michael
anderson

ABOUT MICHAEL:

Michael is a writer, designer, and event producer. He initially trained in Architecture, earning an Honours degree, also completing a BFA in Technical Theatre (Stage Design) in Boston, before further postgrad studies in Literary and Cultural Theory, and a Masters in Fine Arts. He was pursuing a PhD in Architectural History at the University of Melbourne when he became enchanted by his muse, buying an Alistair Knox house in Healesville and abandoning further formal studies. He spent decades lecturing in various Australian and New Zealand Universities, in various capacities and in different fields.

As a designer, Michael has created set designs‑and sometimes costume designs‑for ABC TV, Children’s TV drama, dozens of theatre and dance productions, and numerous operas in Australia and NZ, including a World Premiere for Opera Australia in the Sydney Opera House. Event designs, including Fashion Parades, Launches, Openings, Festivals, Weddings, Dance Parties, Exhibition Openings, and Concerts, have provided a stream of commissions. His interior architecture practice has included several notable hospitality and retail interiors, subsequently recipients of numerous awards - local, national, and international. In collaboration with Khoi Bui, for 4 years he produced monthly concerts of chamber music featuring major local and international classical musicians, staged in Healesville.

As a writer, Michael has provided serious, sometimes formal academic commentary in numerous architectural and design journals over several decades, including a monograph published by Oxford University Press. In recent times his writing has focussed on matters close to his heart: he is a regular contributor to Yarra Magazine, recording the people and places that make his home-ground so special. For some years he has been regularly editing and writing for issues of “The Bugatti Bulletin” which records the affairs of Bugatti Club Australia, in a journal which is considered as amongst the best single-marque car club publications in the world.

Michael writes about gardens, music, cars, houses, people, wine, history, but all in relation to ideas. He is a confessed old white male with a privileged education, and not oblivious to the mud in which he’s mired. As a creator of ephemera, he celebrates serious evanescence and impactful redundancy.

Medium: writing, design, event production

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