Design Conversations Geoff Fitzpatrick

Dario Zoureff is a pre-eminent interior and furniture designer, with a memorable catalogue of residential and commercial furniture designed over several decades. He was born in Vienna in the 1930s and came to Australia at the age of nine. He studied interior design at the Royal Melbourne Technical College in the 1950s, and began a sixty-year practice thereafter.

Phillip Zmood studied Industrial Design at RMIT, and began his career with General Motors Corporation in 1965 as a designer. Soon after he became the General Manager of the Mid/Luxury Car Division of Holden/GM International Operations (USA) leading and contributing to future design programs.

Mary Featherston, together with her husband Grant, have been seminal figures in Australian Design, delivering high-profile projects over decades in mid-century Australia. Mary has been celebrated in the field of children’s early-learning environments, working with schools, childcare centres and museums, and she continues as a consultant and advocate in this sphere.

Jeffrey Newman is an industrial designer, who trained in the fourth intake of students for the Industrial Design Diploma at RMIT in the mid 1950s. Jeff established his initial freelance design practice immediately after graduation, and later, following a period at Thorn Electrical, he eventually accepted a position in Myer Store Planning under Don Ward.

David Terry trained in Industrial Design at RMIT, and then under architect Don Ward at Myer, where he made major contributions to the development of Myer Chadstone and then to Farmers in Sydney. David was engaged by the Industrial Design Council of Australia for several years and eventually became a State Director.

Don Goodwin played a significant design role as an Associate Director of the Conran Design Group in London in the sixties, and then in Australia with Carl Nielsen, and later as Principal of Goodwin Design. Additionally, he became National President of the Design Institute of Australia and was recognised with a Life Fellowship.