‘Being Aboriginal has been a major advantage in my life. I’ve spent my life celebrating it, and I will spend the rest of my life screaming it from the rooftops’.

Alison Page: interior designer, jeweller, social activist and new mum. Image courtesy of Richard Weinstein.

Alison Page is a designer and artist at the forefront of contemporary Indigenous design in Australia. A Tharawal woman from La Perouse in Sydney,  Alison  brings her unique Indigenous perspective to her roles as mother, interior designer, jeweller, social activist and panellist on the ABC television program The New Inventors.

Alison started her home-based business in 2001 with a loan through IBA’s Business Development and Assistance Program.

1. The bower bird

‘My mum is a bower bird, a big op-shopper’, said Alison, ‘and my sisters and I are all obsessive collectors too. I think it’s the rush you get when you find something unusual or fantastic, even some everyday object. Growing up we were broke, but we still wanted to be ‘groovy’, so we had to develop our own personal styles, think about our personal identity’.

During a visit to Canada in the third year of her Bachelor of Interior Design, Alison was introduced to the work of First Nations Architect Douglas Cardinal. She said: ‘Douglas was designing these major museums of First Peoples. I saw him injecting spirituality into his designs, expressing traditional stories and cultural values, and I thought wow, that is it. That trip was definitely a turning point for me’.

Alison continues to seek out inspiration to inform her work. ‘I’m still a bower bird’, she said. ‘I teach design at a technical college, and will take my students out op-shopping and tell them to pick something that they think represents good design. It might just be a shoe, or a piece of crockery; there’s always something that will make you stop and think’.

2. The new inventor

After graduating from university Alison joined Merrima Design, Australia’s first Indigenous architecture group. Merrima collaborates with urban and rural Indigenous communities to deliver culturally appropriate architecture, landscape design, interiors and public art that tell the story of the local area, its people and ancestors.

‘Our design philosophy at Merrima connects us’, said Alison. ‘We all have our own businesses now, but we still get together to chew the fat about our current thinking. And we’re now starting to develop international networks of Aboriginal architects and designers, because a lot of Aboriginal values are universal. So looking after land, that’s a cultural value that translates to environmentally sensitive design. And activism – a building can be an act of power in a community, it can be an act of social justice that gives you a voice’.

Alison says Australia needs to develop its own unique design style and visual identity. Central to that identity, she believes, should be a respect of Indigenous culture and its focus on connection. She said: ‘Connection between family, between people and the earth…that’s my spirituality. I want ritual, and I want a sense of connectedness. Because we’re all tiny dots in the same universe, and to understand that perspective and be reminded of that perspective in everyday objects and buildings is important’.

Since 2004 Alison has been a regular panellist on the ABC television program The New Inventors which showcases Australian innovation. She says the designs and ideas put forward feed her own imagination. ‘It stops me from getting stuck in my own little world’, she said. ‘I open my design brief for the show and never know what I’m going to get – roller skates, underpants or a design for a water tank!’

3. The artisan

The Saltwater Freshwater rings from the Diamond Dreaming jewellery range. Image courtesy of Richard Weinstein.

Through her television appearances Alison came to the attention of Michael Neuman of prestigious Sydney jewellers Mondial Neuman. Michael invited her to collaborate on a range of contemporary jewellery blending Indigenous storytelling with fine craftsmanship.

Alison said: ‘I was initially worried about how it could work. But Michael totally understood and valued the contemporary expression of Aboriginal culture. It took a couple of years of collaboration working out the designs and how the business side could work. It was slowly, slowly building trust – but I guess that’s how I work with communities too. And it has been a truly rewarding and fruitful partnership for us all’.

The result is the award winning Diamond Dreaming (external website, new window) range featuring locally sourced Argyle pink diamonds and other precious metals. Alison has designed each piece to convey an aspect of everyday Indigenous life, with universal relevance. The Saltwater Freshwater ring, for example, represents the meeting of ocean and estuary. She said: ‘So I was thinking about the mixing of the waters being like two people coming together in marriage. And because the mangroves in estuaries are where eggs are laid and new life is nurtured, this ring has mangroves engraved on it, and little diamond eggs’.

Alison’s ‘Totem’ necklace, which represents Indigenous connection to land, won a top award at the 2008 Jewellers Association of Australia Awards.

Alison believes her partnership with Mondial Neuman, which is built on trust and integrity, is a business model that demonstrates how Indigenous designers and manufacturers can work together.

4. The social activist

Alison believes that supporting Indigenous design is social activism in practice. She said: ‘What I am doing when I hand jewellery, designs or buildings over to people is to engage whole communities in social activism. And by buying work from an Aboriginal artist, Australians can engage in positive social activism because they are helping that person achieve economic independence’.

Alison's designs for window blinds at the Cavanbah Centre, Coffs Harbour City Council. Image courtesy of Grieg Traynor.

Alison is passionate about establishing a national Indigenous design collective to facilitate more partnerships between designers and manufacturers. It is an idea she took to Kevin Rudd’s 2020 Summit in 2008 where it received positive encouragement. She said: ‘There was a point at which I recognised that I could continue to go out and find someone to invest in Alison Page doing her stuff, or I could try to work with government and other agencies to get a collective together through which more Aboriginal designers could benefit.

‘I want to change perceptions about Aboriginal art. I want to see Aboriginal jewellery, clothing, interior fabrics, wallpaper, carpets, lighting, graphics and home wares as a part of mainstream Australian design. I don’t want to do all of it myself, but I want to be part of it and be inspired through it.’

Since the summit Alison has been piloting her idea for a collective on the mid north coast of New South Wales. Ten Local Aboriginal Land Councils have formed the Saltwater Freshwater Alliance to collaborate on an annual arts and culture festival, skills workshops and joint applications to fund major projects that benefit artists across the whole region.

Alison believes such coordinated approaches could promote meaningful employment opportunities and economic independence for Indigenous arts and craftspeople living all across Australia.

5. The frequent flier

Having moved from Sydney to regional New South Wales, Alison understands the challenges of running a business outside a major city. She said: ‘After I moved, I was operating my business out of my spare bedroom, with a computer, printer and scanner I got through my IBA loan. Since then I’ve been phoning, faxing, emailing, and flying off when I need to meet clients’.

With advances in technology Alison believes that more Indigenous Australians in regional and remote areas should consider a home-based business as a means of overcoming issues such as access to transport and child care. She said: ‘For young people especially, staying close to land and family, and learning about your culture and heritage, there are opportunities for you to make money from being exactly where you are. You could become a cultural tourism operator, a children’s clothing designer, or you could deliver aged care services in a culturally appropriate way, or work on the land in regeneration. You have to think outside the square, be really creative in your thinking and keep your culture strong and alive’.

Alison says that having access to expert advice, information and support such as that offered through IBA’s Business Development and Assistance Program, increases the likelihood of businesses being successful over the long term. She says she struggled with learning new business and accounting systems, but said: ‘You can learn to be a business person in the same way you can learn to be creative. I’ve taught myself MYOB accounting, and I’m loving it because I can stop being anxious about where things are headed, I have the control’.

6. The mum

As a new mum Alison is back in bower bird mode, critiquing everyday household objects and dreaming up improvements to solve practical problems faced by new mothers. She credits motherhood for her increasing involvement in strategic economic development initiatives.  ‘I think more outside my own square now’, she said. ‘I’m thinking about Alby and the world he is going to grow up in. How unreal for Alby to be an Aboriginal now. Yes, there are some wicked problems out there, but if we concentrate all our energy into making our young people feel good about themselves, having strong cultural knowledge and being economically independent, then all those other problems go away’.