Officially launched in September 2005, Design Island is a new triennial program aimed at raising the profile of Tasmania's design sector. Wearing an outfit created entirely by local designers, Arts Minister Lara Giddings introduced the initiative as an important stepping-stone for young designers to gain exposure and make contact with key industry figures. A defining feature of Design Island is a focus on partnerships and bridging the gap between making and selling work. "The new Design Island program will build and strengthen industry partnerships with the support of educators, arts organisations, the private sector and relevant government bodies", Ms. Giddings said.

Expanding on the previous success of Young Designers Month, an annual showcase of Tasmanian design talent, artist talks and workshops, Design Island begins its three-year line up in 2006 with Beneath the Surface. Centred on an exhibition of work by emerging Tasmanian designers, Beneath the Surface brings together practitioners from around the state to participate in a series of design related events acknowledging the themes of isolation and regionalism.

Featuring the work of eleven designers in the first five years of their professional practice, Beneath the Surface opens on May 5th at Mawson Place, Waterside Pavilion. Centrally located on Hobart's tourist friendly cultural precinct Constitution Dock, Mawson Place provides maximum exposure and invites relaxed interaction between designer and audience. Selected by judges Brian Parkes, Associate Director of Object - Australian Centre for Craft and Design; Fred Ward of 1 + 2 Architecture and Graphic Designer, Lynda Warner, the works in Beneath the Surface offer a high level of creativity and originality. Experimentation is a key component and the judges actively sought out fresh conceptual approaches to craft and design practice. The result is a tightly honed exhibition encompassing furniture, jewellery, fashion, objects, architecture and the moving image.

Jewellery and fashion design stands out this year with a number of designers exhibiting work for the first time. Among those selected is Natalie Holtsbaum, a practicing goldsmith quickly becoming well known in Hobart craft circles. Her distinctive jewellery devoted to the petite forms of birds utilises sterling silver, copper, textiles and porcelain to great effect. Elegant and curvaceous, the tiny birds are outlined with a slick of silver, their chests flushed with brightly coloured fabric. Attached to a necklace or fashioned into a brooch, Holtsbaum's birds embody a sense of freedom in their simple, evocative approach to design.

A former resident of Sydney, Linda van Niekerk creates wearable sculptural forms inspired by her chosen materials. For Beneath the Surface, van Niekerk has produced a confident series of neck rings conjured from the sinuous goo of faux tortoise shell and casein knitting needles. Looking beyond the dictates of fashion, she strives to create timeless pieces that 'encourage the wearer to be bold and walk tall'. Enthused by the opportunities on offer during Design Island, van Niekerk is quick to praise the Hobart arts community and its encouragement of craftspeople and designers. "They have been amazingly welcoming and have made me feel that relocating from Sydney was one of the smartest moves I have made".

Taking her cue from Japanese aesthetics, textile and fashion designer Leonie Struthers combines elements of Asian design with contemporary natural fibres to produce garments of unassuming beauty. Using the minimal form of an apron dress, Struthers has hand appliquéd a traditional print of fish around the base of the fabric, giving her design a contrasting blend of movement and stability. Describing her work as the antithesis of contemporary western fashion, Struthers structures her pieces around the two-dimensional nature of cloth and the three-dimensional form of the body.

Also included in the exhibition are Simon Ancher, illuminati, Poppy Taylor, Justy Phillips and James Newitt, Belinda Marquis, Kiyomi Reid, Rebecca Coote and Futago.

A series of public forums with established designers and industry professionals will run parallel to the exhibition and speakers include Sydney based fashion designer Alistair Trung; New Zealand jeweller, Warwick Freeman; writer Peter Timms and marketing consultant Zenon Pasieczny. Designed to educate and inspire, the forums give designers access to a wide breadth of knowledge and experience - an essential opportunity when living in a geographically isolated state like Tasmania. Continuing in Hobart until May 21st, Beneath the Surface tours to Launceston's Design Centre from May 26th - June 11th.

A new feature of this year's program is an exclusive three-day workshop for Beneath the Surface exhibition participants. Held at the remote Bay of Fires Lodge on Tasmania's picturesque East Coast, Behold & Note will be led by Finnish designer, Harri Koskinen. Travelling by bus to Eddystone Point (a place of great significance to the Tasmanian Aboriginal community), participants will then trek on foot to the Lodge. Designed by Australian architect Ken Latona (also a speaker at the forums), the Lodge is the only building on a 20km stretch of pristine bush coastline. Solar powered and environmentally sustainable, Latona's award-winning Lodge will offer Beneath the Surface participants the chance to learn from a master craftsman while taking in the possibilities of remote locations.

Paving the way for subsequent Design Island events, Beneath the Surface unearths new voices in the design arena and encourages emerging designers in the early stages of their career to take the next step. Learning from the 2006 program, designers will be given the opportunity to submit work to New Horizons in 2007. Again focussed on an exhibition by local designers, New Horizons will tour Tasmania and selected locations around Australia. With continued exposure to new and far reaching audiences, the profile of Tasmania's designers will continue to grow further in 2008 when the final instalment of Design Island, Crossing Hemispheres, takes the cream of emerging and established Tasmanian designers to an international audience. Coordinated by design virtuoso Pippa Dickson, Design Island promises to be one of the most anticipated events on Tasmania's cultural calendar.

Briony Downes

Briony Downes is a Hobart-based arts and design writer. She regularly contributes to Object, Australian Art Review and Art & Australia.