Contemporary Home Design

I was featured in Contemporary Home Design magazine. Here is the article, which was accompanied by photographs of my designs for Hair Expo.

Born in Queensland, Peter Dwyer began his career in design by studying Fine Art in all forms, majoring in painting, drawing and ceramics but always with a flamboyant and theatrical style.

At the early age of 21, Peter accepted the position of artist in residence at the Queensland University of Technology, Kelvin Grove, and then as drawing and ceramics lecturer at Griffith University. In addition to lecturing, Peter was awarded a grant from the Australia Council for the Arts and then another from Arts Queensland, both helping Peter to create incredible bodies of art work for exhibition. Flying all over Queensland, Peter accepted commissions to paint murals and make sculptures that still stand as testimony to his artistic influence.

One of this most notable project was working with the Brisbane City Council Urban Redevelopment Unit to redesign the streetscape for the suburb of New Farm, a project that lead him into architecture and design for the public sphere.

After a stint as costume and set designer for the contemporary dance season of the Southern Ballet Company in New Zealand, Peter developed a taste for fashion. One-year intensive pattern making and construction at TAFE Queensland and three years fashion design study at East Sydney Tech, supported by part-time work with Nicola Finetti, enabled Peter to combine his experience in fine art and love of tailoring, leading to his first collection which was presented at the illustrious Mercedes Australian Fashion Week in 2000. It was a coup for the fresh face in fashion and he became renowned for slightly abstract, yet wearable pieces, with material choice and composition definitely falling left of centre.

After graduating from East Sydney, Peter worked full-time with Nicola Finetti and then Carla Zampattie in the coveted roles of design assistant, which gave him a great insight into the business side of the industry.

With so much knowledge and experience, Peter was appointed head of the fashion department at the KVB Institute of Technology for four years. This lead to his current position as head of the styling department for the Whitehouse Institute of Design in Sydney and Melbourne, where he has designed and now directs Australia's first degree in Styling and Creative Direction.

At DesignEX 2008, Peter was asked to create a stage performance for "Changing Rooms", a show that focused on the idea of resdesigning one room constantly around the themes of beach, city and country. The performance showed the audience how to recreate a room on a daily basis.

Peter has also been heavily involved with Sydney's hair industry, collaborating with the state's top hair stylists to create their photographic looks. After presenting a show of 10 paper ball gowns for Suki Hairdressing at Hair Expo, Peter was appointed fashion director for Sharon Blain's Art of Hair 2006 Hair Expo Finale show and Adam Noble's 2007 Hair Expo Finale show.

Over the years, Peter has become one of the most sought-after stylists and visionaries in the fashion world and complements this by passing on his knowledge to his students. He is a man to watch and we look forward to seeing many more tantalising designs in the near future.