‘Regenerate – The Grasslands’ at Melbourne Design Week 2025

They’re one of our most important ecosystems, yet grasslands have been overlooked and cleared to the point of extinction.

Unsurprisingly, Australia’s First Nations communities understood, respected, and harnessed the intrinsic value of grasslands. They covered much of the continent, utilised sustainably as a food source, medicine cupboard, building supply store – and like all Country, were recognised as alive, nourishing and wise spaces.

Razed for sheep farming, ‘in what is thought to be the fastest destruction of an ecosystem in recorded history’, grasslands in Victoria have diminished to less than 1% of their original coverage. They continue to exist mostly by accident – in forgotten and in-between places, on the sides of roads and in cemeteries.

At the brink of collapse, their value has been commended by passionate ‘grassies’, land management and climate scientists alike, guided by Indigenous knowledge holders. And we’re discovering that these humble landscapes are one of earth’s powerhouses. As well as being home to numerous small reptiles, marsupials, insects and birds, diverse grass species provide drought-resistant gluten-free grain, nanofibres as strong as steel, and natural ingredients for medicine. To top all that – grasslands are also one of the most effective zones for carbon sequestration. Restoring them is key to navigating many of our climate challenges.

So this year at Melbourne Design Week, we joined the Grassy Movement – and invited everyone to come along. Visitors could take their pick from a range of installations, activities and events on offer, from botanic installations to a Grasslands Reading Lounge, film viewing station, and sneak peek of our next collection designed by Adam Goodrum.

Literary learning

Visitors young and old also enjoyed some cerebral stimulation at our Grasslands Reading Lounge, curated by transdisciplinary artist-curator, researcher Cristina Napoleone of Terrain. We collaborated with Cristina on an audio piece for our 2022 MDW ‘Recultivate’ exhibition (as you can see, our interest in these ideas has continued), and we’re delighted she’s bringing a taste of her exquisite Terrain project into our showroom. A beautiful essay by Cristina imploring us to ‘Remember The Grasslands’, was also printed within a special Grasslands booklet.

Children's book launch

Young eco-warriors joined us for a special reading and book signing of a creative non-fiction children’s book set in the enchanting grasslands of Victoria, with words and images by local authors and landscape architects May Fu, John Ravesi and Jonathan Leske. Featuring an engaging rhyming story of Billie, real life Victorian grassland photos as well as hand drawn bees, this book aims to foster an early love for the environment by encouraging future generations to cherish and protect these magical landscapes from an early age.