Surry Hills has long been one of Sydney’s most creative neighbourhoods, making it a natural setting for a Saturday spent exploring new ideas, materials and ways of making. For Saturday Indesign 2026 on the 12th September, the precinct brings together furniture, lighting, textiles and workplace design through a program that moves between immersive installations, practical workshops, live craftsmanship, design conversations and generous hospitality.
There is a strong focus on participation throughout the precinct. Visitors can experiment with furniture configurations at BACHLI, explore emerging ideas with Advanta and the next generation of designers, learn about metals at Savage Design, or race the clock at Wilkhahn. Lighting takes on many forms across Nook Collections and the shared Euroluce, Bang & Olufsen and Bolon experience, while K5 Furniture, Molteni&C, Tappeti Rugs and Miss Amara each bring a distinct material story into the day.
With workshops and talks overlapping from the morning onwards, it is worth choosing a few timed sessions in advance and leaving space to explore the installations running throughout the day. Here is everything happening across Surry Hills on Saturday 12 September.
Explore throughout the day
Several of the precinct’s most immersive experiences are open all day, allowing visitors to encounter them between scheduled talks and workshops.
At BACHLI Furniture, From Fibre to Form: An Immersive Journey Through Array brings architecture, material innovation and furniture design together through a multi-sensory installation created with Murray Industrial Hemp. The experience looks at how thoughtful material choices can support a more sustainable future without compromising on design. Visitors can also use 3D-printed models to create their own configuration of Snøhetta’s modular Array sofa.
At Advanta, design students from Billy Blue College of Design take over the showroom with Shrouded — An Advanta × Billy Blue Installation, responding to this year’s Alchemy theme. The space forms part exhibition and part experiment, placing Advanta furniture inside an environment designed to intrigue, reveal and invite discovery. The accompanying R&D Lab asks visitors to vote on three ideas that Advanta may explore during the discovery phase for its 2027 product ranges.
K5 Furniture draws on Finnish folklore for Haltija: The Guardian of Every Place and Thing. Nikari furniture, Marimekko textiles and sculptural landscapes turn the showroom into an evocative forest setting, creating a place of quiet reflection where nature, craft and design converge.
At Savage Design, the all-day Ministry of Metal experience makes material education tactile. Visitors can handle brass, stainless steel, mild steel and aluminium in different states, explore how each metal behaves and ages, and use what they learn to customise a tactile artefact.
The shared Euroluce, Bang & Olufsen and Bolon showroom brings light, sound, surface and food together. Euroluce presents new architectural and decorative lighting from Flos, Vibia, Wästberg and Oluce, including MAAP by Erwan Bouroullec, Glowing Track, Raw Elements and the Milan 60 Years Classics collection. Sounds of Bang & Olufsen offers immersive listening sessions alongside Atelier, the brand’s bespoke service for creating speakers in custom colours, materials and finishes. Visitors can also explore Bolon’s Woven Flooring, seeing how colour, pattern and texture translate across interior environments.
Nearby, Molteni&C opens the doors to its new Sydney flagship with Molteni&C | Geometry of Nature. A sculptural floral installation by September Studio is presented alongside pieces by creative director Vincent Van Duysen, Gio Ponti and other leading architects and designers, creating a conversation between furniture, architecture and the natural world.
Material exploration continues at Tappeti Rugs with From Fibre to Floor, a hands-on journey through the natural and performance fibres used across the brand’s custom collections. Visitors can compare materials and learn how fibre selection shapes texture, performance, colour, lustre and feel across residential and commercial projects.
At Miss Amara, The Material Edit guides visitors through five stations and five material stories. The experience offers a closer look at the fibres behind the Miss Amara range, including their provenance, construction and key specification details.
Begin the morning in Surry Hills
The precinct begins at 9am with several relaxed ways to ease into the day. Nook Collections serves coffee, refreshments and a curated breakfast until 10am, giving visitors time to explore installations from Parachilna, Ilanel and Mark Studio and discover the showroom’s latest designer lighting collections. Door prizes from the featured design partners will also be available throughout the day.
At BACHLI Furniture, Awaken: A Morning Experience runs from 9am to 11am. An immunity shot and warming spicy elixir accompany a journey through the Array installation, inviting visitors to slow down and consider how design and intentional rituals can support comfort, wellbeing and calm.
The morning also begins with a Matcha Bar at Advanta, while Wilkhahn’s Build a WiChair Challenge – Race the Clock runs from 9am to 3pm. Inspired by an activation at Clerkenwell Design Week, the challenge asks visitors to assemble the 34-component WiChair as quickly as possible. The design itself highlights repairability, circularity and intelligent construction, with a Wilkhahn prize waiting for the fastest build of the day.
At 9.30am, the first of three Ministry of Metal workshops begins at Savage Design. Created for architects and interior designers, the session examines brass, stainless steel, mild steel and aluminium through technical knowledge, material craft and design application. Participants will learn how the metals behave, age and perform, building the confidence to specify and discuss them with clients and project teams. Pre-registered attendees will also receive a personalised metal artefact.
At 10am, Nook Collections turns paper into light with its Origami Lighting Workshop. Inspired by Parachilna’s Oïphorique installation, the hands-on session explores sculpture, form and illumination as participants create their own folded origami lamp.
Two different perspectives on making begin at 10.30am. At K5 Furniture, Forest to Form: The Role of Timber and Tradition in Contemporary Finnish Design brings together Johanna Vuorio and Jenni Mikkonen of Nikari, Kfive founder and CEO Erna Walsh and Studio Edwards founder Ben Edwards, with Genton lead interior designer Marika Haromo hosting the conversation. Together, they will consider how Finland’s forests have shaped its design culture, why timber remains central to Finnish architecture and furniture, and how those values continue to influence contemporary practice.
At Advanta, a Live Sewing and Upholstery Demonstration offers a close look at the workmanship behind its furniture, revealing how sewing, upholstery and careful detailing come together in the finished piece.
Conversations, craft and food from 11am
At 11am, BACHLI Furniture hosts The Sofa as Architecture. Interior designer Meryl Hare of Hare + Klein and Snøhetta senior product designer Matt Irvine will explore the sofa as more than an object, considering how furniture influences movement, connection and the ways people gather. Warm HUMBLE focaccia and nourishing refreshments will be served during the conversation.
Advanta’s second live demonstration also begins at 11am. During the Live Sewing Demonstration, the brand’s skilled sewers will transform upholstery remnants into bespoke pencil cases. A limited number will be available for visitors to take home.
At the shared Euroluce showroom, Cooking by Design: Onfalos by Mario Bellini runs from 11am to 4pm. Guest chef Luca will prepare meat, seafood and vegetarian tastings live on Onfalos, accompanied by filled focaccia and a closer look at Mario Bellini’s approach to design.
The Sensory Surface: Where Light, Sound & Material Meet – Session 1 also begins at 11am. Neuroscientist Dr Hayley North, Electrolight director Donn Salisbury and Cox Architecture director Brooke Lloyd join moderator Alice Blackwood to explore how light, sound, texture and material influence atmosphere, comfort, wellbeing and the way people connect within a space.
From 11am to 2pm, Behind the Loom at Tappeti Rugs invites visitors to tuft part of a rug and experience the handmaking process first-hand. The workshop considers fibres, textures and construction techniques, revealing how craftsmanship influences specification, performance and design outcomes.
At 11.30am, the second Ministry of Metal workshop begins at Savage Design, repeating the practical deep dive into the four metals shaping contemporary interiors.
At the same time, Nook Collections hosts the official Design Discussion Lighting as Emotion. Genevieve Wild of Wildly Illuminating, Jason Gibney of JGDW and Ilan El of ILANEL will explore how lighting shapes atmosphere, wellbeing and our emotional connection to space, with Timothy Alouani-Roby moderating the conversation.
At 12.15pm, Nook Collections serves lunch in the showroom, creating another opportunity to explore the installations, meet the designers and spend time with the wider architecture and design community. From 12.30pm, Advanta’s Mocktail Bar adds refreshments to its program of installations, voting and live making.
At 1pm, Nook Collections and Mark Studio turn their attention to Design Talk – How Local Materials Tell a Story in Lighting. The conversation explores materiality, craftsmanship and place, considering how natural materials and traditional techniques can influence contemporary lighting design.
Make and explore through the afternoon
At 2pm, two hands-on sessions begin in different parts of the precinct. Design Your Calm at BACHLI Furniture is presented by Art Playground and considers how customisable furniture can support inclusion, belonging and connection in shared spaces. Guided by Grace from Art Playground, participants will use 3D models to create an ideal Array configuration while exploring the relationship between creativity, resilience and mental wellbeing.
At Nook Collections, glass artists Mark Eliott and Simi Eliott lead Crafting Light: Glass Blowing Experience from 2pm to 3.30pm. Each participant will add coloured molten glass to a collaborative sculpture before watching the piece expand through the glassblowing process. The completed work will later be kiln-fired and transformed into a one-of-a-kind lighting piece, with one attendee receiving it through a raffle draw. Places are limited to 20 participants.
At 2.30pm, Savage Design begins the final Saturday session of Ministry of Metal, offering another opportunity to explore the specification, performance and creative possibilities of brass, stainless steel, mild steel and aluminium.
At Miss Amara, Designed for Real Life also begins at 2.30pm. Founder and chief creative officer Alex will speak about the gap between designing a space and designing for the people who inhabit it, and why the materials underfoot must respond to the realities of homes, hotels, studios, lobbies and everyday life.
The afternoon shifts into conversation and hospitality from 3pm. The Sensory Surface: Where Light, Sound & Material Meet – Session 2 returns to the Euroluce showroom with Dr Hayley North, Donn Salisbury, Brooke Lloyd and Alice Blackwood, offering another opportunity to explore how the senses shape our experience of an interior. At the same time, The Negroni Edit by Campari brings an Italian aperitivo into the showroom with Negronis, conversation and design.
At BACHLI Furniture, Biodynamic by Design: Wine Tasting with Krinklewood runs from 3pm to 5pm. Set within the Array installation, the tasting explores Krinklewood’s biodynamic wines and the values that connect regenerative farming with considered furniture: craftsmanship, longevity, natural processes and respect for materials.
From 3.30pm, Nook Collections closes the day with its Golden Hour Social. Drinks, music and relaxed conversation accompany a final look at the Parachilna, Ilanel and Mark Studio collections, with visitors able to speak to the lighting specialists and enter the showroom’s door-prize draw before the precinct winds down.
Begin the program on Friday
Many of the Surry Hills showrooms begin their program a day early on Friday 11 September. Savage Design will run three Friday editions of its Ministry of Metal workshop at 9.30am, 11.30am and 2.30pm, giving architects and interior designers the opportunity to build their knowledge of brass, stainless steel, mild steel and aluminium through technical insight, material craft and hands-on exploration.
At 6pm, BACHLI Furniture continues the Friday program with Join Us for a Conversation with Designers, Snøhetta.
Complimentary hop-on, hop-off buses will run throughout the day, connecting Surry Hills with Waterloo, Alexandria and Paddington. Register in advance to receive your personal QR code and begin checking into participating showrooms as soon as you arrive.
