ADELAIDE.- The first entire exhibition of decorative arts works to be acquired into the Art Gallery of South Australia’s collection has gone on display from 30 November 2012. Collec+ors, acquired in June this year, features works of art by acclaimed Adelaide designer Khai Liew in conjunction with six pre-eminent Australian artists.

One of Australia’s most respected furniture designers, Liew has raised the profile of South Australian design in a global context with his creations. For Collec+ors, he worked collaboratively with Julie Blyfield, Kirsten Coelho, Gwyn Hanssen Pigott, Jessica Loughlin, Bruce Nuske and Prue Venables, all respected leaders in their fields, to create one-off pieces of furniture that incorporate elements of their own practices – glass, ceramics and metalware. The result has been a stunning range of six unique items of furniture.

Art Gallery of South Australia Curator of European and Australian Decorative Arts, Robert Reason says “A subtle beauty pervades all six pieces, transforming the once utilitarian object into a sculptural form. Their shared aesthetic vision and attention to detail rewards us repeatedly. Be it Gwyn Hanssen Pigott’s placement of her porcelain bowls, or Julie Blyfield’s exquisite leaf handles in silver, they are all a pleasure to contemplate.”

Created in 2010 for the South Australian Living Artists Festival, Collec+ors was transported as a whole to London's Design Museum where it was the only Australian finalist in the 2011 Brit Insurance Designs of the Year awards.

The collection has been gifted to the Art Gallery by Michael Armitage, Susan Armitage, Philip Bacon AM, Colin and Robyn Cowan, Julian and Stephanie Grose, Andrew and Hiroko Gwinnett, Jim and Andrea Katsaros, Diana Laidlaw AM, Sonia Laidlaw, Macquarie Group Foundation, David McKee, Pam McKee, Peter and Mary Sutherland, Janet Worth and future donors to the Collec+ors Appeal through the Art Gallery of South Australia Foundation 2012.

Collec+ors is on display in Gallery 11 at the Art Gallery of South Australia from 30 November 2012 to 17 March 2013. In the adjacent gallery a selection of works of art by the artists involved in the project offer Art Gallery visitors the opportunity to become better acquainted with their individual practices.