2nd July 2008

MELBOURNE INTERNATIONAL DESIGN FESTIVAL:

STRENGTH IN NUMBERS

The fourth annual Melbourne International Design Festival, themed Strength in Numbers, takes place from 17-27 July 2008, with more than 50 events held in numerous locations across Melbourne and beyond.

Previously known as the Melbourne Design Festival, this year’s event has been renamed the Melbourne International Design Festival to reflect its international growth and the global nature of design.

The theme Strength in Numbers reflects the Festival’s ongoing collaborative approach which continues to build networks and bring together many designers from Australia and overseas for the annual event. As a ten-day celebration of design, the Festival will be a major focal point on the cultural calendar for the design industry and broader community.

Circling Federation Square in a series of giant bubbles will be the international INDEX Award Exhibition from Denmark, a free exhibition that celebrates innovative solutions for better living, while the Vertical Garden project from France will transform Melbourne Central into a living landmark.

The Festival may be going global, but it also celebrates its origins with the major exhibition Melbourne Unbuilt, where the city’s leading architects, architectural historians and critics explore unbuilt architecture and the concepts that never materialised. In addition, the Festival’s ever-popular Melbourne Design Market returns for a fifth year of roaring trade, featuring Melbourne’s leading designers and design retailers.

In line with Melbourne’s ongoing efforts to make design widely accessible, most of the Festival events are free.

Austravel (0844 412 4620, http://www.austravel.com) offers ten nights during the Melbourne International Design Festival from £1,255 pp. Including return flights from London Heathrow to Melbourne with Air Mauritius and ten nights at the Alto Hotel on Bourke. Prices based on two sharing, valid for departures from 1-16 July 2008.

For more information on Melbourne please visit www.visitmelbourne.com/uk. For more information on the Melbourne International Design Festival programme please visit www.nationaldesigncentre.com

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For media information, please contact

David Ezra at david@saltmarshpr.co.uk or

Tom Panagos at tom@saltmarshpr.co.uk

Tel: 020 7928 1600
Fax: 020 7928 1700

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