The Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences will showcase its design and technology collection through a compelling new exhibition at the Powerhouse Museum from 15 August 2014 to 11 October 2015.

To be held as part of Sydney Design 2014, the exhibition ‘Interface: people, machines, design’ will be hosted at the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney.

Interface will trace the evolution of iconic products designed and manufactured by world-leading brands, including Olivetti, Braun and Apple. Citing the example of the mobile phone that progressed from the heavy object of a few decades ago to the sleek multifunctional device of today as best representing the evolution of technology and design, Minister for the Arts, Troy Grant commented that the exhibition was a fine example of the way the Museum’s collection could communicate the history of technological innovation.

The Museum’s collection contains many technological items that are beautiful and elegant yet their designers remain anonymous to this day in contrast to the cult status enjoyed by contemporary designers. Interface pays homage to designers past and present and explores their philosophies and inspirations. The exhibition also reveals how many design methods from 50 years ago have stood the test of time and remain influential in object design today.

Some of the design visionaries included in the exhibition are Dieter Rams, the German industrial designer who was Braun’s design visionary; Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak co-founders of Apple; Doug Engelbart a seminal figure of computer interface design; Olivetti designers Marcello Nizzoli, Ettore Sottsass and Mario Bellini; the early Apple designs from Hartmut Esslinger who helped shape Apple's transformation into a global brand and current designer Sir Jonathan Ive.

Apart from coveted pieces from the 20th century such as a rare Apple I computer, one of Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak’s Blue Box phones from the early 1970s, and a Xerox Alto computer that Steve Jobs saw working in the Xerox labs in the late 1970s, one can see examples of typewriters, radios, telephones and computers up to the present day digital media players, smart phones and tablets.

A new catalogue developed in conjunction with the Interface exhibition takes a broader look at the evolution of information technology design and includes an exclusive interview with revered architect and designer Mario Bellini as well as essays by curator Campbell Bickerstaff, design academic Jesse Adams Stein and technology journalist Seamus Byrne.

Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences Director, Rose Hiscock describes Interface as a rich and inspiring story of the extraordinary designers who revolutionised technology design in the 20th century, and whose influence continues to shape modern living.