RePurposed: reimagining a Melbourne icon for people, place and planet

RePurposed invites people to see, learn and contribute to how we’re reimagining one of Melbourne’s most iconic places, Queen Victoria Market, as a community hub for a circular and purposeful future. 

In line with Melbourne Design Week’s 2026 theme of Legacy, this event offers a behind-the-scenes look at the evolving Purpose Precinct at Queen Victoria Market and the collaborations shaping a more sustainable marketplace. 

Each year, the market generates more than 800 tonnes of organic waste and nearly 700 tonnes of cardboard, along with plastics, packaging, timber and glass. Event attendees are invited to explore the site through guided tours, live interactive demonstrations and informal conversations with collaborators working within the precinct. These experiences offer a glimpse into how materials, systems and partnerships are being developed and tested in real time. 

At the heart of the program are the Moving Feast Kitchen and Loopy Lab, showcasing practical, on-site approaches to transforming food and material waste into new products, resources and opportunities. Visitors will be able to create and take-home jar of quick pickles and a pen or carabiner - all made from surplus materials. 

Visitors can also view and discuss a selection of past innovation work developed with universities, designers and industry experts through design sprints and collaborative projects, highlighting how circular ideas are explored, prototyped and brought to life within the market context and will be invited to contribute thoughts and circular product ideas in an interactive activity,

RePurposed is both a reflection on what’s been built so far and an open invitation to imagine what comes next in a market that connects people, place and planet through design, enterprise and shared purpose. 

As part of Melbourne Design Week, the event contributes to an ongoing design legacy by demonstrating how a city icon can evolve through collaboration, experimentation and circular thinking creating systems and experiences that endure beyond the week itself.