On 18 May 2025, we transformed our Docklands workshop into something unexpected. ALPAKA Labs – our new experimental design studio – opened its doors with Carrying LOUD, a boundary-pushing exhibition curated by artist and designer Nysa Rohatgi for Melbourne Design Week.

Fifteen emerging creatives took on a simple provocation: Carry. What followed was anything but simple. The concept exploded across mediums, morphing from bags to sculptures, furniture to homeware. Each piece challenged what it means to carry – physically, emotionally, symbolically.

Two Perspectives Converge

ALPAKA’s View

ALPAKA has always been about movement and adaptation. But ALPAKA Labs represents our next evolution – a working studio where experimentation trumps commercial constraints. It's where we support design that refuses to whisper. Design that's culturally resonant, unapologetically bold, and yes, LOUD.

The Curator's Vision

For Nysa, Carrying LOUD made visible the invisible labor of carrying. Her curatorial debut built bridges between established and emerging voices, creating space for risk-taking without compromise. The result? A community united by shared provocation and creative freedom.

Standout Moment

The exhibition delivered surprises at every turn:

Maryam Moghadam's Cheeky stools turned sitting into subversion. Part sculpture, part satire, they packed a punchline with unexpected depth – bodily, bold, and delightfully scandalous.

Barnabas Wouters-Dean's FFFI chair created tension through contrast. Cold steel met plush faux fur in a towering statement that redefined comfort.

Melvin Josy's Nandi Seat brought quiet power to the space. Woven with reverence and shaped like a sacred guardian, it carried cultural memory without falling into sentimentality.

Carl Broesen and Nysa Rohatgi's Ipsum demonstrated precision engineering meets poetic balance. This corner shelf adjusted with weight, finding equilibrium between architectural rigor and organic response.

Each piece stretched our brief in unexpected directions – fresh, sharp, uncompromising.

Why ALPAKA Labs Matter

ALPAKA Labs isn't a gallery. It's not a showroom. It's a studio that evolves with ideas – a platform for pushing design into uncharted territory.

"Keep moving forward" drives everything we create. With Carrying LOUD, we moved forward together – supporting emerging designers, sparking critical dialogue, and expanding what our brand can hold.

This exhibition marked our beginning. For ALPAKA Labs. For a new creative network. For a different model of collaboration between brand and culture.

We're proud to have hosted it. And we're just getting started.

Carrying LOUD was an official exhibition of Melbourne Design Week 2025, an initiative of the Victorian Government through Creative Victoria.