The city-wide program for Melbourne Design Week spans more than 350 events, including exhibitions, talks, tours and more. In Fitzroy and surrounds, a strong contingent of local galleries, studios and design spaces are taking part and offering thoughtful, provocative and playful contributions to the broader conversation. Here, we have rounded up a snapshot of what’s on in the neighbourhood, but there is plenty more to discover.
At the Above Presents – At the Above
At the Above transforms its Fitzroy space into a vibrant hub for Melbourne Design Week, with 10 days of exhibitions, live DJ sets, sculpture, installation and print. The lineup includes work by Annie Paxton, Dalton Stewart, IDLE, Acid Magazine and others. For the food-inclined, there’s also a three-day collaboration with Florian and legendary winemakers Penfolds (16–18 May), with a curated menu of sparkling wine and snacks available by booking.
📍 At the Above, Level 1, 198 Gertrude Street, Fitzroy | Thu 15 to Sun 25 May
Designed – HotHaus Glass Studio x Pincho Disco
This immersive event is a celebration of form and function, where the dining table becomes a creative canvas. With handmade glassware, ceramics, textiles and florals, this design-led ticketed dinner and lunch service is a feast for the senses and a reminder of the joy in slow, intentional craftsmanship. The result is a richly layered dining space that brings together some of Melbourne’s most thoughtful makers, with every element designed to be touched, tasted and remembered.
📍 Pincho Disco, 59 Cambridge Street, Collingwood | Opening night Thu 15 May
Exhibitions + Events at 47 Easey Street
This creative hub in Collingwood hosts a rich mix of design exhibitions, talks and tours throughout Design Week. Highlights include Superfabshop by Danielle Brustman Studio, Trent Jansen: Two Decades of Design Anthropology presented by Useful Objects, and Fiona Abicare: Nuts and Berries from Sarah Scout Presents. There are also several guided tours of the building’s sustainable architecture and creative studios, plus timely panel discussions on topics like repurposing in art and the intersection of street art and luxury design.
📍 47 Easey Street, Collingwood | Thu 15 to Sat 25 May (various dates)
Present Matter(s) – Christopher Boots
Hosted in the Christopher Boots showroom, Present Matter(s) brings together makers and designers working across sculpture, furniture, lighting and materials innovation. The exhibition explores sustainability through the poetic use of reclaimed materials, showcasing objects crafted from biomaterials, salvaged timber, experimental glass, seaweed-based textiles and more. Traversing design, craft and ecology, visitors are invited to rethink how materials are sourced, formed and transformed.
📍 8 Wood Street, Fitzroy | Thu 15 to Sun 25 May (panel Wed 21 May)
Objects by Fomu – Fomu Studio
Presented in the window of Friends with Frank, this refined display marks the launch of Fomu’s latest lighting range, offering a first glimpse into the studio’s evolving approach to illumination and form. Known for their clean lines and poetic materiality, Fomu draws on a design ethos rooted in function and quiet elegance. The exhibition also revisits highlights from past collections, illustrating a practice that values consistency, craft and timeless simplicity.
📍 120 Gertrude Street, Fitzroy | Thu 15 to Sun 25 May
Garniture – Oigåll Projects
Oigåll Projects presents two exhibitions in dialogue, each exploring design, craft and identity. Garniture by Cordon Salon reimagines the intricate craftsmanship of Western European plate armour through sculptural design, reflecting on the lifespan of objects and their relationship to the human body. Design House Vol. II brings together work by designers including Adriana Hanna, Tali Roth and Marsha Golemac, in a bold and personal celebration of the home as a creative and expressive space.
📍 122 Gertrude Street, Fitzroy | Garniture: Thu 15 May to Sun 1 Jun | Design House Vol. II: Wed 21 to Sun 25 May
Of Romance – Dowel Jones x Curio Practice
Welcome to a dreamy installation of pendant lighting inspired by floral symbolism and the warmth of heirloom objects, with knitted lamps filling the Dowel Jones showroom in a soft, romantic arrangement that reflects on how objects hold memory and emotion. Blending traditional techniques with local production, the collaboration pairs Dowel Jones’ refined forms with Curio Practice’s handcrafted textures, bringing together a shared expression of sustainable craft and quiet nostalgia.
📍 Dowel Jones Showroom, 404 Fitzroy Street, Fitzroy | Thu 15 to Fri 23 May
The Okayama Project – The Simple Life presented by CIBI
A quiet reflection on design, community and living well. Presented at CIBI in Collingwood, the exhibition shares the journey of creating CIBI Okayama — a new space in rural Japan shaped by nature, slowness and shared values. Through stories, objects and talks, it offers a glimpse into a different rhythm of life, where design supports daily living and replenishment, not just outcomes. A gentle reminder that beauty lies in the ordinary, and that progress can come from standing still.
📍 CIBI, 33–39 Keele Street, Collingwood | Thu 15 to Sun 25 May
Soul Clap Its Hands and Sing – Cleopatra’s Bling
This immersive exhibition reimagines jewellery as an act of repair and connection. With soundscapes, historical artefacts and handmade pieces rooted in Byzantine and Middle Eastern traditions, it’s a sensory meditation on memory, beauty and craft. Drawing on traditional techniques and centuries of cultural exchange, the works explore how jewellery carries the imprints of time, preserving stories, reimagining lost traditions and forging new links between past and present.
📍 17 Johnston Street, Collingwood | Fri 16 to Sat 24 May (selected dates)
Home. Women. Housing. – mitte.studio
This powerful exhibition of comics and illustrations explores women’s lived experiences of housing, and the political, social and personal forces that shape them. Presented in a converted warehouse space, the show brings these stories into focus and creates space for conversations around equity, identity, safety and design. By amplifying voices often excluded from public discourse, the exhibition invites reflection on housing justice and the designer’s role in shaping more inclusive futures.
📍 35–53 Emma Street, Collingwood | Fri 16 to Sat 24 May (selected days, curator talk Sat 24 May)
Life In Bloom: Floral Design for Farewells – Xflos
Led by florist Kayla Moon, this workshop invites participants to work with dead and dying blooms, exploring the emotional resonance of flowers in moments of loss, celebration and transformation. Held in a carefully curated space designed to evoke reflection and ritual, the experience offers a gentle invitation to consider the role flowers play in the most meaningful thresholds of our lives. Drawing from her experience as a hospital florist, Kayla offers a perspective that is intimate, raw and deeply human.
📍 30b Perry Street, Collingwood | Mon 19 May, 6.30 to 8 PM
In Conversation: Local Makers, Lasting Impact – Est
Hosted at the new Fitzroy & Co project in Fitzroy North, this event invites guests to explore a space shaped by local creativity and character. Begin with refreshments in the lobby before embarking on a self-guided tour through the building, from a styled apartment and resident lounge to the rooftop entertaining space, all showcasing the work of local makers. A panel discussion will feature some of the designers, artists and furniture makers whose contributions bring a distinctly local perspective to the design story.
📍 Fitzroy & Co, 249 Queens Parade, Fitzroy North | Thu 22 May, 6 to 8 PM
soft – Calum Hurley & Andy TT
Set in a transformed Fitzroy North apartment, soft is an exhibition that champions tenderness, reflection and slowness in design. Across three days, the space is reimagined daily, with new arrangements of collectable design pieces by emerging and established artists. Together, they explore vulnerability, comfort and materiality through furniture and objects. The apartment becomes a living gallery, intimate and tactile, inviting visitors to slow down and notice the quiet impact of considered design.
📍 635 Brunswick Street, Fitzroy North | Fri 23 to Sun 25 May
