Design Institute of Australia’s annual and iconic Top 10x10 series.

For the first time, two design luminaries from Sydney and two from Melbourne will meet at the podium to present four Design Icons, Spaces, Identities and Secrets from their city.

Cross border rivalry will be suspended as each designer reveals how their passion for design is fed by their city at this fast paced, highly visual event hosted by Schiavello.

Date: Thursday 9 August 2012

Time: 6:00pm

Location: Schiavello Melbourne Showroom — Metropol, 8 Whiteman Street Southbank

Facing off:

Michael Chijoff is the founder of Melbourne based industrial design consultancy Chijoff+Co. He brings an extensive background covering areas of product design and development, design education through to production, supply chain and logistics.

Mike is a strong believer in collaboration and works closely with clients, staff, suppliers and networks creating new thinking across a variety of industries. He has been awarded local and international awards for his designs and is actively engaged in promoting design.

In short, Mike loves to build stuff, figure it out and make it work.

Russel Koskela is a co-founder of Sydney based Koskela and trained as an interior designer. He always had a passion for furniture design which he started to explore when working on the MLC project whilst at Lend Lease and then Bligh Voller Nield.

Russel started Koskela in 2000 with his partner Sasha Titchkosky.

Koskela’s motto is ‘Follow your heart, trust your judgement, do it with joy.’

Bill Dowzer is a Principal at BVN Architecture. He is the NSW Studio Director and recently led the design team on the Sulman Award winning Ravenswood School Library.

Bill has experience across an eclectic group of projects and has a specific reputation for creative thinking in workplace and educational environmental design. His design process incorporates a high degree of user consultation to develop bespoke architectural solutions and sustainable strategies for a diverse group of clients.

Bill’s work offers an insight into design agility and his contribution to the 4 x 4 series will offer a twist on place as he has led design projects in both Sydney and Melbourne.

Jack Musset is the Creative Director and Principal of Motherbird in Melbourne. This creative outfit consists of 3 young designers, Jack Musset, Chris Murphy & Dan Evans. They have worked with a variety of clients including; MTV, Qantas, Warner Music, Chunky Move, Billy Blue School of Design and Positive Posters.

Motherbird specialise in brand identity, print design, image making, packaging and environmental signage. In 2010 they were awarded the Australia-wide ‘Spirit of Youth Award’ (SOYA), which resulted in a mentorship with past Young Guns winner Deanne Cheuk.

Motherbird are active members of the design community, contributing regularly to national and international design publications, most recently being commissioned to design the cover of Computer Arts Magazine Issue #199. For the past two years they've been on the council for the Australian Graphic Design Association (AGDA).

The DIA promotes the value of professional design and designers to industry, business, government and the community through its State Branches. The Victoria Branch focuses on the needs and interests of local designers, running a range of activities including seminars, awards programs and networking opportunities, varying from design discipline specific to multi-disciplinary audiences.

For event details and to book tickets go to www.design.org.au/top4x4

Architecture & Design Team

Design-Sydney-vs-Design-Melbourne-Top-4x4-1736090188.png

Let’s connect!