EVENTS | The Great Outdoors

May 25, 2026

EVENTS

Reflecting on The Great Outdoors — Melbourne Design Week 2026

As part of Melbourne Design Week 2026, Mark Tuckey presented The Great Outdoors — an exhibition offering a preview of our latest outdoor collection and an exploration of contemporary outdoor living grounded in material honesty, local production, and an enduring connection to place.

Developed for both residential and commercial settings, the collection brings together seating, dining and occasional pieces crafted from reclaimed and sustainably managed Australian hardwoods. Each piece celebrates the natural density, grain and variation of solid timber — embracing the richness and individuality inherent to the material itself.

At the heart of The Great Outdoors is a slower, more considered approach to outdoor living. One that values longevity over excess, thoughtful craftsmanship over disposability, and environments designed to evolve naturally over time.

Presented within an immersive understory landscape created in collaboration with Eckersley Garden Architecture, the exhibition invited guests into a quiet dialogue between furniture and flora. Inspired by native forest ecologies, the living landscape created a layered sensory experience — softening the boundaries between indoors and outdoors and highlighting how design can exist gently within the environment rather than apart from it.

Hosted within our Thornbury workshop - where the collection itself was designed and made - the exhibition brought together guests, collaborators and the local design community to celebrate Australian design, craftsmanship and local manufacturing.

The Great Outdoors reflects a legacy that continues to shape the Mark Tuckey approach - one defined through material honesty, environmental responsiveness, and a deep respect for Australian timber and local making. Through this collection, we explored not only how we furnish outdoor spaces, but how we gather, connect and dwell within them.

Thank you to our incredible collaborators and partners who helped bring The Great Outdoors to life, during this year's Melbourne Design Week.