Melbourne Design Week 202 Glass Mould Blowing & Sand Casting Workshop

Workshop Overview:

Studio Dokola invites Melbourne Design Week participants to an engaging workshop that explores how traditional craft practices intersect with material experimentation and contemporary design. This hands-on program delves into mould-blowing and sand-casting processes, encouraging attendees to rethink the role of materials in design innovation.

Participants will explore any realm of materials and found objects—clay, wax, plaster, timber, or unconventional items of their choosing—to create bespoke moulds during a day of mold forming using a local foundry's moulding room. These moulds will serve as the foundation for glassblowing and casting. With guidance from a skilled gaffer, these moulds will be brought to life through molten glass, culminating in both blown and cast objects.

This workshop aims to promote glass and local glass studios as beacons for traditional material practices, whilst reimagining their role in future design. It encourages attendees to reflect on how sustainability, craftsmanship, and experimental practices can shape the local ecological outcomes. Each participant will leave with 2–3 finished pieces and a renewed understanding of glass as a medium of transformation, both conceptually and physically.

‍Program objective:‍

Through this workshop, participants are invited to engage with the following key objectives:

Design as Repair:
Participants will explore how discarded or found objects and unconventional materials can be repurposed to create new forms, highlighting the regenerative potential of design. By transforming overlooked materials into meaningful artefacts, the workshop encourages participants to reflect on the role of creativity in healing our material culture and reducing waste.

Design as Collaboration:
By working alongside skilled glassmakers in a process that blends craftsmanship with experimentation, the workshop demonstrates the importance of collective action in achieving transformative outcomes. It celebrates the communal nature of glassblowing and mould-making as a metaphor for how shared expertise can drive innovation and problem-solving.

Design as Ecological Reflection:
Glass, with its origins in natural processes, embodies cycles of transformation and endurance. Participants will use this workshop as a platform to consider how material choices and production processes can respond to ecological challenges, fostering a deeper understanding of design as a means of replenishment and sustainability.

Design as Empowerment:
By equipping participants with the knowledge and techniques to create their own moulds and glass objects, the workshop empowers individuals to see themselves as agents of change, capable of using their creative skills to address broader economic, social, and ecological issues.

Through these objectives, Studio Dokola’s workshop embodies design as an act of repair and transformation, offering participants a space to reimagine the possibilities of materiality while contributing to a vision for a better tomorrow.

‍Venue:

Studio Dokola, 1 Cromwell Parade, West Footscray and

Fundere Foundry 27-29 Western Avenue, Sunshine

‍Proposed program dates: 24 May & 25 May 2025.