Staff Profiles

Penelope gained her Bachelor of Applied Science (Interior Design) with distinction, 1997 and has worked in practice both locally and internationally.

• art and design, new technology, phenomonology, object attachment and meaning, semiotics, furniture design, object design, placemaking, consumption patterns and behaviour, the 'contemporary heirloom', Satre, Baudrillard, A. Gell, australian design,

  My research has been featured in the following publications:

Eggleston, R (ed.) 2006, Unveiled: Designing Futures Product Launch.

       Form Contemporary Craft and Design, Perth.

Gien, B & Watson, S (ed.) 2006, Design is: Australia Design Awards 2006 Annual. Standards Australia, Sydney. p 54. (Standards Australia Annual publication)

Griffin Wilshire, M. 2004. Salone Satellite: Plastic, Fondazione Cosmit Eventi Catalogue, Milan

        (Italian publication of leading international emerging designers)

Lommerse, M & Eggleston, R 2006, Riches of Isolation: Unearthing Western Australia’s Creative Potential, Form Contemporary Craft and Design, Perth, p 4-5, 21 & 24. (works featured)

Lommerse, M & Smith, D. 2010. Permeable Boundaries, Curtin University, Bentley, WA. (exhibition catalogue featured)

Thompson, R. 2007. Manufacturing Processes for Design Professionals. Thames and Hudson, London. p 443.

Furthermore, my works have been featured in several national and international magazines and newspapers including most notably; Wallpaper-UK, CUBE (Singapore), Surface* Asia, The Times (UK), CasaMica (supplement to the highest selling Italian Newspaper, Corriere della Sera), [inside] Australian Design Review, Object Magazine, Spark (DIA publication), Monument, and Artichoke.

Refer below for my authored publications and creative production.  

I am currently undertaking progression towards a PhD, within the field of object attachment, place attachment, space and meaning.

• Acquistion by the Art Gallery of Western Australia, ‘Terrain’ for the permanent  collection. 2011
• ‘Creative Work of the Year- 2011’ Humanities Research Award, Curtin University of Technology, 2011.
• ‘Australian Design Award’ in Furniture and Lighting, Standards Australia, for the ‘Lux’ table, 2006.
• ‘Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Excellence’, for ‘Riches of Isolation’ local and international exhibition, Curtin University of Technology, 2006.
• Academic Award for ‘leadership in a creative endeavour resulting in a word-class learning experience for design students’.
•  ‘Award of Merit’ (1^st), Design Institute of Australia (WA), Furniture Category for Lux table, 2005
• Second prize ‘Design of the Year’ National Launch Pad Awards, Sydney, Australia, 2005
• ‘Executive Dean of Humanities Award’; ‘for contribution to excellence in teaching for industry development’  Curtin University of Technology, Bentley, Australia.
• ‘Finalist: Design category’ JEC International Awards. International awards program for the composites industry, 2004
•  ‘Award of Merit’ (1^st); Design Institute of Australia (WA), Furniture category for Linea 1200 table, 2003 
  

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

• ‘Composite Design’ Invited by international jury for solo show of recently completed furniture design in composite materials. Salone Satellite. Milan International Furniture Fair, Italy. 2006.
• ‘Riches of Isolation’. Salone Satellite Milan International Furniture Fair, Italy & FORM: Contemporary Craft and Design, Perth, Aust., 2007

• ‘1980’s to Present Day’ Permanent Exhibition at the Art Gallery of Western Australia, from November 2011.
•  ‘Embracing Innovation’, national curated show. CraftACT, Canberra. Curator: D. Hare, 2011
•  ‘Permeable Boundaries’, group show. The John Curtin Gallery, Curtin University of Technology, Bentley, Australia. Curators; M. Lommerse and Dr. D. Smith, 2010
• ‘VUJJ’, 100% Design, London, UK for Sweden, 2007
• ‘Perth Design Cluster’ FORM; Contemporary Craft and Design, Perth, Australia, 2006.
• ‘Launch Pad/ Saturday in Design’, Living Edge, Sydney, Australia, 2005.
• ‘Furnitex’, FORM: Contemporary Craft and Design stand, Melbourne Exhibition Centre, Australia, 2005.
• ‘Australian Design’ at Design Farm, Perth, Australia, 2004 & 2005.
• ‘Saturday in Design’, Corporate Culture, Sydney, Australia, 2004

RECOGNITION OF EXCELLENCE

• Artist grant ‘New Works Grant’ Department of Culture and the Arts (WA), for a new furniture range, 2009.
• Artist Grant ‘MMM: Maker to Manufacturer to Market’, Australian Council for the Arts. Awarded one of three national artist grants for the development of a product for commercialisation, 2006.
• Invited judge for the 2007 Australian Design Award -Dyson Student Award, 2007
• Several grants by various institutions and arts bodies for a solo exhibition; including Curtin University of Technology, Department of Culture and the Arts/ ArtsWA, Pat Corrigan Arts Grant, National Association of Visual Arts, 2003

• Co-Curator; Salone Satellite ‘Riches of Isolation’ exhibition in Milan, Italy and Perth, Australia, 2007
  Invited Guest Speaker; ‘Milan 2006’ at FORM Gallery, WA for the Design Institute of Australia.

Prior to the new 2011 course, Penelope has taught in all year groups for interior architecture, specialising in pragmatic and explorative studios, including furniture design and furntiure hisotry.

With the new course structure Penelope is teaching into the following Interior Architecture units;

• Expressive Structures 222
• Interior Architecture Technology Driven Design 321
• Exploration and Manifestation of Interiors 322
• Research Studio 421 and 422

In the course of teaching these units, I haveencouraged and advised undergraduate students in their participation in state and national competitions including; 

National Student DIA Awards, Dulux Colour Awards, State DIA Awards, and the ‘Object’ National Graduate exhibition.

Awards and national recognition include:

• Supervised honours student Maria Mantecon who was commended in the National Dulux Colour Awards for the student category Years 4-6, 2005. 
• Various students selected for THE EDGE exhibition at the Australian International Furniture Fair.
• Various students over several years for the Design Institute of Australia Commendation Award and Award of Merit in various catergories of Interior Design and Furniture and Lighting.

Major Creative Works

• Forlano, P. 2011. Terrain; occasional table/stool and Terrain; shelving. Canberra: Craft ACT.
• Forlano, P. 2006. Lux Table. WA: WA State Chapter of the Australian Design Institute.
• Forlano, P. 2005. Wild Creeper. Milan/WA: Salone Internazionale de Mobile/Milan Internations Furniture Fair.

Minor Creative Works

• Forlano, P. 2011. 'Terrain' shelving. Canberra: Craft ACT.
• Lommerse, M, Brankovic, K, Eggleston, R, and Forlano, P. 2006. A matter of attitude - "The phenomenon of the 'designer-maker' is probably characteristic of Australian designers - that Antipodean ethic of self-reliance.". Perth: FORM Gallery, Perth.
• Lommerse, M, and Forlano, P. 2006. Curators Essay. Milan: Milan International Furniture Fair.

Group Exhibition of Creative Works

• Forlano, P. 2010. Oldfield Residence. Bentley, WA: John Curtin Gallery.
• Forlano, P. 2010. Terrain Side Table. Bentley, WA: John Curtin Gallery.
• Forlano, P. 2006. Slide Cabinet. Milan: Milan International Fair.
• Forlano, P. 2006. Slide Modular Cabinet. Perth: Form Gallery, Perth.
• Forlano, P. 2006. Wild Creeper Rack. Perth: FORM Gallery.
• Forlano, P. 2004. Linear Carbon fibre furniture range. Milan: Millan International Furniture Fair.
• Forlano, P. 2004. SaloneSatellite. n/a: n/a.

Curating an Exhibition

• Lommerse, M, and Forlano, P. 2006. Riches of Isolation. Milan: International Exhibition - Milan International Furniture Fair.
• Brankovic, K, Eggleston, R, Lommerse, M, and Forlano, P. 2006. Riches of Isolation: unearthing Western Australia's creative potential. Perth: FORM.
• Forlano, P. 2004. Composite Design. Milan International: Milan International Furniture Fair.