Want to win a AUD$10,000 manufacturing grant and mentoring from some of the leading figures in industrial design, manufacturing and retail? Enter Launch Pad 2018 now! Here’s all the inspo you need.
Listen up emerging industrial designers of APAC! You’ve only got till 12 March to submit your prototype designs for the Launch Pad 2018 competition.
We’re looking for the region’s best designs for furniture, lighting and interior-based accessories. There are incredible prizes at stake, so if you want the chance to develop your design from prototype to production with the guidance of industry leaders like Benjamin Hubert, Hunn Wai, Anton Schiavello, Priscilla Lui and many more, you’d better get to it!
Here we’ve compiled some of our favourite past winners and finalists for your inspiration. Next year we could be talking about your work!
Designed for homes, cafes and restaurants, the Daft Stool is like a friend with a patient presence. It was imagined as a solid, simple, unobtrusive and trusting piece whose weight gives confidence in a space. The stool is crafted from solid timber with solid dimensions to give the stool longevity and a humble robustness. It can be stacked up to four stools high.

Launch Pad Australia 2017 finalist Daft Stool by Bradley Mitchell
Plico is a multipurpose collaboration table suitable to flexible space configurations and encouraging freedom of movement and collaborative activities. It can operate as a standing desk as well as an easily moveable and foldable magnetic white board.

Launch Pad Australia 2017 winner PLICO by Dora Ferenczi
This tableware series is based on the idea of eliminating minute annoyances in daily life – those discomforts that have become so familiar to us that we no longer see them. The Waist Bowl has an elevated foot ring that solves the problem of getting your fingers trapped beneath a hot bowl and the tabletop when you put down the bowl. The Shoulder Plate has a protruding rim that prevents your thumb from touching the food when you’re carrying the plate.

Launch Pad Asia 2017 winner Never Mind Tableware Series by Jonathan Saphiro Salim
These adjustable spotlights are made with hand-thrown tubular ceramic shades that are ‘squeezed’ at the point where they are fixed (by a leather cord) to the brass suspending rod. The fitting has been designed to allow and express an extreme range of adjustability on three axes of movement and rotation. The luminaires are high-efficiency LEDs.

Launch Pad Australia 2017 finalist 124 Exhibition Spots by Steven Swain
SPOT is a multi-purpose LED light that can be hung, held or stood up with its own frame – hence, it can be used as a desk lamp, torch or ambient light. Its design was influenced by the versatility of industrial work lights.

Launch Pad Asia 2014 joint winner SPOT by Nigel Geh and Gloria Ngiam
Thank you to the amazing partners who make Launch Pad possible: Principal Partner Schiavello, Founding Partner Living Edge, and Strategic Partner Workshopped. Launch Pad is presented by Indesign Media Asia Pacific as part of the INDE.Awards.
INDESIGN is on instagram
Follow @indesignlive
A searchable and comprehensive guide for specifying leading products and their suppliers
Keep up to date with the latest and greatest from our industry BFF's!
A longstanding partnership turns a historic city into a hub for emerging talent
For Aidan Mawhinney, the secret ingredient to Living Edge’s success “comes down to people, product and place.” As the brand celebrates a significant 25-year milestone, it’s that commitment to authentic, sustainable design – and the people behind it all – that continues to anchor its legacy.
With a minimalist aesthetic and an inventive approach to product, ZETR is challenging the way electrical accessories are designed, made and experienced.
Carr’s largest residential project to date integrates concrete, steel mesh and landscape across 122 apartments in Melbourne’s Brunswick.
The final day of CPD Live’s 2025 season delivers three must-attend sessions exploring circular design for furniture and fitouts, and the science behind safe, high-quality drinking water. Starting from 9 AM AEDT, 16th October – it’s your last opportunity this year to join our Live CPD sessions and finish 2025 inspired.
The internet never sleeps! Here's the stuff you might have missed
With experience across fashion, styling and interiors, Nicholas Gilbert launches Studio Nicholas with a mission to elevate Australian design on the world stage — and to champion a more rigorous, professional future for the industry.
McIldowie Partners, in association with Joost Bakker, has been awarded The Learning Space at the INDE.Awards 2025. Their project, Woodleigh Regenerative Futures Studio, redefines the educational environment as a living ecosystem that nurtures sustainability, innovation, and community.