In late 2022 we were contacted by Lyndon Anderson, Swayn Senior Fellow of Australian Design who was interested in having one of our wooden surfboards form part of a new National Museum of Australia exhibition titled "Material World".
We initially sent one of our mid-length boards down to the museum in Canberra, but due to a communication mixup this board was ever so slightly too tall for the display case. This threw a bit of a spanner in the works as we had already committed the smaller fish board we had on hand to be tested by Professor Marc in het Panhuis at the UOW Surf Flex Lab - Emile and I were expecting the board to get broken/damaged and had already written it off the books, luckily it held up against the worst that Marc’s custom made torsional flex machine could throw at it :) so off it went to the museum.
The Material World exhibition is supported by the Swayne Gallery of Australian Design.
“Material World is an evocative exhibition that shines a light on design and designers. Featuring everyday objects, medical technology and new materials, it will challenge you to consider the meaning of good design."
More information, including some videos about the exhibition is available here: https://www.nma.gov.au/exhibitions/material-world and https://www.nma.gov.au/about/media/media-releases-listing-by-year/2023/material-world
We are very honoured to have our board displayed alongside fantastic examples of historical and contemporary design by First Nations peoples, early settlers, scientists, engineers, designers, artists and architects.
Our board forms part of the display close to the main entrance of the museum in the Gandel Atrium and will run until the middle of April 2024.
If you see or have already seen our board on display in the museum we would love to hear from you :)