Lucy Simpson
Lucy Simpson is a Yuwaalaraay woman, designer and maker based on Wangal Country in Sydney.
Lucy Simpson is Creative Director and Principal Designer of Gaawaa Miyay, a First Nations process-led studio practice inspired by Country, relationships, continuity and exchange.
Grounded in the philosophies of First Nations design, Simpson’s multidisciplinary practice maps place, experience and story through materiality and transfer. Working across commercial, conceptual and community-based projects, her work spans interiors, textiles, fashion, ceramics, glass, object design, installation and public art. Through Gaawaa Miyay, she explores how design can connect people and place, and how First Nations knowledge systems continue to shape contemporary practice and wellbeing.
Recent projects include Held for Sydney Festival (2025), the St George Hospital public artwork commission Water Story (2025), and Yananurala / Sitelines for the City of Sydney public art program, Dhunbarrbil, Dhuuyaay for Breville Australia (2022), Galuma-li for Bloomberg Sydney (2021), Bawuwan with Urban Art Projects (2020), creative hoardings for the City of Sydney (2019), and collaborative installation and textile projects with Qantas, Westpac and Lendlease.
Simpson has exhibited widely across Australia and internationally, including Eucalyptusdom at the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences (2021), long water: fibre stories at the Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane (2020), and Ngaliya Diyam / We Are Here at Granville Art Centre (2020), Linear at the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences (2019). Her work has also featured in exhibitions and design presentations in India, the United Kingdom and the United States.
Simpson graduated with a Bachelor of Design from UNSW Art & Design and is currently a PhD candidate at the University of Technology Sydney, where her research focuses on the continuing role of First Nations design in interconnected wellbeing for people and place.
In this interview, Simpson reflects on how drought and environmental grief reshaped her practice, leading her to work with reclaimed and waste materials to tell stories connected to Country. She also speaks about anxiety and isolation experienced as an artist, and how NAVA’s Code of Practice has provided reassurance and support in valuing her labour.
Video production by Atypical 2025.
Image: Lucy Simpson, photo by Joseph Mayer, 2026.
ID: Photo of Lucy Simpson seated in a white studio space holding bundles of materials used for weaving. A metal grid behind displays bark, grasses and branches, while curved mirrors reflect different parts of the workspace. Several pale carved vessels are arranged on the floor to the right. She wears a grey T-shirt, ripped light blue jeans and red sneakers, and looks directly at the camera.
About NAVA
The National Association for the Visual Arts (NAVA) is a Membership organisation that brings together the many voices of the contemporary arts sector to improve fundamental conditions of work and practice. We do this through advocacy, education and the Code of Practice.
