• Our Team

Material Designs is a local company, and is run by locals.

The current CEO is Gwen Fallenby, who is the daughter of the founder, Myfanwy Fallenby. Gwen is keen to develop opportunities for regional employment in textile design and printing, management, and all aspects of running small social enterprises. She has lived all her life in the region, but has also travelled with her mother to South East Asia and Africa during fabric design trips. She is keen to look at social enterprise organisations as a way of helping global communities, and has been nominated for Small Business Entrepreneur of the Year.

Mimi Badawi is the head of design and the handmade products skills training at Material Designs. Mimi resettled from a Sudanese refugee camp, then moved from Dandenong to Bilby after she met Myfanwy Fallenby at a crafts and design expo. She has raised her family in Bilby with her husband James, who works for BuildStrong Constructions. Her daughter Sally is currently Executive Officer for the Bilby Community Cultural Council.

Myfanwy Fallenby is our founder and President of the Board running Material Designs.

The Board includes local business experts from the Bilby region:

• Mike Agostini, Agostini vineyards and restaurant (and previous Mayor of Bilby)
• Frank ‘Chops’ Lambert, Lambert Butchery
• John Russell, Russell Native Nurseries
• Jan Chang, Chang and Chang accountants
• Stephanie Brookes, Director, Bilby Museum

There is also a representative from Textile and Fashion Industry of Australia (http://www.tfia.com.au/home) on a rotating basis.

• Our Products

Material Designs is working with textiles that provide clothing fabric, decoration and accessories. We work with a range of products that are one-off handmade and specialist accessories, through to more mass-produced designed fabrics. Our handmade techniques for accessories and decoration include hand weaving, crochet and knotting. We also print and dye our trademark African designs of 100% cotton fabric for sale into our national and international markets.

• Our Vision

We’ve been designing textiles since Myfanwy Fallenby started this company in 1997, as a specialist textile designer for the film and television industry. We are true to Myfanwy’s vision, of a company in a regional area providing work to the local women. This has now expanded to welcome our newest residents in a refugee resettlement program that has brought another cultural layer to our community.