Fringe Furniture 2011 winners

Fringe Furniture at the Melbourne Fringe acts as a little bit of an alternative to the usual theatre, dance and hotchpotch of silliness that goes with an open access festival. With awards in design ranging from the most market ready to the most sustainable, this event has become an accurate and relevant barometer for emerging talent, trends and ideas in interior design and architecture.

From its tame beginnings in the eighties as a chance to express the creatively repressed designers working out of their garden sheds, in its 27th year the event is an integral part of the calender. And being, like all other aspects of the fringe, open access, everyone's in with a chance to get their pieces to the next level.

The theme that Creative Producer for the Melbourne Fringe Neal Harvey has given for this year's Fringe Furniture, is for entrants to be inspired by Bruce Springsteen's Dancing in the Dark. With 45 designers throwing their hats in, the winners have been announced:

Award for Sustainable and Waste-Wise Design Winner: AIR by Dale Hardiman and Andre Hnatojko

Lighting Design Award Winner: Spring Collection III by Sally Mill

Emerging Designer Award Winner: Tri by Elizabeth Bowtell

Best Design Addressing the 2011 Fringe Furniture Theme Award Winner: Spring Collection II by Sally Mill

For the first time, Fringe Furniture has partnered with Abbotsford Convent to show its wares, and the exhibition will run until 8 October.

Fringe Furniture
Dancing in the Dark: Small Solutions to Big Problems
Abbotsford Convent, 1 St Heliers Street, Abbotsford
22 September – 8 October, Thursday – Sunday 11:00am – 5:00pm