Artist/Designer Call Out 2026

Presented as part of NGV Design Week

Bite Sized Design is an international group exhibition of designers, architects and artists exploring the translation of scale, form and spatial thinking into edible form.

The project emerges from the decade-long practice of Ryan L Foote, a Melbourne/ Hong Kong based designer internationally recognised for his digitally generated 3D sculptural chocolate forms. Operating at the intersection of art, design and gastronomy, Chocolates by Ryan L Foote has redefined chocolate as a medium for spatial experimentation, precision fabrication and contemporary form-making.

With a parallel background in sculpture, set design, installations and ceramics, Foote’s art and design practices investigate and pushes the line between art & design and often with engaging edible experiences 

For Melbourne Design Week 2026, Foote extends this investigation outward. Bite Sized Design showcases the sculptural chocolate forms he has developed over the years while inviting architects, artists, and designers to contribute their own versions—translating their visual language into edible form design at a radically reduced scale.

What happens when monumentality becomes miniature? 

When digital forms become something edible?

  • Architects, artists, interior designers, industrial designers, students and cross-disciplinary creatives from around the world are invited to reinterpret their material thinking at a Bitesize  scale.

    Participants are encouraged to:

    • Reimagine their creative language at a radically reduced scale

    • Designers to step beyond their conventional forms 

    • Reimagine Architectural fragments

    • Play with Urban forms

    • Develop Abstract ideas

    • Material experimentation

    …all translated into a bite-sized three-dimensional chocolate objects to be printed, the brief is intentionally open.

    Each participant can submit more than one design entry. 

    Design three-dimensional digital format:

    • Must be within 28mm x 28mm x 28mm

    • Minimum detail thickness 0.5mm (less might not translate) 

    • Overhang/ Undercuts no greater than 3mm (more optional but might pose risks in chocolate)    

    • Obeys gravity (no impossible balance points)

    • Is submitted as a solid STL or OBJ file, saved to scale

    Participants must also submit:

    • One rendered image

    • A short 100-word concept statement (optional) 

    • Reference Photo (optional)

  • Digital Gallery Submission – Free

    Physical Fabrication:
    $40 First Design Entry
    Additional: $30 Second Design Entry
    Additional: $25 Third DesignEntry

    Concessions: $15 Students 

    Group entry/firm/association: $300 for 20 entries 

    Fabrication fee contributes to 3D printing, exhibition production and catalogue inclusion.

    Multiple submissions are encouraged.

  • When design becomes edible — does it remain architecture?
    Does it become art?
    Or is its meaning found in its disappearance?

  • EOI Registration Deadline: 31 March
    3D Model Submission Deadline: 15 April
    Selection Notification: 22 April

    Exhibition:
    19–27 May
    R L Foote Design Studio, Clifton Hill, Victoria
    Opening Night: 20 May

    Hong Kong Presentation: Dates TBC

  • Selected works will be:

    • 3D printed in resin for long-term exhibition display

    • Professionally catalogued and credited

    • Exhibited on sculptural plinth installations within R L Foote Design Studio

    • Participate in future overseas exhibition

    Some early submissions may be selected for chocolate production and served during the exhibition opening.

    Throughout the exhibition, Chocolates by Ryan L Foote will also present new and signature sculptural chocolate works.

  • Open internationally.
    Open to professionals, emerging designers and students.

    Diversity of discipline, geography and approach is encouraged.

  • People's Choice Award

    Top 10 entries will:

    • Have their design professionally printed and sent to them

    • Receive a curated box of Chocolates by Ryan L Foote

    Limited Edition Award

    Nine selected designers will be offered the opportunity to have their design produced as part of a limited edition chocolate box.

    Designers will:

    • Be credited on packaging

    • Receive two boxes

    • Be able to order additional boxes at wholesale pricing

    Participation in commercial production will be confirmed prior to release.

  • Designers retain full copyright of their work.

    By submitting, designers grant Chocolates by Ryan L Foote the right to fabricate the design in digital, printed and physical and edible form for exhibition and publication purposes.

    All designers will be credited in exhibition materials and catalogue.