Five of Canberra’s up and coming female designers are hosting 3 Days of Design, an event to showcase their wares but also highlight the importance of collaboration,

Alex Freeman from Polka Luka, Brownyn Blue from .BDA Interiors, Peita Davis from Gingerfinch, ceramicist Cathy Zhang, and Anna Saboisky from One of Twelve will be exhibiting, everything from furniture to jewellery, homewares and fashion.

And they’ll be supported by Kimberley Ohayon, the owner of The Pop Inn, one of Canberra’s most artfully designed pop-up wine bars, Cuppit's Winery from the south coast, and the team from Bitten Goodfoods.

For Freeman, the event is as much about cementing relationships with other women as it is showcasing Polka Luka’s colourful range of jewellery and homewares.

“As a small business owner you do so much work on your own,” she says.

“Especially as a woman with a small child, I'm home alone a lot of the time, so it’s crucial that we make these connections.”

She’s known Blue since they were about 15 and have been looking for ways to stage an event like this one since she moved back from Melbourne.

“Canberra doesn’t have a lot of spaces, a lot of studios, where it’s affordable to do this kind of thing.”

Blue opened the .BDA Interiors showroom on the corner of Franklin and Furneaux Streets in Manuka about three months ago.

“Foremost I'm a woman in business and I love meeting other women who run their own businesses,” Blue says.

“When I realised what great products and services they offered I wondered why I couldn't get my hands on those things physically in other storefronts.

“A lot of us run our businesses online but in our industry it’s so nice to be able to see and touch things.

“Getting to know the other women, not only are they great people but their ranges are beautiful and I thought it would be a great way to use this space.”

Peita Davis is a former public servant who created Gingerfinch to develop the kind of world she wanted to live in. Her beautiful range has a focus on quality, sustainability, and ethical consumerism.

“There is a real growing group of us in Canberra who are starting new businesses or going into the creative fields,” she says.

“Canberra is a very supportive, open-minded community filled with really dynamic industrious women who are keen to collaborate.”

3 Days of Design kicks off on Friday night with a launch party from 6-9pm and then runs over the weekend from 10am-4pm in the .BDA Interiors showroom.