MDW | UnitePlayPerform – Concept Store

Presented by UnitePlayPerform & Melissa Gilbert.

The UPP Concept Store functions as a material storytelling hub: a space where audiences can encounter how design, collaboration, and cultural practice can transform overlooked materials into collectable, wearable, and functional outcomes. Rather than positioning waste as the focus, the store highlights the creative and material possibilities that emerge through processes of reclamation, reinterpretation, and renewal. As a tactile entry point into the wider initiative, it brings together the project’s aesthetic, conceptual, and relational threads in one place.

Presented exclusively during Melbourne Design Week, visitors will have a limited opportunity to acquire a curated selection of works from the UnitePlayPerform Concept Store, including:

• UnitePlayPerform large-scale collectable furniture and objects
• Limited-edition Melbourne Design Week Australian-made 3D knit merino wool jumpers, created in collaboration between UnitePlayPerform and KNOVUS
• UnitePlayPerform embroidered T-shirts and caps
• Object-based artworks and accoutrements by UnitePlayPerform
• Selected reclaimed fabrications and accoutrements by UPP and Defy
• Printed photographic works
• A curated selection of KNOVUS 3D knit products

Participants

Melissa Gilbert
Described by Australian Design Review as “an exemplar of socially engaging art,” and recognised for “excelling in producing socially engaging work,” Melissa Gilbert is known as a “cultural disruptor” (Broadsheet) and was selected for NGV’s Melbourne Design Fair – Discovery, spotlighting the next generation of design leaders. She is the Founder of UnitePlayPerform, a living intelligence studio activating embodied systems change, and co-founder of The Nest Creative Space, Australia’s largest grassroots creative production studio community. Her work has been exhibited at the Carriage Works, Art Gallery of New South Wales, the Rockhampton Museum of Art, the Museum of Brisbane, and MONA, VIVID, Museum of Old and New Art, alongside international exhibitions. Her work has been featured in Vogue and highlighted by ArtsHub as one of the top exhibitions at the Museum of Brisbane for Play Moves. Gilbert is also a keynote speaker and has partnered with Purpose Conference and Adapt NSW as Creative & Wellbeing Partner, and serves as an advisor to the Symbiocene Institute. She is a scholarship recipient of the Masters of Business & Empathy (MBE) at Small Giants Academy, as well as the International Impact Safari, supporting her global leadership in relational culture, systems change, and embodied practice.

KNOVUS – UPP Partner
Patricia Chircop is founder and director of Knovus, a Melbourne-based studio specialising in knit innovation, advanced manufacturing, and technical education. With over 15 years of experience across circular, flatbed, and seamless knitwear, she has built a practice that bridges design, programming, and production. As both a designer and knit programmer. Patricia works in the space between material thinking and manufacturing systems, with a particular focus on the future of localised, technology-led production. She is currently undertaking a PhD at the University of Technology Sydney, researching hyperlocal manufacturing through advanced 3D knitting technologies. Through Knovus, she works with industry and research partners to push knit beyond conventional fashion outcomes and into new design and production contexts.

DEFY – UPP Partner
Defy is Sydney-based company that specialise in designing and manufacturing impactful products made from plastic destined for landfill. We are a passionate team of designers and innovators dedicated to improving the environment through action, rather than words. Our design lead approach to solving complex problems of our past places us at the forefront of the movement to close the loop of our plastic waste streams in Australia.