LCI Melbourne hosts Home Economics Victoria for second consecutive year
On Friday 15 May, LCI Melbourne proudly hosted the 2026 Home Economics Victoria (HEV) Design Conference — for the second consecutive year as official Conference Partner.
Our Collingwood gallery filled with the secondary teachers who shape the curiosity, the craft, and the confidence of Victoria's young designers. They came to learn, to share, and to see what comes next for their students.
When teachers come to campus, students see what's possible
LCI Melbourne welcomed Victoria's Design and Technologies teachers for the 2026 HEV Design Conference — for the second year running.
On Friday 15 May, LCI Melbourne proudly hosted the 2026 Home Economics Victoria (HEV) Design Conference — for the second consecutive year as official Conference Partner.
Our Collingwood gallery filled with the secondary teachers who shape the curiosity, the craft, and the confidence of Victoria's young designers. They came to learn, to share, and to see what comes next for their students.
The day opened with a powerful keynote from Saskia Baur-Schmid, founder of Australian fashion label hyph-n and recipient of the 2025 Sustainability Award at the National Designer Award, presented at PayPal Melbourne Fashion Festival.
Saskia spoke on slow fashion, ethical responsibility, and the principles of a wasteless future — challenging the room, and through them a generation of young designers, to hold environmental practice and beautiful design in the same hand.
From there, the day moved into the studios. Three of LCI Melbourne's Academic Mentors led hands-on workshops — the same mentors who teach our undergraduate students every day:
→ Natasa Pitra-Grbic, Head of Business & Management — Integrating Digital Design in the Classroom
→ Darran Arabin-Gander, Head of Fashion — Mastering Pattern Making and Draping
→ Kate Medved, Director of Studies — Contemporary Fashion Illustration
For teachers, it was a chance to experience the practice-rich learning their students could pursue next. For students — even though they weren't in the room — it was a small bridge being built between Year 12 and what comes after.
"Partnerships with secondary schools are not just a recruitment exercise — they are a recognition that creative education is a continuum. When we open our campus to teachers, we honour the work they do every day in their own classrooms."
— Adriano Di Prato, Executive Director APAC, LCI Melbourne
If you're a teacher reading this — thank you. We're proud to share our campus with you, and we'd love to keep doing it.
If you're a student reading this — your teachers are paying attention. They're asking the questions, learning the techniques, and meeting the people who can help shape what's possible for you next.
Ready to begin your own chapter?
LCI Melbourne's Bachelor of Design Arts (Fashion & Costume Design) is 2 years of immersive studio practice, real industry briefs, and global perspective — shaping graduates ready for careers in fashion design, costume design, and the wider creative industries.
🔗 Explore the Bachelor of Design Arts → for our June intake.
