Fashion, craft and design lovers are in for a treat as a plethora of exhibitions and programs showcase the best in contemporary practices across Australia across 2025.
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Exhibitions
JamFactory Adelaide (SA)
Currently showing at JamFactory is an exhibition of six South Australian studio glass artists, Gathering Light, running until 30 March. The 2024 JamFactory ICON series celebrates Julie Blyfield, jewellery and metal smith whose practice is inspired by her research into botanical specimens. Blyfield’s exhibition, Chasing a Passion, runs until 2 March. From 13 February to 30 March, JamFactory will showcase glass artworks from the Chihuly Studio.
Design Tasmania (Tas)
Coming up at Design Tasmania in Hobart is Tasmania Makes 25, featuring 17 Tasmanian designer-makers, running from 24 January to 25 May. Works have been developed throughout 2024 in workshops facilitated by Simon Ancher Studios and dot.
Material cause: art x textiles in Bendigo Art Gallery’s collection (Vic)
Opening on 27 January at the Bendigo Art Gallery and running until 31 July is an exhibition highlighting innovative artistic collaborations between fashion designers and visual artists, in conjunction with the recent establishment of the Australian Fashion Collection. A new acquisition of works by multidisciplinary artist and deisgner, Jordan Gogos, will feature in the show. Part of PayPal Melbourne Fashion Festival’s 2025 Independent Program.
Ceramics and textile exhibitions at AGWA (WA)
The Art Gallery of WA is currently exhibiting Sandra Black: Holding light featuring a survey of the WA ceramicist’s practice, and Julia Gutman, life in the third person, an artist with an experimental textile practice. Both exhibitions run until 16 February.
Canberra Glassworks (ACT)
Designer and artist Martyn Thompson is showing a selection of glass vessels at Canberra Glassworks until 23 March, followed by solo exhibitions of designer Tom Fereday and glassmaker Katie-Ann Houghton (3 April to 8 June), Walgalu/Wiradjuri artist Aidan Hartshorn (10 June to 10 August), designer Will Lynes (21 August to 26 October), Bronte Cormican-Jones (21 August to 26 October) and established glass artist Gabriella Bisetto (6 November to 25 January 2026).
Craft Victoria (Vic)
Craft Victoria’s annual graduate showcase, Fresh! 2025, will open from 1 February to 8 March, featuring Afra Kullu, Qianxu Li, Lucinda Johnson-Cornes, Yueyun Chen, Dee Robinson, Indigo Stuart and Lachlan Vasic. Fables & Folklore and I Forgot My Keys, So I Climbed Through The Window in the Vitrine Gallery, are currently on view until 25 January.
Sabbia Gallery (NSW)
An exhibition of new works in glass by Holly Grace will open from 1-22 February. Geography of Place is both a personal journey and a personal memoir. Running concurrently is a solo exhibition of sculptural works in ceramics by Rona Panangka Rubuntja, Atha era irna arama – All The Things I Seen – Ntaria to India. Sabbia Gallery’s 20th Anniversary Exhibition is on from 5-29 March, followed by solo exhibitions of Greg Daly and Nick Mount (9 April to 3 May), Emma Varga and Cathy Franzi (14 May to 17 June), Jeffery Mincham AM and Annette Blair (18 June to 12 July), and more.
Australian Design Centre (NSW)
Vipoo Srivilasa’s exhibition re/JOY, John Tuckwell Porcelain and Crafted Liberation, which celebrates Iranian Women’s resilience, runs until 19 February.
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artisan Brisbane (Qld)
Conroy Butter Factory – Exit Through the Teapot features ceramics by artists and craft and design practitioners, curated by Michael Ciavarella and Jordan Neal. A selection of 50 hand-crafted teapots will be on view from 28 January to 1 March.
Craft and Design Canberra (ACT)
Craft and Design Canberra kicks off its 2025 program with The Omega Series and 2025 Emerging Contemporaries, with both exhibitions opening on 20 February until 5 April. On 10 April, Craft and Design Canberra will open its Artists in Residence Exhibition, featuring Michelle England, Lynn Flemons and Emma Rani Hodges. Up next are Precarious Proximity, Transformation Studies, to be both free and safe, The Presence of Time | Gray St Studio + JamFactory, and wrapping out the year is its 2025 Annual Members Exhibition.
Back to Black at Saumarez Homestead (NSW)
Discover the different meanings of black in fashion through a selection of items spanning more than 100 years at Back to Black, an exhibition at the historic Saumarez Homestead showing from 2 March to 29 June. Pieces by well-known Australian and international designers will demonstrate the myriad ways the colour has been used in garments and their social, cultural context.
Know My Name: Kee, Jackson and Delaunay at NGA (ACT)
The National Gallery of Australia will open a new iteration of its Know My Name exhibition series from 22 March, this time showcasing two Australian fashion designers, Linda Jackson and Jenny Kee, in conversation with works by international artist Sonia Delaunay. The iconic and vibrant early designs of Kee and Jackson from the 1970s and early 1980s were directly inspired by the dynamic legacy of Delaunay, who was a member of the School of Paris and co-founder of Orphism, an art movement noted for its use of intense colours and abstract, geometric forms.
Martin Grant at The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia (Vic)
Australia fashion icon Martin Grant, whose clients have included Cate Blanchett, Lee Radziwill, Naomi Campbell, Juliette Binoche and Lady Gaga, will receive a major exhibition as the NGV from 28 March to 26 January 2026. Exhibited designs span from the mid-1980s in Melbourne through to the early 1990s when he re-established his eponymous label in Paris, to his most recent collections.
Kimono at NGV International (Vic)
The National Gallery of Victoria will host an exhibition exploring the Japanese kimono and how it has inspired global art, design and fashion since the mid-19th century. Garments, paintings, posters, woodblock prints, magazines and decorative arts will be on display from 4 June to 5 October.
Events
Craft + Design Canberra Festival 2024 (ACT)
While the Festival kicked off in 2024, there is still time to catch several exhibitions that run into the new year. Nathan Nhan | That All Just Happened, featuring ceramic vessels, is on view until 26 January, while Hiroe and Cornell Swen: Making a Creative Life and How Soon is Now? | Bruce Reynolds runs until 16 March. All at Canberra Museum and Gallery. At Canberra Contemporary Art Space, catch an exhibition by Pattern Recognition, celebrating female and non-binary artists from the region who use abstraction and design principles to explore colour perception and spatial relationships, on view until 25 January.
PayPal Melbourne Fashion Festival (Vic)
Over 80 grassroots events will feature in PayPal Melbourne Fashion Festival’s 2025 Independent Program, including around 30 free events across Melbourne and regional Victoria. Running from 22 February to 8 March, the Festival showcases premium runways, fashion industry talks, screenings, exhibitions and participatory workshops. Highlights include performance installation All Dolled Up, ‘Opening the Atelier: The Art of Australian Fashion’ lecture, Stitchin’ Stories: Blak & Threadly exhibition, the National Graduate Showcase x Emporium Melbourne runway and more.
Australian Fashion Week (NSW)
The Australian Fashion Council has teamed up with Destination NSW to produce the 2025 Australian Fashion Week, returning to Carriageworks from 12-16 May. Details of the program will be announced later in the year, including the Australian Fashion Conference, designer shows, industry activations, showrooms, and the Australian Fashion Awards in November.
Melbourne Design Week (Vic)
Applications are now open for Melbourne Design Week (MDW), a major annual event on Australia’s design calendar running from 15-25 May. The 2025 theme is ‘Design the world you want’, asking designers, architects and creatives to explore the capacity for design to transform existing paradigms and create a better tomorrow. MDW takes place across ateliers, studios, retail spaces, universities, galleries, gardens and public spaces throughout Melbourne and regional Victoria.
Cairns Indigenous Art Fair Fashion Performance (Qld)
Cairns Indigenous Art Fair (CIAF) returns 11-13 July, including its flagship fashion performance showcasing First Nations talent. The 2025 fashion performance theme is ‘Look and Listen’, derived from CIAF’s 2025 program theme, ‘Pay Attention!’. Designer EOIs are now open.
Country to Courture and the National Indigenous Fashion Awards (NT)
Country to Couture 2025 will return to Larrakia Country on 5 August, alongside the National Indigenous Fashion Awards and Darwin Aboriginal Art Fair. The annual showcase of First Nations textiles and fashion design builds on the growing textile design movement in remote Indigenous communities, and has been presented alongside the art fair since 2016. Programming details to be announced.
Australian Wearable Art Festival 2025 (Qld)
Gaultier meets Picasso each year at the Australian Wearable Art Festival on the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, over 8-9 August. Now in its fifth edition, designers and artists will be showcasing wearable art pieces on a 27-metre-long catwalk.
Sydney Design Week (NSW)
Sydney Design Week is an annual Powerhouse program showcasing contemporary design and architecture through tours, talks and workshops across greater Sydney. Returning in September.
Melbourne Fashion Week (Vic)
Melbourne Fashion Week will return in October. The event celebrates its 30th anniversary last year, with pop up runways and a special curation of designers that have shaped Melbourne fashion. Expressions of interest for designers will open in March.
Sydney Craft Week Festival (NSW)
The ninth annual Sydney Craft Week Festival runs from 10-19 October and features 10 days of making, exhibitions and events, and conversations about craft in all its forms for Sydney’s designer-makers, craft community and craft lovers.
Geelong Design Week (Vic)
Geelong Design Week in Victoria is an annual event celebrating homegrown design, innovation and creativity across the region. Programs are usually announced in October, with the event taking place over 10 days in November.
Design Show Australia (Vic)
To be held over 12-14 June at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre, Design Show Australia is a trade event for brands, manufacturers, suppliers and designers. There are two dedicated zones: the Textile Village and Workspace Zone. The event also features design talks, the fifth edition of Australia’s Next Top Designer, the New Zealand Pavilion and the Roche Bobois Breakout Lounge.
Art fairs and craft markets
CraftAlive (National)
CraftAlive events feature craft teachers and retailers from across the country and cover a wide range of crafts from traditional to modern. Each event features both local and national experts with the latest craft supplies, kits and equipment. In 2025, CraftAlive is held in various locations over numerous dates: 13-15 February (Sydney), 20-22 February (Albury-Wodonga), 13-15 March (Ballarat), 8-10 May (Newcastle) and more.
The Papercraft Show (Qld)
The Papercraft Show runs for three days from 10-12 April with craft retailers bringing a variety of kits, supplies and equipment. Visitors will have the opportunity to get hands-on with teachers to learn new techniques or hone existing ones.
Bowerbird (SA)
Bowerbird offers a line-up of Australian designers, makers and producers, carefully curated to ensure a variety of makers and handmade products. Returning to Adelaide Showground over 2-4 May, applications from interested parties are now open.
The Big Design Market (Vic & NSW)
The Big Design Market ‘Almost Winter’ will be back at the Royal Exhibition Building, Carlton this May, showcasing over 250 of the country’s designers and makers with things to try and buy from a range of exhibitors. In Melbourne, Big Design Market runs from 23-25 May, with the summer edition returning 28-30 November; the Big Design Market will also be held in Sydney from 19-21 September.
Craft and Quilt Fair (Vic, NSW & Qld)
The Craft and Quilt Fair returns to three cities this year to share the love and joy of crafting. Be inspired by the craftsmanship on display, engage in a seminar, shop for new supplies and try a new workshop. Find new designs, patterns, books and materials to use in your next project. The relevant dates for 2025 are: 25-28 June (Sydney), 3-6 September (Melbourne) and 15-18 October (Brisbane).
Tasmanian Craft Fair (Tas)
Over 240 exhibitors and vendors (over 80% of them Tasmanian) attend the Tasmanian Craft Fair, with represented practices ranging from textiles and fashion to woodcraft, glass, sculpture, visuals arts and other traditional and contemporary disciplines. In 2024, the event shifted to a three-day model to deliver higher impact, and will return in 2025 from 31 October to 2 November.
