A FORMER Mornington VCE student has earned a prestigious honour with her impressively crafted recipe book project being selected for exhibition at the Melbourne Museum’s Top Designs showcase.
Caitlin Bouwmeester, who graduated from Padua College last year, created the piece as part of her year 12 visual communication design studies, which features vibrant digital illustrations, clear typography, and nutritional information.
The exhibition, which runs from 29 March to 20 July, celebrates Victoria’s next generation of designers, featuring 77 student works that re-imagine innovative, renewable and inclusive futures.
Caitlin said she was “super excited” to discover that her book titled The Fresh Produce Recipe Book – Greenlife Mornington Peninsula had been selected.
“A lot of love went into my folio and design to create something that I was completely proud and satisfied with, so to see my efforts rewarded by being recognised in the Top Designs Exhibition at Melbourne Museum, was pretty special!” she said.
Caitlin said as part of her project requirements, she had to create a client for their design, in which she fabricated a small independent non-for-profit organisation named Greenlife Mornington Peninsula. The final recipe book promotes healthy eating through locally sourced produce, she said, with the inclusion of vibrant digital illustrations of fruit and vegetables featured on both the front cover and within the recipe page layouts. “The design process as well as the final recipe book design formed half of my final folio which consisted of the design process of two different communication needs,” she said.
Asked what was behind her inspiration for her book, she said “Initially I wasn’t sure what to design, but I decided that the issue that I was going to focus on was supporting healthy eating choices”.
Museums Victoria director and acting CEO Sean Royal said the “exceptional showcase of student work not only highlights the remarkable creations on display, but celebrates the ideas, creative processes and critical thinking that inspire us all to reimagine our future”.
First published in the Mornington News – 8 April 2025
