WILD TENDERNESS
Part of Melbourne Design Week 2026
A ‘romantic’ approach to functional design and bio-matter.
Wild Tenderness is a curated group exhibition that positions design as a social and ecological practice of care. Presented by The Level III in collaboration with designers, artists and makers, the exhibition features products, textiles, wearables, sculpture and collectible design that explore biodiversity, positive matter and materials.
Designer
(Alphabetical Order)
Bella Chen
The rhythm of pattern – 2026
6 (Six) Pieces
Material: cellulose fibre tracing paper, ink, botanicals
Why is it that when people do the same thing everyday, we call it monotonous and mundane.
Repetition brings a sense of personal rhythm for me. It is the pattern of predictability that comes with slight differences only noticeable to the person weaving the pattern.
Lilian Fung
Tenderness in Resistance
Tenderness in Resistance explores the relationship between pressure, protection, and persistence through oxidised sterling silver thorn structures and eucalyptus leaf fibre composites. The hardened silver forms reference defence mechanisms, containment, and the systems we develop in response to emotional and environmental pressures. Emerging through these structures, the bio-material seedlings embody resilience, vulnerability, and regenerative force. Rather than escaping tension, the works consider how softness continues to grow within and through conditions of constraint.
- Through Tension – 2026
- Materials: oxidised sterling silver, eucalyptus leaf fibre composite
- A suspended thorn structure encircling the body, holding tension between protection, endurance, and fragile persistence.
- Through Containment – 2026
- Materials: oxidised sterling silver, eucalyptus leaf fibre composite
- A contained biomaterial emergence held within hardened silver structures, balancing protection, pressure, and restraint.
- Through Persistence – 2026
- Materials: oxidised sterling silver, eucalyptus leaf fibre composite
- Paired forms expressing quiet persistence, where organic growth continues through hardened resistance.
Lishu Guo
Fungal Hymn – 2026
5 (Five) Pieces
Material: Botanical powders (patchouli, pine needles, angelica root), natural binders
Perception emerges through shifting relations between human and more-than-human life. Drawing on fungal ecologies, the work considers life as decentralised and continuously negotiated through proximity, contact, and distributed sensory fields. Botanical powders, natural binders, scent, and light operate as conditions that reorganise perception. Experience takes place within relation itself.
Minjeong Park
- Kido 001 – 2025
- Materials: Discarded papers, Flour paste, Beads
- Discarded paper, folded layer by layer in a gesture of prayer. Waste transformed through repetition, intention, and time.
- Vessel 1 – 2026
- Materials: Discarded magazine, Flour paste, Resin
- Hand-built from discarded magazines and flour paste, these vessels give form to what was made to be forgotten. Each layer pressed by hand, each surface a record of accumulated paper and time.
- Vessel 2 – 2026
- Materials: Discarded magazine, Flour paste, Resin
- Hand-built from discarded magazines and flour paste, these vessels give form to what was made to be forgotten. Each layer pressed by hand, each surface a record of accumulated paper and time.
- Vessel 3 – 2026
- Materials: Discarded magazine, Flour paste, Resin
- Hand-built from discarded magazines and flour paste, these vessels give form to what was made to be forgotten. Each layer pressed by hand, each surface a record of accumulated paper and time.
- The Weight of Information – 2026
- Materials: Discarded magazine, Flour paste, Resin
- Every layer is a page that has already been read, discarded, and forgotten. Hand-built from local newspapers, magazines, and catalogues, this table compresses the everyday flow of printed information into a single, load-bearing form. What was designed to be thrown away now holds the weight of whatever is placed upon it.
333LAB
- Flame^3 – 2026
- Materials: 3D printed Biomaterial, Mixed Media
- a responsive installation conceived by Wu Ming as a source of uncertain light. Its digital flame shifts and flickers, responding to intuitive impulses, allowing it to be extinguished with a breath and reignited with a strike.
- The Root of 3 – 2025
- Materials: Mixed Media
- Within a microscopic tunnel woven by shifting paths of light, an ‘unreal’ space quietly comes into being. Along its inner walls, the source code of a distant flame is inscribed, guiding you across the dark rivers of the digital realm and into a rootseeking journey across time and space There, the flame rekindles and is reborn in the pulse of bits.
- Light · Reflection · Realm – 2025
- Materials: Mixed Media
- Through the transparent medium, the flame casts threefold shadows, from the first bonfire before the altar to the eternal lamps of sanctuaries. Across time, this uncertain light has guided civilizations, becoming the source from which each heart shapes its own sacred ground.
@611
VASE OF COQUILLE FOSSEL – 2026
- Materials: 3D Printed Silica Sand
Produced using a silica sand–based 3D printing composite (silicon dioxide, SiO₂) with a mineral composition closely related to natural stone, emitting no harmful radiation beyond that of natural stone itself.
In contrast to conventional petroleum-based printing materials, @611 explores environmentally conscious material systems and their integration into everyday life through design. Retaining a sculptural permanence and tactile depth, the work proposes a more sustainable material direction for future home objects.
Orchid Husk Table – 2026
- Materials: PLA，Acrylic, Sliver painting, Soil
WATER STONE – 2026
- Materials: 3D Printed Silica Sand, Silver Leaf
@611 is the first brand to combine silver leaf with sandstone 3D printing. The silver surface introduces a hard, cold-toned finish, while its fractured texture resembles cracked earth. Produced using a silica sand–based 3D printing composite (silicon dioxide, SiO₂) with a mineral composition closely related to natural stone, emitting no harmful radiation beyond that of natural stone itself.
Landscape Designer
- Jenson Jheng
Curator
- Haoran Liu
- Zhiti Yang
- Zhuoyang Li
- Yue Liu
- Jenson Jheng
Special Thanks
- Taylor Kim
- heisen Xu
- Tomism Group