Design Moment Dinosaur Designs

They’re an Australian design powerhouse and there’s good resin for their success,

- Chris Pearson

Three art-school students began selling jewellery made from modelling clay at Sydney’s Paddington Markets in 1985. They had just launched their label, Dinosaur Designs, but this beast was not exactly making the earth move. One day, they earned just $10, blown on hot chocolates as they commiserated in a cafe.

Then the students – Louise Olsen, Stephen Ormandy and Liane Rossler – began eyeing what another stallholder was selling: resin sculptures. All three had worked with the material in their studies and realised that its moulding properties were similar to the clay they’d been using. So they began experimenting with polyester-resin jewellery. The results proved a hit with the public, and soon celebrities such as Kylie Minogue and Michael Hutchence were wearing it.