program
Melbourne Design Week | Tactile Dialogues: Fragments of Matter Exhibition
Tactile Dialogues: Fragments of Matter invites audiences to experience fragmentation as both material and concept. A space where new forms, partial views, and traces of thought become the starting point for dialogue, curiosity, and reflection.
The installation encourages mindful, embodied engagement asking audiences to listen, feel and observe. Through a choreography of touch, trace and transformation, Tactile Dialogues: Fragments of Matter investigates material temporality and proposes design as a living, unfinished practice.
Melbourne Design Week is an initiative of Creative Victoria, Supported by National Gallery of Victoria.
Melbourne Design Week | Tactile Dialogues:Fragments of Matter Opening Dinner
On opening night (Thursday 14 May 2026), guests are invited to a unique and ephemeral dining experience that extends the tactile dialogue into taste and scent. Fragments of flavour and aroma unfold alongside the material works, expanding the sensory field.
Visitors move through a constellation of tactile encounters: surfaces that freeze time in liquid-form patterning, timber forms that offer calm, ceramic fragments that invite curiosity, glass that captures and refracts light, and edible elements that dissolve or transform with touch.
Extending the exhibition’s exploration of materiality into the sensory realm, the program includes an intimate dining experience on opening night (Thursday 14 May) created in collaboration with North Melbourne restaurant Manzé. The ephemeral dinner will explore fragments of flavour, scent and texture alongside the material works on display.
By Invitation only.
Melbourne Design Week | Tactile Dialogues panel talk–The alchemy of making
What happens in the hours before an object is finished? The trials and failures, the moments where a material pushes back against the maker's hand?
As part of Tactile Dialogues: Fragments of Matter, this panel discussion brings together designers and makers working at the intersection of craft, process and material. The conversation will unpack what it means to experiment with new materials – and why the knowledge gained from that process is one of the most compelling opportunities in contemporary design and sustainability.
From the relationship between handcrafting and industrialisation, to emerging materials and the future of collectable design, this talk will trace what gets lost when we only see the finished object – and what we stand to gain by taking a closer look.
Hosted by Aleesha Callahan, founder of About Futures, a magazine about the future of sustainable design. Panellists include:
Nick McDonald of Made by Morgen
Other Matter
and further guests to be announced
Ticket Required (Panel Access AU$20 /Concession AU$12)
Melbourne Design Week 2025 Tactile Dialogues Wrap Up
Dear Friends,
As we gently close the doors on Tactile Dialogues, our hearts are full of gratitude for the incredible journey we've shared during Melbourne Design Week 2025. Your presence, enthusiasm, and support transformed our exhibition into a truly memorable experience.
The opening night unfolded like a shared dream—each visitor, artist, and maker contributing to a collective narrative of creativity and connection. We're profoundly grateful to the talented makers who joined us on this journey, illuminating our space with their vision and passion. For a visual recap of the night, you can watch the video here:
Over the course of ten days, we welcomed nearly 2,000 visitors. The response from the design community was overwhelming, and we hope you left feeling as inspired as we did.
A special thank you to all the artists and makers and to all our generous sponsors.
Feel free to revisit our Instagram page to connect with all of the makers @tactile_dialogues
