Fish Creek artist weaves Gippsland farm waste into Geelong design fair

FARM waste will become fine design in Geelong next month when Fish Creek artist Sarah Parkes brings a large woven work of silage wrap and hay bale netting to the inaugural Victorian Regional Design Fair.

Working as Smalltown from a converted shed on her farm, Ms Parkes is one of more than 50 designers, studios and creative businesses from Greater Geelong and regional Victoria in the free four-day fair at the new Nyaal Banyul Geelong Convention and Event Centre.

“I’m presenting a large woven work made from remnant silage wrap and hay bale netting – materials that feel distinctly Gippsland,” she said.

“The Fair is a fantastic opportunity to showcase the incredible designers and creatives working across Regional Victoria.

“The Fair provides valuable visibility for regional designers, while creating opportunities for connection and exchange, which are so important to our creative communities.”

Ms Parkes founded Smalltown in 2008 and made her name with large-scale knotted rope installations for commercial interiors and private homes in Australia and overseas, including a 22-metre rope screen knotted on site at the Hyatt Regency in Sydney.

She has since turned to agricultural waste such as silage wrap, hay bale netting and baling twine.

Those works featured in Bacchus, a South Gippsland Shire Council ArtCube exhibition that opened at Fleet Wines in Leongatha in June before a winter season at Coal Creek in Korumburra.

She is not the only local on the bill, with South Gippsland’s IS Architecture and Olivia O’Connor also exhibiting alongside Gippsland’s Cindy Tong and East Gippsland’s Green Studio and Dianne Howlett.

The fair is the flagship of Geelong Design Week, which runs from October 1 to 11 with more than 100 exhibitions, workshops, talks, tours and performances across Australia’s only UNESCO City of Design.

Work on show will range from furniture, fashion, textiles and ceramics to architecture, landscape design and advanced manufacturing.

A pop-up shop will stock more than 100 locally designed and manufactured products, while a timeline will trace more than 60,000 years of design and innovation in Djilang, the Wadawurrung name for Geelong.

The 14 talks across three days range from sustainable housing, First Nations design and circular fashion to artificial intelligence.

They include a City of Greater Geelong session on how artificial reefs and nature-based infrastructure can reduce coastal erosion, a pressing issue at Inverloch.

City of Greater Geelong chief executive Ali Wastie said the fair would open doors for regional designers.

“The inaugural Fair will connect regional designers with industry and new audiences, helping turn four days in Geelong into relationships and opportunities that last,” Ms Wastie said.

The fair opens with an invitation-only industry launch on Thursday October 1, then runs from 9am to 9pm on Friday October 2, 10am to 6pm on Saturday October 3 and 10am to 3pm on Sunday October 4.

Entry is free and details are at www.geelongdesignweek.com.au.