Design Conversations

Mimmo Cozzolino reflects on his journey from Herculaneum, Italy, to becoming a celebrated Australian graphic designer, describing how his birthplace instilled a deep respect for history that later led him to create the book Symbols of Australia and pursue a career bridging design and cultural heritage. See the full show notes for more details.

Robyn Lindsey is an interior and experience designer with over four decades of practice across retail, corporate, hospitality and residential sectors. She studied Interior Design at RMIT and holds an MBA in Entrepreneurial Studies from Swinburne. From 1990 she spent three decades at Geyer Design, progressing to Director and Partner and serving as Global Strategy and Design Leader overseeing the firm’s expansion into Asia. In 2021 she established her own independent practice. She was recognised with a Lifetime Achievement in the 2020 Architecture and Design Sustainability Awards. See the full show notes for more details.

In this episode of Design Conversations, Geoff chats with Louise Dann, a globally experienced strategic planner and designer, about her remarkable journey through the world of Australian and international design. See the full show notes for more details.

Rina Cohen is an interior designer who has been in practice for more than thirty years, and is an award winning designer specialising in the field of residential design. She is a Fellow of the Design Institute of Australia and winner of the KBDI Certified Designer of the Year in 2023. See the full show notes for more details.

Colin Wood was the legendary publisher of Design World, a major publication on design issues between 1983–1995. It was a roller coaster ride that was to spawn Design Ink. Currently Colin publishes the Art & Design Education Resource Guide, and the next publication will be the 41st edition. See the full show notes for more details.

Dario Zoureff is a pre-eminent interior and furniture designer, with a memorable catalogue of residential and commercial furniture designed over several decades. He was born in Vienna in the 1930s and came to Australia at the age of nine. He studied interior design at the Royal Melbourne Technical College in the 1950s, and began a sixty-year practice thereafter. See the full show notes for more details.

Phillip Zmood studied Industrial Design at RMIT, and began his career with General Motors Corporation in 1965 as a designer. Soon after he became the General Manager of the Mid/Luxury Car Division of Holden/GM International Operations (USA) leading and contributing to future design programs. See the full show notes for more details.

Mary Featherston, together with her husband Grant, have been seminal figures in Australian Design, delivering high-profile projects over decades in mid-century Australia. Mary has been celebrated in the field of children’s early-learning environments, working with schools, childcare centres and museums, and she continues as a consultant and advocate in this sphere. See the full show notes for more details.

Jeffrey Newman is an industrial designer, who trained in the fourth intake of students for the Industrial Design Diploma at RMIT in the mid 1950s. Jeff established his initial freelance design practice immediately after graduation, and later, following a period at Thorn Electrical, he eventually accepted a position in Myer Store Planning under Don Ward. See the full show notes for more details.

David Terry trained in Industrial Design at RMIT, and then under architect Don Ward at Myer, where he made major contributions to the development of Myer Chadstone and then to Farmers in Sydney. David was engaged by the Industrial Design Council of Australia for several years and eventually became a State Director. See the full show notes for more details.