Landscape architect and design lecturer Adrienne Erickson has been chosen as the Swayne senior fellow in Australian design at the National Museum of Australia.

The Swayn Centre for Australian Design is a new endeavour at the National Museum of Australia in Canberra. It was named for prominent architect Alistair Swayn, who died from a brain tumour in 2016. Originally hailing from Scotland, Swayn was a highly respected and dynamic architect who was heavily involved in the design and development of the Australian Capital. In his will, he left money for a design foundation and his former colleagues and associates set up the Swayn Centre for Australian Design to promote Australian design, its prominence and its enjoyment.

Erickson will head up the Centre and develop it over the next two years. She has five years of experience working as a landscape architect in Queensland and then in Beijing, where she worked on the Beijing Olympics. She also taught design at the Central Academy of Fine Art (CAFA) in Beijing, which inspired her to further her studies by completing a Masters of Cross Disciplinary Art and Design at UNSW.

Erickson will be responsible for creating a program of exhibitions, events and special projects at the Swayn Centre that look at design, addressing how design affects our daily lives.

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The National Museum of Australia. Image credit: Shutterstock

“[It will be] something that everyone can see, feel and be interested in, with a program that draws a wide audience. We want to showcase and reveal the interesting and innovative work in all design disciplines across Australia,” she says.

This will be a national endeavor, looking at what is happening across Australia and “hopefully find the commonalities, the contrasts, the nuances of design from different parts of Australia,” says Erickson.

The Swayn Centre is set to become the latest curatorial centre at the Museum.

“The Centre is fairly fluid, it doesn't have a physical space, it will align with programming at the National Museum, and delve into the massive National Historical Collection, while also looking at contemporary issues to create a really interesting program of Australian design,” says Erickson.

Feature image credit: National Museum of Australia