When I was fifteen, I walked into Greville Street Bookstore for the first time. They had a wall dedicated to design books and another to glossy magazines I had never dreamt existed. Being the young lad I once was, I couldn't afford much. But I had to buy something.

The celebrity hotshop of the time Rinzen, had created a book called RMX. I loved the idea, featuring 96 remixes of artists work. Sadly, it came in way over my budget. But to my surprise Rinzen had released a condensed poster version with a similar concept and a considerably cheaper price tag. It compiled works remixed by designers where, 'the first participant produces a piece, with only the final edge being passed onto the next player. They must then continue the image, taking off from where it began.'

Taking pride of place across two walls in my room, I stared at it for many hours. It was a stunning 3.6 metre design masterpiece. Not only did it look good, it marked the start of a booming marketable design trend, the collaboration project.

Everywhere I look they seem to appear in a range of forms. In 2005, the then RMIT student Martin Hungerford won the Saxton Scholars competition with the design-for-charity project Umbrella Street Art. It showcased the talents of twenty national and international designers and artists, each customising a white umbrella that ultimately hung from the atrium ceiling inside Federation Square.

This month the creator of Speakerdog (Ben O'Brien) decided to get 14 different designers to decorate their own versions of his wacky creation. Visit the website and download a pdf template if you want to make your own. I opted for the brain eating zombie dog, designed by Sjor Strimbach. The outcome of my cut & paste session sits at the top of this entry. It really is a nice idea and a bit of harmless fun. But it got me thinking, how far can these collaboration projects go before they become another victim of consumer culture?

Nike have been doing it for years with sneakers, yet telecommunications giant Samsung are the most recent global heavyweight to jump onboard. Unveiled during Melbourne Fashion Week, the Samsung Developing Designer Program hit town with a wave of media frenzy and B-grade celebrity overload. (Matt Welsh thinks the designs are 'totally cool'.) Although it may have been over-hyped, it did feature some quality fashion talent with the likes of Gorman, Alpha60 and the ever strange Richard Nylon taking part. My verdict on the outcome is that it lacked all the qualities needed for an underground gen-y success.



Mass-consumer catastrophes aside, I am glad to report Rinzen have finally released the long awaited next instalment in the RMX series, Neighbourhood. A small hand-made doll was sent around the world to several designers who re-worked it's previous incarnation. The book is beautiful, it has a felt cover.

Collaboration projects will always have their place in marketable design culture, but only when they're done well. Otherwise they run the risk of becoming another passing fad we're all too keen to wave goodbye.