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Side projects provide inspiration

By administrator | 11 September 2012

SLQ’s Asia Pacific Design Library lecture series is taking a look outside the box to see what inspiration sparks when designers look beyond their day jobs.

The free fortnightly talks series, running from 19 September to 28 November, invites a diverse range of design practitioners and creative thinkers to share details of their ‘side projects’ and the influence it has on their day-to-day work.

The series takes a look at designers’ passion projects – work done outside of the speakers primary work discipline and taken on for the love of it.

Last year we invited global design leader Bruce Mau to speak at the annual Nielson Design Lecture, and one of his philosophies is that ‘it’s not about the world of design, it is about the design of the world.

Bruce has a reputation for interdisciplinary and purpose-driven design innovation, and believes the power of design is boundless and has the capacity to bring positive change on a global scale.

Through the APDL lecture series, we are building on this trajectory by exploring the influence of projects, done by designers to fuel their creativity, driven by passion.

Some of the today’s top technology companies, like Google, offer employees a significant percent of their paid work time to create ideas un-related to their usual work. This freedom has resulted in the creation of some of the company’s best-selling products.

South African Architect Peter Rich (speaking on 3 October) researches social issues and construction technology as a side project to his architecture practice in South Africa; and renowned local Architect Timothy Hill (speaking on 17 October) designs furniture outside of his primary practice work at Donovan Hill architecture.

Through a Q&A discussion, facilitated by Shane Thompson, the 2012 Queensland Smart Design Fellow, we ask how these extra-curricular activities transfer across disciplines, and how they enrich all sides of life – both work and play.

The audience will also have the opportunity to network with speakers and other design-minded guests at a post-talk function.

The APDL lecture series is supported by Arts Queensland in the Department of Science, Information Technology, Innovation and the Arts and proudly endorsed by QUEENSLANDERSIGNTM, an initiative of the Queensland Design Council.

Get the full schedule of speakers here.

When: Every Wed fortnight, 19 Sep – 28 Nov, 6pm
Where: State Library of Queensland
Tickets: Free talk (optional networking event, tickets $15, incl refreshments)
Bookings: slq.eventbrite.com 3840 7768

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