Elliat Rich is a multi-disciplinary designer based in Alice Springs. With a practice covering cross-cultural resources, exhibition design, public art, furniture, product development and limited run objects, Rich is known for the intellectually rigorous conceptual foundations of her work. According to design writer Stephen Todd, Rich's design process is 'one of rapprochement – integrating and echoing the culture in which she executes her work'. Rich's works reflect her beliefs about the possibility of meaningful and peaceful collaboration.
In 2016, Rich was commissioned to design chairs for The Pool at the Australian pavilion at the Venice Biennale of Architecture. Designed by Rich, the Anerle-aneme chairs are handmade from strips of spray-painted black, ochre and blue steel by a team of seven craftspeople from the Centre for Appropriate Technology. Anerle-aneme means 'sit a little while' in the Arrernte language of central Australia.
This year, Rich has collaborated with Brazilian design superstars Fernando and Humberto Campana on Vitória Régia, produced with Aboriginal makers and commissioned by the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) for the current NGV Triennial. She was also an exhibiting designer in the gallery's Designwork 01 exhibition (the inaugural in an ongoing series dedicated to exhibiting the best contemporary Australian design and presented as part of the NGV's Design Week) at Sophie Gannon Gallery in 2017.
Rich completed her Bachelor of Design at the College of Fine Arts, UNSW with first class honours in 2006. In 2014 she and her partner launched Elbowrkshp, a studio, retail space and workshop that they share with other creative professionals. She was awarded the Australian Furniture Design Award for her sculptural vanity, Place, 2017, which was acquired by the Art Gallery of South Australia.
