2010 winner of Design NSW: Travelling Scholarship

MEDIA RELEASE: Design NSW

The 2010 winner of the Design NSW: Travelling Scholarship, presented by the Powerhouse Museum and Arts NSW in partnership with the British Council, was announced by Powerhouse Museum Director, Dr Dawn Casey.

Emerging industrial designer Tasman Munro (above) was awarded $18,000 to fund a tailored program of professional development overseas. The scholarship will allow Munro to explore opportunities in Britain and the Netherlands and to further his design studies.

Munro graduated from the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) in 2009 with first class honors in Industrial Design. He now teaches 4th year design students at UTS. He has spent the last year working for Design Lab, a consultancy which works in research and development in Indigenous communities, as well as working freelance for television manufacturing company, Baumann Meyer. He is also a freelance illustrator working on children’s pop-up books, band posters and live performance, most notably for ‘Sketch the Rhyme’ at Woodford Folk Festival in Queensland.

“This scholarship has created a huge rush of inspiration! Not only has it given me the perfect reason to contact those whom I have always looked up to, but the means to travel and learn from them directly. What a dream! I have every intention of using this opportunity to inspire creativity and honest design in any way I possibly can,” said Tasman Munro.

A committee of judges featured industry leaders: Marcus Piper, Creative Director, one8one7; Melinda Young, contemporary jeweller; Sam Spurr, Director, Interior Design - Faculty of Design, Architecture and Building, UTS; and Stephanie Pemberton, Program Director, Australian International Design Awards. Munro was selected by judges for his focus and passion about design and his particular interest in humanitarian design.

“This is the work of a true humanitarian. Tasman’s community spirit is alive and well in his designs. He channels his design talents into causes that are greatly in need of creative problem-solving and we were sincerely touched by his capacity to help people through design.

“He not only designs for worthy causes but designs appropriate to the need, purpose and function,” said Stephanie Pemberton, Program Director, Australian International Design Awards.

A further six top finalists were recognised by judges as being particularly engaged with sustainability in valuable and innovative ways. They were designers Hannah Ritchie Young and Yiying Lu, industrial designers Justine Smith and Rowen Wagner, fashion designer Kelly Elkin and typographer David Foster.

The Design NSW: Travelling Scholarship is an Arts NSW initiative, funded through the Visual Arts and Crafts Strategy, a partnership between the Australian and New South Wales Governments. The annual scholarship is open to New South Wales designers within their first five years of professional practice, working in the broad areas of product and communication design (including for the home, industry and the body). The British Council will facilitate introductions relevant to the winner's field.

Further information about the Design NSW: Travelling Scholarship can be found here.