About this event
This workshop invites you to explore how something as familiar as a lunch box can tell stories of identity, connection, and belonging.
Step into an interactive installation where food becomes a creative lens for understanding the experiences of Asian students studying, living, and working far from home.
Through four hands‑on stations, you’ll assemble your own bento box—collecting tokens, recipes, and personal reflections that reveal journeys of adaptation, language, cultural exchange, and resilience.
Leave with your completed bento, a message of hope, and an understanding for the diverse paths young people take, when designing their futures.
This year, Monash Design will extend Monash University’s Faculty of Art, Design and Architecture’s commitment to ‘creativity for purpose’, by examining and demonstrating design’s key role in actioning this ambition. Through a series of workshops, interactive engagements, exhibitions and guest lectures, this series of events will showcase the Australian-made design projects with a strong focus on design futures that demonstrate design’s diverse contribution to the world through responsible, thoughtful, inclusive and accountable approaches to design research and practice. It will draw on the extensive and highly respected research of its core research labs, including the Emerging Technologies Lab (designing quantum futures), XYX Lab (queer film stories); and Mobility Design Lab (accessing our cities through improved public mobility systems). Individual researchers and practitioners will contribute to vital discussions and demonstrations such as: sustainable futures and designing research translations. Both Postgraduate and undergraduate student projects and design methods will also feature.
Melbourne Design Week is an initiative of the Victorian Government through Creative Victoria.
Visit designweek.melbourne to view the full program.
Image: AI generated images by Co-pilot (2026)
This workshop at the Victorian Pride Centre is a wonderful opportunity to engage with the rich tapestry of stories that shape our community. St Kilda's vibrant atmosphere adds to the experience, making it perfect for families to explore creativity and connection in a culturally rich setting.
