Simone LeAmon

Simone LeAmon delivering the opening address at the NGVWA Annual Lecture (National Gallery of Victoria Women's Association), NGV Melbourne, August 2024.
LeAmon delivering the opening address at the NGVWA Annual Lecture (National Gallery of Victoria Women's Association), NGV Melbourne, August 2024.

Simone LeAmon
Born1971 (age 53–54)
Melbourne, Australia
NationalityAustralian
Occupation(s)Designer, Curator
TitleAdjunct Professor
Academic background
EducationVictorian College of the Arts, University of Melbourne, RMIT University
Academic work
InstitutionsRMIT University
Websitehttps://www.simoneleamon.com

Simone LeAmon is an Australian designer, artist and curator. LeAmon is currently the inaugural Hugh D.T Williamson Curator of Contemporary Design and Architecture at the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne,[1][2] and an Adjunct Professor, Design and Social Context, RMIT University, Melbourne.[3]

Early life and education

LeAmon was born in Melbourne, Australia in 1971. She graduated in 1989 from the Box Hill Institute of TAFE in Melbourne, where she received an Advanced Certificate of Art and Design. In 1992, she graduated from the Victorian College of the Arts, Melbourne University, receiving a Bachelor of Fine Art. In 2004, she received a Master of Design, through the industrial design program from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) University.

Awards

LeAmon was the recipient of the Ambassador category in the Design Anthology Awards 2024 to "recognise individuals and organisations that are actively working to change the public’s perceptions of what design in the Asia Pacific region means today".[4]

In 2023, LeAmon was included in the INDE.Awards Luminary category, which "pays tribute to the extraordinary contribution of architecture and design practitioners who have indelibly influenced their community, country, region and the world in which we live".[5]

LeAmon was awarded the prestigious Women in Design Award 2021[6] by Good Design Australia for "her life-long passion and unwavering dedication to the design profession in Australia".[7]

She was the 2009 winner of the national Cicely and Colin Rigg Contemporary Design Award,[8] National Gallery of Victoria for her Lepidoptera Chair design.[9][10]

In 2007, LeAmon was identified in the top 100 product designers in the world in the book &Fork: 100 Designers, 10 Curators, 10 Good Designs[11] (Phaidon Press, 2007) and in The Bulletin Magazine's "Smart 100: Australia’s Best and Brightest".[12]

Work and career

Lecturer, RMIT University

LeAmon is currently an Adjunct Professor in the College of Design and Social Context at RMIT University.[3] She also supervised honours students and taught product design and design history in the Industrial Design Department from 2003 to 2015 at the RMIT School of Architecture and Design.

Artist and designer

LeAmon has co-founded two design studios: n+1 equals interdisciplinary studio (1998-2003) with Charles Anderson;[13] and Simone LeAmon Design and Creative Strategy (2003-2015). Between 2013 and 2016, LeAmon also had a collaborative practice with architect Edmund Carter.[14] LeAmon's art and design practice has been applied to product and furniture design, interior design, contemporary jewellery, and speculative design.

Well known design projects by LeAmon include: the crescent design for the Australian Islamic Centre;[15][16] Lighting products for Rakumba Lighting;[17][18] Bespoke lift interiors for the Juilliard Group; Melbourne Arts Walk masterplan and design[19] for Arts Centre Melbourne; and her popular Bowling Arm bangles.[20]

Between 2007 and 2010, LeAmon was creative director for Australian manufacturer PLANEX, and was invited to present design concepts for international manufacturers Oluce and Dainese, Italy.

LeAmon's art and design work has been exhibited in solo and group exhibitions internationally, including: "Unexpected Pleasures", Design Museum London (2012); "Freestyle: New Australian Design for Living", Triennale di Milano (2008); "Anytime Soon", 1000 Eventi Milano (2005); "Quiet Collision", Viafarini Gallery Milano[21] (2003); and "MOTO Showroom", Gertrude Contemporary Arts Spaces Melbourne (2003).[22]

In 2013, LeAmon was guest curator and co-exhibition designer for the design component NGV's groundbreaking exhibition "Melbourne Now: The Design Wall" installation,[23][24][25] which featured 700 objects and 40 design projects by leading Melbourne product designers and manufacturers.

In 2015, LeAmon was appointed to the new Department of Contemporary Architecture and Design at the NGV.[26][27] The NGV department is the first of its kind for an art gallery in Australia and LeAmon has co-curated an extensive program of exhibitions and collecting of Australian and international contemporary design including the annual Melbourne Design Week.

In 2021, LeAmon was appointed curator of the inaugural Melbourne Design Fair,[28][29] organised by the National Gallery of Victoria[30] in collaboration with the Melbourne Art Foundation.

LeAmon's curatorial exhibitions at the NGV include:

  • NGV Triennial[31] (2017,[32] 2020[33] and 2023[34]);
  • Melbourne Now including the Design Wall,[35] Jewellery Now, and No House Style[36] (2023);
  • MECCA X NGV Women in Design Commission[37][38] (2023, 2024 and 2025);
  • History in the making[39] (2021);
  • Lucy McRae: Body Architect[40] (2019);
  • Black Bamboo: Contemporary Bamboo Furniture Design From Mer (2019);
  • Designing Women[41] (2018);
  • Contemporary lei and body adornment from the Torres Straits[42] (2018);
  • Creating the Contemporary Chair[43] (2017);
  • Art of the Pacific (2016);
  • Rigg Design Prize[44] in 2015, 2018 and 2022.

References

  1. ^ "NGV announces a new era in design and architecture". Australian Arts Review. 11 March 2015. Retrieved 25 January 2022.
  2. ^ Todd, Stephen (17 December 2019). "Designs of the times: 10 years at the cutting edge". Australian Financial Review. Retrieved 25 January 2022.
  3. ^ a b "RMIT University Staff Profile: Simone LeAmon". Retrieved 12 January 2021.
  4. ^ "Design Anthology Awards 2024: Announcing the Winners". Design Anthology. 27 September 2024. Retrieved 27 October 2024.
  5. ^ "2023 INDE.Awards Winners". INDE.Awards. Retrieved 27 October 2024.
  6. ^ "Introducing the 2021 Women In Design Winner". Architecture and Design. 25 October 2021.
  7. ^ "2021 WOMEN IN DESIGN AWARD – SIMONE LEAMON". Good Design Australia. 14 October 2021. Retrieved 25 January 2022.
  8. ^ "NGV ANNOUNCES SIMONE LEAMON AS THE RECIPIENT OF THE 2009 CICELY & COLIN RIGG CONTEMPORARY DESIGN AWARD". NGV. 13 March 2009. Retrieved 27 October 2024.
  9. ^ Buerckner, Chris (2 February 2010). "Lepidoptera Chair - Rigg Award 2009". COROFLOT. Retrieved 25 January 2022.
  10. ^ LeAmon, Simone (1 May 2013). "LEPIDOPTERA CHAIR". Retrieved 25 January 2022.
  11. ^ "And Fork: 100 Designers, 10 Curators, 10 Good Designs". Good Reads. 19 March 2007. Retrieved 20 January 2022.
  12. ^ Sheehy, Brett (26 June 2007). "Smart 100: Australia's Best and Brightest". The Bulletin. Special 2007 Edition.
  13. ^ "n+1 equals". CHARLES ANDERSON STUDIOS. 15 June 2015. Retrieved 22 January 2022.
  14. ^ "About Edmund Carter". Edmund Carter. 8 February 2021. Retrieved 22 January 2022.
  15. ^ Bleby, Michael (23 June 2016). "Why Glenn Murcutt insisted this Melbourne mosque have no minaret". Australian Financial Review Magazine. Retrieved 20 January 2022.
  16. ^ McDonald, Andrew (5 August 2016). "Architecture of Faith at MID". Habitus Living.
  17. ^ "Prima and Petit Ballerina". Australian Design Review. Retrieved 20 January 2022.
  18. ^ "Simone LeAmon". Rakumba Design. Retrieved 25 January 2022.
  19. ^ "Melbourne Arts Walk". Monument Australia. Retrieved 2 December 2020.
  20. ^ "Limited Over". IndesignLive. 14 August 2012. Retrieved 15 October 2021.
  21. ^ "Quiet Collision: Pratica corrente - Stile australiano, Charles Anderson, Damiano Bertoli, Marco Fusinato, Simone LeAmon, Elizabeth Pulie e Michael Zavros". Viafarini. 6 November 2013. Retrieved 20 January 2022.
  22. ^ "Simone LeAmon". gertrude.org.au. 11 July 2021.
  23. ^ "Melbourne Now Design Wall at the National Gallery of Victoria". Design Boom. 31 December 2013. Retrieved 26 October 2020.
  24. ^ Stephens, Andrew (2013). "Design Wall". The Age newspaper (interactive).
  25. ^ "Melbourne Now to return a decade on". ArchitectureAU. 8 September 2020.
  26. ^ "NGV ANNOUNCES A NEW ERA IN DESIGN AND ARCHITECTURE". NGV Media Release. 6 March 2015. Retrieved 20 January 2022.
  27. ^ Azzarello, Nina (1 September 2020). "NGV curators Simone LeAmon + Ewan McEoin on commissioning creativity for Friedman Benda's 'design in dialogue'". Designboom. Retrieved 10 January 2022.
  28. ^ Miller, Nick (2 February 2022). "It's art you can sit on: new Design Fair to push the possible". The Age. Retrieved 7 February 2022.
  29. ^ Hutson, Charlotte (1 March 2022). ""The time has come to stage such an event in Australia" – Simone LeAmon on Melbourne Design Fair". Australian Design Review. Retrieved 27 October 2024.
  30. ^ Fairley, Gina (4 February 2022). "BE IN THE KNOW: Inaugural Design Fair (VIC)". ArtsHub. Retrieved 7 February 2022.
  31. ^ Jefferson, Dee (21 October 2020). "National Gallery of Victoria anticipates post-lockdown Melbourne with announcement of NGV Triennial exhibition". ABC Arts. Retrieved 25 January 2022.
  32. ^ "NGV Triennial 2017". NGV. Retrieved 15 December 2021.
  33. ^ "NGV Triennial 2020". NGV. 15 June 2020. Retrieved 10 January 2022.
  34. ^ Amodeo, Leanne (1 February 2023). "Simone LeAmon's and Ewan McEoin's big ambitions for Australian design". INDESIGNLIVE. Retrieved 27 October 2024.
  35. ^ Yao, Christina (7 July 2023). "NGV curator picks seven highlights from 2023 Melbourne Now's Design Wall". Dezeen. Retrieved 27 October 2024.
  36. ^ Heffernan, Shanley (21 April 2023). "'Creative pluralism': No House Style at Melbourne Now". Architecture, Au. Retrieved 27 October 2024.
  37. ^ LeAmon, Simone (10 November 2022). "MECCA x NGV Women in Design Commission | Tatiana Bilbao". NGV. Retrieved 27 October 2024.
  38. ^ Berrill, Sophie (3 October 2024). "Wool waste the focus of Christien Meindertsma's MECCA x NGV Women in Design Commission". Australian Design Review. Retrieved 27 October 2024.
  39. ^ "History in the making". NGV. 15 May 2021. Retrieved 27 October 2024.
  40. ^ "LUCY MCRAE: BODY ARCHITECT". NGV. 1 August 2019. Retrieved 16 November 2021.
  41. ^ Edgar, Ray (21 September 2018). "Celebrating female design prowess". Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 25 January 2020.
  42. ^ LeAmon, Simone (1 December 2017). "Contemporary lei and body adornment from the Torres Strait Islands". Garland Magazine. Retrieved 1 November 2021.
  43. ^ "CREATING THE CONTEMPORARY CHAIR: THE GORDON MOFFATT GIFT". NGV. 17 March 2017. Retrieved 25 January 2021.
  44. ^ Feagins, Lucy (3 November 2015). "Rigg Design Prize 2015". The Design Files. Retrieved 25 January 2022.