D3 Design

29/10/2025

BALLMATE Wins Prestigious Good Design Award

We’re thrilled to announce that BALLMATE™, developed by D3 Design in collaboration with tennis expert Ron Kohn of Top Serve Tennis, has been recognised with a 2025 Australian Good Design Award in the Product Design category.

BALLMATE™ is the ultimate all-in-one tennis coaching tool—streamlining ball pickup, feeding, transport, and storage. Designed and manufactured in Australia, it features a lightweight, stable trolley, robust ball baskets each with a 65-ball capacity, and an ingenious V-bar pickup mechanism that collects balls effortlessly without bending or downward pressure. The bags detach for use with a shoulder strap, giving coaches more adaptability and agility on court.

The Good Design Awards jury praised BALLMATE™ as

“a standout example of design excellence… simple, clever, and well executed.”

This recognition highlights D3 Design’s ongoing commitment to practical innovation and collaboration, solving real-world challenges through thoughtful design combining ergonomics, functionality and manufacturability to create meaningful, market-ready products.

The result made full use of D3's expertise in insight-driven concept design, product-testing and prototyping, in-house 3D printing capability, full CAD detailing and intensive liaison with manufacturers overseeing the first production run.

Congratulations to Ron and the D3 team for bringing this idea from concept to court.

09/10/2025

Congratulations to the team at Football Australia on a stellar Australia Cup campaign. It’s been an honour for us to continue to be part of the evolution to the now Hahn Australia Cup. 

With the transition to new sponsorship we embraced the chance to refresh the medal designs, though mindful of the deep heritage behind the Cup, made only subtle refinements.

Thank you to Football Australia for trusting us again as the designer and supplier of the trophy and medals. Congratulations to both the teams who reached the final, particularly to Newcastle Jets FC on their triumph as 2025 Hahn Australia Cup winners.

29/07/2025

NEW DESIGN DROP: Meet FLIP

You know the awkward juggle at cafés, trying to keep your bag off the floor or knee? We’ve just helped solve that.

The FLIP Bag Hook, designed by our team at D3 Design for , keeps your bag clean, secure, and stylishly suspended from any surface. Looks good in use and as a bag accessory.

Elegant. Compact. Strong. Always with you.
Whether you're a designer, traveller, or just hate grimey floors, we want to know—where would YOU use FLIP?

Drop a comment below or tag a friend who needs one!

Like, share, or repost if you’ve ever had a bag-on-the-floor moment!

14/07/2025

One of the joys of being an Industrial Designer is walking into the studio on a Monday morning, opening the 3D printer and seeing what was built over the weekend. It's like magic really to think that the design that was only in your mind and on your CAD screen on Friday has now become reality and you can hold it in your hand.
This is one of the things that makes up keep wanting to come in to work each day and why we love our work so much.

03/07/2025

At D3, we thrive on a good challenge. One of our clients manufactures large brass bird baths, which were previously protected in transit using pool noodles—effective, but not environmentally friendly. We proposed a more sustainable solution: a custom-moulded paper pulp insert, designed to be securely trapped within a corrugated cardboard box.  The bird baths come in three different diameters, so we engineered a single moulding that could accommodate all sizes. After rigorous design iterations and testing, we oversaw the manufacturing process to ensure quality and consistency.

The result? A delighted client, satisfied customers, and a packaging solution that’s better for the planet.

https://www.instagram.com/mallee_design

03/07/2025

At D3, we thrive on a good challenge. One of our clients manufactures large brass bird baths, which were previously protected in transit using pool noodles—effective, but not environmentally friendly. We proposed a more sustainable solution: a custom-moulded paper pulp insert, designed to be securely trapped within a corrugated cardboard box. The bird baths come in three different diameters, so we engineered a single moulding that could accommodate all sizes. After rigorous design iterations and testing, we oversaw the manufacturing process to ensure quality and consistency.

The result? A delighted client, satisfied customers, and a packaging solution that’s better for the planet.

https://www.instagram.com/mallee_design

03/06/2025

Introducing BallMate: Revolutionising Tennis Training.

We're thrilled to unveil the BallMate Tennis System—a groundbreaking innovation designed to elevate tennis training for players and coaches alike.

At D3 Design, we collaborated closely with tennis industry veteran Ron Kohn and professional coaches to develop a versatile, all-in-one solution that simplifies ball collection, feeding, and storage.

The BallMate system features:

- Two lightweight pickup baskets, each holding up to 80 tennis balls, designed for easy shoulder carrying and feeding. Fast ball pickup and feeding with no strain on equipment or the user. Collapses compactly to fit into a tennis bag.

- A collapsible travel cart with smooth-rolling wheels ensuring effortless transport and compact storage. On court the trolley holds the basket at the optimum feeding height.

Our role encompassed the entire product development journey—from initial concept and ergonomic design to prototyping and manufacturing support. The result is a durable, user-friendly training aid that enhances efficiency on the court.

Available in US, Europe and now Australia.

Discover how BallMate can transform your training sessions: https://ballmate.tennis

02/10/2024

https://greatcyclechallenge.com.au/Riders/CliveSolari

This October, I am taking part in the Great Cycle Challenge to fight kids' cancer! Cancer is the largest single killer of children from disease in Australia – over 700 children are diagnosed with cancer every year and sadly, 3 die every week. Kids should be living life, not fighting for it. So I am again riding and raising funds to support the Children's Medical Research Institute to continue their work into the prevention, diagnosis, treatment and finding a cure for childhood cancer. Please support my challenge by making a donation through my fundraising page to give these kids the brighter futures they deserve. Thank you for your support.

CLIVE SOLARI is riding in the Great Cycle Challenge. Please sponsor CLIVE now to end childhood cancer and save little lives. View CLIVE's fundraising page!

20/09/2024

Such a pleasure to work with Kelly and the team at KLIPSTA. We hope you like FLIP as much as we do.

01/08/2024

ENTREPRENEURIAL DESIGN: A unique product concept developed in-house and then presented and sold as a complete package solution.

How best to raise awareness and increase usage of your product? Always have it near to hand.

D3 ideated, developed and prototyped a solution which mates perfectly with the iconic Blistex lip balm tub. The tub screws into place on the moulded plastic tab and the lid then locks it into place. Keep it on a keyring, attach it to a backpack or anywhere you can, it keeps your Blistex secure, nearby and ready for use.

27/05/2024

https://youtu.be/9nZx7Qn_lJk

The EGO Handguard is designed for Enduro, Trail and Mini Bikes. The legendary EGO is a compact, full wrap around aluminium handguard with integrated and repl...

22/03/2024

After the resounding success of the award-winning 'Rae Morris Travel Brush Set,' we embarked on an exciting journey with Rae and her talented team to craft an extended version of our case and frame. The result? A stunning Limited Edition collaboration between Rae and the esteemed Japanese brush Master Yoshiki. Feast your eyes on these captivating snapshots from the launch event! Many thanks to Rae for once again entrusting the D3 Design team