surviving sustainability:westwing

Between July 1st – 25th ffiXXed occupied the “westwing”, a project space facilitated by westspace gallery located in Melbourne Central, a major shopping centre in Melbourne’s CBD. The space operated as a multifunctional ffiXXed project base, hosting a number of collaborative activities revolving around ffiXXed visit to Melbourne for State of Design in July 2010. The space operated in a number of ways: as a working studio space used to produce works for two collaborative exhibitions, a temporary retail space, an exhibition space, a showroom, a meeting place, an office etc. The space also facilitated a number of other projects including the Vogue Forums album launch and construction of a flow kitchen project utilizing sustainable design elements, developed by design collective Sibling and Condiment magazine. The westwing became an integrated centre for the development of these and other activities, exploring the possibilities for creating a productive and fluid working space that challenges more expected ideas about how an commercial, creative and social spaces might function. Alongside these activities was an experimental interior design collaboration between ffiXXed and artist James Deutsher which saw the space shift in relation to the needs of the various activities taking place. Using a limited palate of materials obtained through sponsorship deals, the objects and furniture in the space responded to the makeshift and temporary nature of the project, functioning somewhere between installation and functional design.