Scott Duncan, Choice Quality

Winner, Art Category

earthenware, glaze, underglaze, nylon and timber, 200x65x38cm

Scott Duncan's practice embraces an experimental approach to ceramics, combining salvaged moulds, upcycled and handmade tools.

Referencing everyday packaging materials such as fruit box cardboard, this work reflects on cycles of consumption, waste and renewal. Handmade beads from waste clay and custom surface treatments to create a collage-like visual language. Textural contrasts shift between rough industrial surfaces and lustrous finishes reminiscent of Italian Bitossi and Bendigo Pottery, highlighting tensions between mass production and handmade permanence.

Through retro forms and figurative sculptures inspired by antique paper dolls, Duncan explores memory, materiality and sustainability, inviting reflection on environmental responsibility and our relationship with the natural world.

Prize: $20,000

Judges' comments

Scott Duncan’s unique visual language and experimental approach is, at first glance, playful. But beneath its humour lies a deeply considered reflection on the state of the environment today. By transforming and elevating everyday forms, the artist explores the interconnections of agriculture, memory and material culture. Choice Quality looks us straight in the eye, meeting us with familiarity and great warmth while also confronting us with deep questions.

Nahum McLean, Stefan Lie & Ben Styles, The Motherboard

Winner, Design Category

foam made from waste Kombucha SCOBY, sawdust and lignin. MotherBoard is constructed using SCOBY foam, paulownia timber stringers, flax cloth and bio-epoxy resin, 200x54x8cm

The Motherboard responds to a long-standing tension within surfing: its deep dependence on pristine coastal ecosystems alongside the environmental harm embedded in the petrochemical materials used to produce surfboards and accessories.

The Motherboard envisions a future where surf craft are made from biodegradable, locally sourced materials which are less reliant on non-renewable resources. It pushes the boundaries of biobased material research by developing a cellulose foam and surfboard prototype, an object that requires specific material properties of density, strength and shapeability. The surfboard is crafted from foam created with SCOBY, a by-product of the Kombucha brewing industry. The SCOBY was diverted from landfill and combined with other cellulose-based ingredients to create a 100% biodegradable foam alternative.

Prize: $20,000

Judges' comments

This was probably the hardest judging event I have experienced! The level of works was exceptional. This work stands out because it is pushing the practice of Product Design in a way that has a life beyond the object. The exploration of a new material which is used in this product has the potential to make impact in many other areas. Beyond materiality, the object itself is designed masterfully and exceptionally, accompanied by a great vision of the future. Congrats team!

Margot Wrightson, Gang Gang

Winner, Young Artist & Designer 7 to 12 years

clay and feathers, 30x10x10cm

Margot chose to make a Gang-gang cockatoo because it is endangered. She learnt about endangered animals at school.

Margot likes it's distinctive call, pattern that it's feathers make and it's beautiful colours. She would be very sad if it became extinct.

Prize: $1,000

Judges' comments

A very creative response and beautifully made work, in response to endangered gang-gang cockatoo.

What a spectacular artwork of a Gang-gang cockatoo! These are such inquisitive & characterful birds, now endangered since the 2019/2020 bushfires. Margot has captured their unique beauty & reminded us to find joy in the world around us and fiercely protect our vulnerable wildlife for future generations.

Elsa Gong, What We Keep

Winner, Young Artist & Designer 13 to 18 years

mixed media assemblage using acrylic paint and found plastic toys on canvas, 61.3x58x6.5cm

From afar, this artwork appears to depict animals in a natural environment, but closer inspection reveals depictions and figurines of plastic animal toys.

The discarded children's toys reflect how society shapes our understanding of nature from an early age, with artificial, plastic versions of animals becoming objects of comfort, play and nostalgia. The irony of the toys imitating the very creatures they contribute to destroying creates discomfort, causing the familiar objects to appear invasive.

Price tags further objectify the animals, reducing them to collectible objects and transactions, reinforcing the idea of nature as replaceable from birth. The contrast between childhood innocence and environmental degradation questions what humanity has chosen to preserve - immortal plastic replicas or the fragile reality of the natural world.

Prize: $2,000

Judges' comments

This is a beautifully executed painting that immediately draws you in. Conceptually clever, it playfully reminds us of our responsibility as consumers. It asks us to value the natural world that inspires and sustains so much of our lives. It’s a thoughtful exploration of the complexity of our times. Memorable and deeply relevant.

This is conceptually and technically exceptional work. An artwork that immediately makes the viewers feel something, beyond its aesthetic. The use of materials to literally remind us of the deeply rooted, commodified thinking about the natural world from an early age is clever. Well done, Elsa!

Isabella Niu, The Guardian Below

Highly Commended, Young Artist & Designer 7 to 12 years

watercolour on paper, 37x52cm

My artwork shows a giant chameleon carrying a small city on its back. A chameleon changes and adapts to its environment, just like humans should learn to live more gently with nature. I imagined a world where cities and nature exist in balance instead of against each other. Through this artwork, I wanted to show that even modern human life still quietly depends on the natural world beneath it.