Designing Research
Translations  











Symposium 
Schedule
Conversation, Design Practice & Food



Frantoio Sociale, GISTO. Photo by Riccardo De VecchiAn existing project by GISTO, transforming the demolition site into a place of exchange and collaboration, where the different actors can contribute their unique skills and perspectives. 





The symposium will take place over three-days in Prato, Italy. We will move across the small town, working between the Monash University Prato Campus and the Lottozero textile laboratories. 

The Monash Prato Campus is an academic conference and teaching centre located in an 18th-century palace, the Palazzo Vaj, in the historical centre of Prato. Contrasting this traditional setting, Lottozero is an experimental making space based in the vibrant textile centre – an industrial manufacturing zone home to the second largest Chinese population in Europe. A pair of locations that nicely represent the tensions of practice research. 







Ahead of the Symposium 

Citations to published research and pieces of practice have been collected from each participant. These will be shared in the form of a printed piece of design practice at the begining of the symposium. 

We recommend arriving on Sunday to be ready to commence at 10am Monday. 

For those of you arriving over the weekend we will host an informal dinner on the Sunday night. 








Day One
Monday 
September 22nd

Morning
10am - 1pm.

Introductions






Monash Prato Campus
Sala Toscana
Via Pugliesi, 26 – 59100 Prato (Italy)

Lunch

 Monash Prato Campus Garden
Via Pugliesi, 26 – 59100 Prato (Italy)


Afternoon
2pm - 6pm

Materialising the Manifesto

Making tangible through design practice and textile experimentation.



Lottozero / textile laboratories 
Via Arno 10 — 59100, Prato (Italy)


Dinner

G...iDoc RistroBistro
Address: Via dell'Accademia 49, Prato.


Day Two 
Tuesday
September 23rd

Morning
10am - 1pm.

Tools of Conversation

Making conversational artefacts through assembling textiles, furniture, and 
structures. 


Lottozero / textile laboratories 
Via Arno 10 — 59100, Prato (Italy).


Lunch

Lottozero / textile laboratories
Via Arno 10 — 59100, Prato (Italy).


Afternoon
2pm - 6pm

Assemblages of Conversation

Assembling the context for conversation through placing our artefacts as interventions into the Monash Prato Campus courtyard.

Monash Prato Campus Garden
Via Pugliesi, 26, 59100 Prato (Italy). 


Aperitivo Day Three
Wednesday
September 24th

Morning
10am - 2pm.

Conversation 

Discussion and reflections guided by the practice of previous days and the sharing of case studies. 


Monash Prato Campus Garden
Via Pugliesi, 26 – 59100 Prato (Italy)


Lunch

Monash Prato Campus Garden
Via Pugliesi, 26 – 59100 Prato (Italy)


Symposium (officially) Concludes

You are welcome to continue the conversation informally at the Monash Prato Centre in the afternoon.






After the Symposium

If you wish to spend some more time in Italy, we will be travelling to Florence on Thursday 25th to visit Poltronova, a manufacturer of Radical Italian Design. On Friday the 26th of September we will head to Venice for the Biennale Architettura 2025, the 19th International Architecture Exhibition (an approximately 3hr trip) and depart Italy from there. Anyone is welcome to join, but will need to make their own travel arrangements. 

We look forward to continuing the conversation online, through co-authored publications, future events and other emerging possibilities. We will provide you with documentation and materials to take home from the symposium and send out additional documentation once we have a chance to make sense of everything. 




Manifesto of Radical Design Research: 
Toward A Future Unbound by Convention A Draft Manifesto Inviting Conversation & Input
Symposium ScheduleConversation, Design Practice & Food. 
About PratoAccommodation, Getting There & Interesting Information.
Contact UsContact Details & Expression of Interest  
ParticipantsDesign Practice Researchers
CitationsTracing Insights Through Research & Practice


We acknowledge the people of the Kulin Nations, on whose unceded land the majority of this research takes place. We pay our respects to their Elders, past and present and emerging and acknowledge Aboriginal connection to material and creative practice on these lands for more than 60,000 years.
This research is funded by the Australian Government through the Australian Research Council. Dr. Rowan Page is the recipient of an Australian Research Council Discovery Early Career Award (DECRA) Fellowship (DE240100161).  Additional support is provided by Monash University and the Faculty of Art, Design and Architecture.