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Caitlin Dubler

Caitlin Dubler

PhD Candidate
Arts, Design & Architecture
School of Art & Design

Email: c.dubler@unsw.edu.au

Supervisors: Zoe Veness, Bianca Hester, Suzie Attiwill

Caitlin Dubler is a multidisciplinary artist and designer exploring experimental art practice through craft processes. As a trained silversmith and glass artist, her research contributes to critical craft-led research, fusing contemporary craft theory, design futures and creative practice research.

Professionally, she has ten years of experience working with social impact initiatives as a designer, copywriter and all-round creative. These include Centre for Appropriate Technology (CfAT), AbilityMade, Northcott Innovation, Powerhouse Museum, Elbow Workshop, and CSIRO Lab22. She has volunteered extensively with community makerspaces in Sydney, including as a board member with MakersPlace working on Events and Community Engagement (2015-2018). This was in the exciting early days of accessible 3D printing and its promises of radical design democratisation, where there was an upswell of community-led initiatives. These formative experiences can be seen in her current research through a passion for experimental practice and cross-disciplinary collaboration.

Caitlin regularly collaborates with her sister, Natasha Dubler, who is a cellist and sound artist. They had a solo exhibition, Tephra, at Penrith Regional Gallery in 2024. She is also one-third of Shock Lines, with Natasha Dubler and Niki Johnson.

Caitlin has a BA Design (Hons) from UNSW Art & Design where she won the TWT Excellence Highly Commended Award for her Honours research. She worked at the Michael Crouch Innovation Centre, UNSW (2016-2018). She worked as a research assistant with the Interactive Media Lab, UNSW (2021-2023).
Caitlin Dubler is a glass artist and silversmith. Her experimental approach to making shifts narratives of invention from utility to aesthetic desire and pyrotechnical play. Unfolding throughout her research is a craft-orientation which opens traditional notions of creative practice from discrete disciplines to processual encounters. Collaboration, as a generative and generous process, has emerged as an integral method of her practice-led research. Her practice is largely carried out through collaborative work with her sister, Natasha Dubler.
  • Tephra, 2024. Penrith Regional Gallery (solo exhibition). With Natasha Dubler.
  • Shock Lines, 2023. David Li Sound Gallery, Monash University. (installation and 45-minute music performance) With Natasha Dubler and Niki Johnson.
  • Refract: Cello and Glass, 2021. Backstage Music. (16-minute improvised performance) With Natasha Dubler and Niki Johnson.