University of Tasmania, Australia

ArtsForum is a series of FREE public lectures held at the School of Visual and Performing Arts, Academy of the Arts, University of Tasmania, Inveresk. Both UTAS students and members of the general public are welcome to attend. Lectures are presented by staff, visiting scholars from Tasmania, mainland Australia and overseas, industry professionals and artists-in-residence.

Dinosaur Designs

Stephen Ormandy, Founding Director

Stephen will talk about Dinosaur Designs Studio and its development from a fine art context to a jewelry business that current enjoys international presence.

Louise Olsen, Stephen Ormandy and Liane Rossler met while studying drawing and painting at a Sydney art school in 1983. They formed the company Dinosaur Designs in 1985. The intuitive creativity that shapes their distinctive work in jewellery has also informed the development of their extraordinary company. Dinosaur Designs now stands as one of the most visible and successful design-based businesses in Australia, operating its own stores in Sydney, Melbourne and New York as well as exporting to more than twenty countries worldwide.

Olsen, Ormandy and Rossler have managed to intersect the boundaries between art, craft, design, fashion and business, and has forged an important place for themselves within Australian design history, not only through their longevity and popularity but also through the distinctively Australian character of their work.