RMIT Design Archives

The RMIT Design Archives is a growing facility which actively collects material relating to Melbourne design from the twentieth century onwards, including fashion and textile design, architecture, industrial design, interior design, landscape architecture, graphic design, gold and silver smithing and sound. The RMIT Design Archives incorporates the Frances Burke Centre, established in 1994, that housed archives of some of Melbourne’s key fashion and textile designers. Building on this significant collection the RMIT Design Archives is bringing together archives from other design practices in order to tell the story of Melbourne as a design city. These archives are both digital and material, representing historical and contemporary practices.

The RMIT Design Archives supports the work of scholars providing the resources for research into Melbourne’s designed environment, design professions and design practices. Through its association with the Geoplaced Knowledge program of the Design Research Institute it is actively engaged with issues to do with knowledge management and the future role of the archive.