Sydney’s vast sea of roofs belies its rich legacy of gardens and gardening. In every direction from the city, large estates and gardens have been subdivided and lost to our ever-increasing need for real estate. Lost gardens explores Sydney’s rich and diverse gardening heritage. more

Photographer Steven Siewert has spent years documenting Sydney’s rockabillies, a vibrant subculture who live and breathe an era that predates their earliest birthdays. The boys dress for cool with stovepipe jeans and slick quiffs, while the women wear dazzling cocktail frocks by night and colourful vintage dresses by day. more

A multi-media work for architectural light, music and multi-channel sound by Mary-Anne Kyriakou, recipient of Peggy Glanville Hicks Composer Fellowship 2008-2009. more

Does originality still exist?
This is a question often asked of Birgit Lohmann, CEO and editor-in-chief of the international online design publication designboom. In this talk Lohmann searches for an answer by drawing on her experiences working in a transcultural context and organising international design competitions. more

Inspired by modernist typography, second year graphic design students at Hornsby College of TAFE have created designs for various media including posters, book covers and animation and collaged the work into an iMovie, multimedia environment. more

Free lunch-time talks every Wednesday and Sunday at the Powerhouse. Throughout August Talks After Noon focuses on some of the unique events, exhibitions and people featured in SD08. more

The most outstanding examples of the latest Australian design and innovation from the 2008 Australian International Design Awards are now on display. The Powerhouse Museum’s annual selection from the finalists include a personal tracking device for skiers and snowboarders, a communications device for firefighters, an electronic earplug for communication in loud environments, and a selection of models from the Australian Design Awards – Dyson Student Awards. more

Buy directly from the cream of national and international design talent, over four days at the Powerhouse Museum. more

Discover how modernism transformed life in Australia across five tumultuous decades from 1917 to 1967. Modern times looks to the city and its skyscrapers, cafes and swimming pools, where modernist ideals of functionalism, internationalism and the healthy body profoundly reshaped Australian culture. more

There’s a hole in my bucket invites 20 local designers and 80 members of the public to put their bucket where their mouth is and photograph a part of Sydney, or a part of their everyday lives, that they consider to be badly designed; and every image must contain the ubiquitous yellow bucket. more

Curated monthly by A&E Metal Merchants, this showcase in the Powerhouse Museum shop brings to light recent work by contemporary jewellers. For Sydney Design 08, A&E has handed the reigns to jewellery students at Sydney College of the Arts. more

Ceramic artists from Australia and New Zealand are invited to participate in this annual exhibition, competition and homage to a universally-loved vessel. Rarely will you see so many interpretations of a single, utilitarian object. more

Presented by the Australian Institute of Architects (AIA) and Bangladeshi Architects in Australia (BAA), this exhibition showcases architectural projects completed in Bangladesh by prominent local architects, international luminaries including Louis Kahn, Paul Rudolf, Constantinos A. Doxiadis and Stanley Tigerman, as well as selected works by architects and students of Bangladeshi origin living in Australia. more

This exhibition explores the work of eight contemporary fashion designers, who not only create new garment forms and new ways of wearing clothes, they also develop entirely new design systems. Featuring work by Simon Cooper, Paula Dunlop, Ess. Laboratory (Hoshika Oshimi and Tatsuyoshi Kawabata), FORMALLYKNOWNAS (Toby Whittington), Anthea van Kopplen, MATERIALBYPRODUCT (Susan Dimasi and Chantal McDonald), Project (Kara Baker and Shelley Lasica) and S!X (Denise Sprynskij and Peter Boyd). more

An exhibition featuring seven contemporary jewellers whose work is at times experimental, confrontational and non-functional. Alice Lang, Tiffany Parbs, Julia de Ville, Leah Heiss, Chelsea Gough, Gabby O’Conner and Melinda Young rebuild, recreate, restore, renovate, remake, reassemble, refashion and re-enact to create works that transcend convention and the body, and take the notion of jewellery to a new level of understanding. more

Workshopped 08 explores the theme ‘Design matters’ by asking participants to consider the questions: ‘What is important about your design? What does it set out to achieve? Where will it find a home? And why does it matter? more

Krispin K, international trend forecaster and fashion guru, returns this year to explore the modern movement in Australia with a fast-paced, fun-filled tour of the new exhibition Modern times. more

Experience the award-winning Arthur and Yvonne Boyd Education Centre, designed by Glenn Murcutt, Wendy Lewin and Reg Lark. Recently nominated in Architectural Review one of the most influential buildings in Australia in the past 25 years, the centre is located at Riversdale, a 20-minute drive from Nowra, overlooking the Shoalhaven River. These guided tours highlight the building’s sustainable design features and extraordinary detailing. more