From Waste to Surface: A Community Tile Project

Across three days of Geelong Design Week, visitors are invited to create a unique ceramic tile using simple handbuilding techniques. Rather than making an object to take home, each participant contributes a tile that will become part of a permanent collaborative artwork. Using locally foraged natural materials such as leaves, seed pods, bark, shells and grasses, participants will imprint the clay to reveal the remarkable textures and patterns found within the landscape. Participants are also encouraged to bring along a small object of personal or environmental significance to leave their own unique trace within the clay, embedding individual memories and stories into the collective artwork. Short demonstrations will begin every hour, with participants joining throughout the day. Following the demonstration, visitors will be invited to gather suitable natural materials from the surrounding gardens and pathways before creating their own tile. Following the event, the tiles will be dried and saggar fired using organic waste materials collected from Geelong and the surrounding region, including seaweed, eucalyptus leaves, gum nuts and banksia pods. During firing, these natural materials release minerals and carbon that create rich, unpredictable colours and markings unique to each tile, making every contribution a permanent record of place and process. The completed tiles will be assembled into a permanent public artwork. Together, they will form a collective portrait of community and landscape, celebrating creativity, sustainable design and our shared connection to place.