Designing Research
Translations  







Symposium 
Schedule
Conversation, Design Practice & Good Food


Frantoio Sociale, GISTOAn 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 Centre and the Lottozero textile laboratories. 

The Monash Prato Centre 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 nice represent the tensions of practice research. 



What does design research look like?What does it feel like to do practice research, to design?What does it mean to engage in the process of designing as a form of research?How does it feel to navigate the tensions and possibilities of practice-led inquiry? How is design research defined and experienced across disciplines?What are the unique contributions of design practice to knowledge creation, and how are these understood and valued within and beyond academia?What impact does practice-based design research have on industries, communities, and broader societal challenges? How do the methods, tools, and outputs of design research shape and influence interdisciplinary collaborations?What forms of knowledge does design research create, and how are they disseminated?How does design practice challenge or complement traditional academic structures and expectations? What new futures can design research imagine, prototype, and bring to life? What knowledge does design research contribute?

Ahead of the Symposium 

We will send out a few small activities in the months before the symposium. We will ask participants to share some short reflections responding to some prompts. The answers to these prompts will be distrubuted along with a guest list as a chance to get to know each other ahead of the event.

For those of you arriving over the weekend we will host an informal dinner on the Sunday night. We recommend arriving on Sunday to be ready to commence at 10am Monday. 





Day One
Monday 
September 22nd

Morning
10am - midday.

Introductions





Monash Prato Centre
Via Pugliesi, 26 – 59100 Prato (Italy)

Long Lunch




Afternoon
2pm - 6pm

Materialising the Manifesto

Making tangible through design practice and textile experimentation.


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

Dinner



Day Two 
Tuesday
September 23rd

Morning
10am - 2pm.

Tools of Conversation

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

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

Late Lunch

Raviloi | Dumpling
Prato Chinatown

Afternoon
3pm - 6pm

Assemblages of Conversation

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

Monash Prato Centre
Via Pugliesi, 26, 59100 Prato (Italy). 

DinnerDay 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 Centre Courtyard
Via Pugliesi, 26 – 59100 Prato (Italy)

Long Lunch




Symposium Concludes

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. 





What does design research look like?What does it feel like to do practice research, to design?What does it mean to engage in the process of designing as a form of research?How does it feel to navigate the tensions and possibilities of practice-led inquiry? How is design research defined and experienced across disciplines?What are the unique contributions of design practice to knowledge creation, and how are these understood and valued within and beyond academia?What impact does practice-based design research have on industries, communities, and broader societal challenges? How do the methods, tools, and outputs of design research shape and influence interdisciplinary collaborations?What forms of knowledge does design research create, and how are they disseminated?How does design practice challenge or complement traditional academic structures and expectations? What new futures can design research imagine, prototype, and bring to life? What knowledge does design research contribute?

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


We acknowledge the people of the Kulin Nations, on whose unseeded 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.