Natasha Palinic

Industrial Design

What I love most about design is that it gives the opportunity to solve real world problems in a creative and beautiful way.

My name is Natasha Palinic, and as a young Industrial Designer my goal is to work in a team of likeminded people sharing the same passion for practical yet sustainable design outcomes. My experience in the design field has broadened my knowledge, enabling me to develop skills surrounding product manufacturing, material sourcing, supplier communication & iterative development. A key takeaway from this is that all good designs take time.

In my final year at Swinburne I set out with an ambitious goal. This goal was to not only design a product to improve the hybrid working experience, but to rebuild connections and overall purpose for co-location/the office. My project, Dela, is about "bringing people closer together so that they can work effectively apart". Dela is a modular fit-out that’s fit for your team; providing an agile solution to the current scenario of rentable offices in which the teams who occupy this space continuously change; as such the co-located office itself should also be flexible/open to change.

Am seeking to be inspired, to innovate & to collaborate across disciplines.

DELA | The fit-out that's fit for your team

Dela is not just another office partition. It allows your workspace interior to be re-imagined and changed when you move in.

DELA | Promotional Video Snapshot

PLASTAP | Minimal impact. Minimal waste.

A humble tap with a recycled exterior; giving new life to plastic waste.
Designed in collaboration with Lucy Callahan

KENOBI | A socially responsible leaf blower

Inspired by the French Repairability Index, Kenobi is designed to provide users with the power and right to repair to promote overall product longevity.
Designed in collaboration with Josh Green

TUNNEL TABLE | A two-in-one coffee table for the pet lovers home

Acknowledgement of Country

The School of Design and Architecture respectfully acknowledges the Wurundjeri peoples of the Kulin Nation as the Traditional Owners and knowledge-keepers of the lands, waters and sky that surround us, where we work, learn, create, communicate and make place. We recognise that sovereignty has never been ceded and this always was and will always be Wurundjeri Country. We pay our respects to Elders past, present and to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who continue to make a better world through design.

We extend our acknowledgement to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander staff, students, alumni, real-life clients, and knowledge keepers, who have contributed to our own education diversity and growth. We will continue to ensure that staff and students respectfully honour ancestral connection to Country and Place in everything that they do.

We are dedicated to the notion of design to make a better world and we acknowledge that making tools, shaping place, sharing stories, making meaning, wayfinding and collaborating have long been and continue to be both central and integral to First Peoples' cultures. We recognize that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples’ cultural contributions have continued relevance to design practice and commit to: reconciling ancestries of design and contemporary practice as well as pursuing culturally and professionally appropriate ways to engage with a diverse population of colleagues, industries and clients. In a time of treaty-making and voice we understand that there are overlaps between caring for Country and the sustainable production of goods, services, experiences, products and buildings.

Guided by the principles of respect, reconciliation, and reciprocity we undertake to indigenising and decolonising design practice by dismantling colonial structures and challenging biases that have marginalised Indigenous voices and design.

As students of SoDA you will be given opportunities to both engage with and educate yourself in Indigenous creative practices and cultural protocols through a lens of inclusivity, diversity, respect, mutual understanding, inter-cultural dialogue in all aspects of design practice. Indigenous people have been telling stories, making tools, and connecting to Country through visual media, placemaking and place marking for more than 60,000 years and these practices are part of an ongoing, evolving and live tradition.