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Dean Keep and Jeromie Maver

Book manuscript: Man of steel: The industrial design practice of Clement Meadmore

Focusing on the early industrial design practice of Clement Meadmore and his contemporaries, Dean and Jeromie's honorary fellowship focused on a book manuscript centring on the now long forgotten, yet dynamic, design and arts scene in Melbourne during the 1950s.

In 1952, Clement Meadmore set up an independent design practice that drew inspiration from the wave of modernism that had washed across postwar Australia. Meadmore was a creative force, producing a small range of innovative furniture and lighting designs, popular with the elite architects of the period. In 1956 he received critical acclaim for designing the interiors of the iconic Legend cafe and T House in the Melbourne CBD.

Meadmore established business and creative relationships with renowned artists and designers operating in Melbourne, and in1959, with the assistance of Max Hutchinson, he established Gallery A Melbourne, a showcase for abstract art.

Dean Keep is a lecturer/researcher at Swinburne University, where he teaches across a range of media disciplines including digital video and audio, digital imaging, convergence cultures and multi-platform narratives. He holds a Masters by Research degree and has published in peer-reviewed academic journals, and curated a number of contemporary art exhibitions.

Dean has advised on Australian design history for Powerhouse Museum, Ian Potter: NGV Australia and the CAE, and also maintains an Australian mid-century design blog that has attracted over 100,000 views.

Jeromie Maver is a researcher and collector of Australian mid-century design. Along with Dean Keep, he has spent the last eight years building an archive of print materials, ephemera and interviews relating to this period. While currently focused on the design practice of Clement Meadmore, he also has an interest in the émigré designers of the 1950s, and in particular the design oeuvre of Professor George Korody and the Sydney-based atelier Artes Studio.

Jeromie has advised on Australian design history for the Powerhouse Museum, Ian Potter: NGV Australia and Museum of Applied Arts, Budapest. He also provides research support to Dean Keep's Australian mid-century design blog, and is currently an honours student at RMIT University.