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Gordon Andrews (1914–2001) was an Australian artist, graphic designer, and industrial designer. He is best known for the design of Australia's first decimal banknotes.[1] His work also included the design of products such as cookware, jewellery, and furniture, as well as interior design, exhibition design, painting, sculpture, and photography.[2] "He is widely acknowledged as one of Australia's most prominent mid-20th century multi-disciplinary artists."
Gordon Arthur Andrews was born in Ashfield, NSW, on January 10, 1914.
He studied engineering at East Sydney Technical College before switching to graphic design. After graduation, he worked for a Sydney advertising agency, and then moved to London, where he lived and worked prior to World War II. He returned to Australia in 1939.[3]
During the war, Andrews worked as a draftsman for De Havilland, and later, as a supervisor of an experimental hangar.
In the 1950s he worked on commissions in the UK and Italy, and lived with his family in Turin in the mid-1950s. He declined a job at Olivetti (though he would later design furniture for Olivetti showrooms) and returned to Sydney in the early 1960s.
In Sydney, he worked on a projects for the Australian Government including the Australian Pavilion of the Comptoire Suisse trade fair and the New South Wales Government Tourist Bureau. He also designed Australian exhibitions for trade fairs in Paris, Cologne, and Tokyo, as well as the New Zealand Government Tourist Bureau. Later he designed the logo for the Reserve Bank of Australia, and worked on projects for the National Gallery or Australia, as well as Parliament House and the National Athletics Stadium in Canberra. "At a time when Australian design was seen as parochial in outlook and execution, Andrews stood out as a designer of international style and sophistication."[4] [5]
He was the first Australian designer to be elected a Fellow of the Society of Industrial Artists and Designers in the UK (now the Chartered Society of Designers).[6] He was an Honorary Member of the Royal Designers for Industry in London, and the Alliance Graphique Internationale (AGI).[7] [8] He was also awarded the Design Institute of Australia's gold medal in 1985.
In 1993 the Powerhouse Museum staged Gordon Andrews: a designer's life, a retrospective exhibition of his work. The exhibition was documented in a monograph also titled Gordon Andrews: a designer's life.[9] Both the book and exhibition relied on Andrews's extensive archives, which were fortuitously acquired by the museum before his home was destroyed by fire the following year.[10] [11] [12]
Gordon Andrews died in Sydney on 17 January 2001.