The inaugural Melbourne Design Festival will be a ten-day long celebration of design for designers and the public from 8-17 July, 2005.

The Melbourne Design Festival will include a number of exhibitions, events and seminars in recognition of Australian design across all disciplines from graphic, fashion, multi-media, interior to architecture, jewellery, furniture and landscape design, amongst others.

The theme of this year's Festival, beauty rich and rare, will provide the inspiration for the Festival's major exhibition, the 1st Australian Poster Annual which will be held at the atrium at Federation Square. This exhibition will feature 50 posters selected by a small international panel of distinguished poster designers, following an open invitation to Australian designers and artists to respond to a set brief. Further posters will be displayed at various sites throughout Melbourne's city streets during the Festival.

One of the first events on the Festival calendar will be the launch of the Festival's new home, the National Design Centre at Federation Square. The National Design Centre will be Australia's first major design resource centre and will offer a wide range of services to designers, industry and the public.

"The Melbourne Design Festival aims to make design accessible to everyone," said Festival Director, Kathy Demos. "It brings together industry, designers and business but it is also about involving everyone in the community who has an interest in design. It's a celebration of the achievements of Australian design."

Building on her experiences as the Festival Director of the State of Design Festival in 2004, Kathy Demos has developed a program of events for the inaugural Melbourne Design Festival that will continue to recognise the high calibre and diversity of Australian design.

Other events planned for the Festival include:

• The Milan Award 2005, an exhibition at BMW Edge showcasing a group of young Australian designers selected for exhibition at the prestigious Triennale di Milano in 2005;
• ReadyMadeMarket - a huge success in 2004, this free-to-the-public designer market will feature stalls held by Melbourne's most prestigious designers and design retailers, and will be held at Federation Square carpark on Sunday 10 July;
• Design Landscapes, an exhibition in up to 40 shop windows throughout Melbourne in response to the Festival's theme beauty, rich and rare;
• Design Circuit, a self guided tour through showrooms in various design precincts; and
• The Melbourne Creative Forums - the major business event of the Festival, the Forums - which will cover a range of subjects, will explore the links between design and business using global and local case studies.

For a full program of events and further information regarding the Melbourne Design Festival 2005 please visit