Dinosaur Designs

founded by

Louise Olsen, Stephen Ormandy and Liane Rossler

belongs to

Louise Olsen, Stephen Ormandy and Liane Rossler

about

Louise Olsen, Stephen Ormandy and Liane Rossler met while studying drawing and painting at a Sydney art school in 1983. They formed the company Dinosaur Designs in 1985 and began selling handprinted fabrics and painted jewellery at Paddington Markets. The intuitive creativity that shapes their distinctive work in jewellery and homewares has also informed the development of their extraordinary company. Dinosaur Designs now stands as one of the most visible and successful design-based businesses in Australia, operating its own stores in Sydney, Melbourne and New York as well as exporting to more than twenty countries worldwide.

Dinosaur Designs early jewellery was highly figurative, featuring retro spaceships and robots, prehistoric creatures and tattoo-inspired motifs such as winged love hearts and mermaids. By 1989 the designers had begun to experiment with casting individual beads that could be threaded and assembled in numerous ways. Natural forms like rocks, shells and flowers inspired many of these beads. The figurative work continued through the early to mid 1990s, with whole ranges of products designed around particular themes or narratives including the seaside and the Garden of Eden.

The Dinosaurs expansion into designing homewares in 1990 was triggered by their own home making and the lack of available items that appealed to them personally. Homewares opened a whole new world of design possibilities for them. They could take a specific idea or theme and apply it across a multitude of functional objects serving spoons, dishes, containers and so on then produce them in a variety of vivid colours. The introduction of homewares also opened fresh markets for the company as the demand for big earrings and ornate jewellery began to wane.

Dinosaur Designs is a carbon neutral company focusing on green business practices, and low impact manufacturing procedures. The company also contributes to a variety of charitable organizations, including the World Wildlife Fund, Voiceless, Women for Change Alliance, and protecting the Great Barrier Reef.

Available at Dinosaur Design shops in Melbourne, Sydney, and New York, and boutiques worldwide.

Besides producing their own range, Dinosaur Designs have been commissioned for unique projects including Louis Vuitton for a chess set; the Australian Ballet for a tutu and awards for both the Australian Independent Film Awards and the Bombay Sapphire Design Discovery Awards.