Designer Gary Cleveland has Launceston building named in his honour | Video

Forty years on and the man behind the vision has been publicly recognised by the City of Launceston, with the cascading pavilions opened in 2002 now named The Gary Cleveland Galleries.

The request to name the building after Mr Cleveland was suggested to the council by Design Tasmania, to celebrate his signifcant contribution to design culture in Tasmania and beyond.

Mr Cleveland said he was “flabbergasted” when he was told the building would be renamed after him.

“I was astonished … it’s wonderful, it makes me proud and it makes me feel humble and it is a very strange feeling,” Mr Cleveland said.

In 1967 he founded the Design Centre, now named Design Tasmania, and was the inaugural winner of the council’s 2004 Launceston Australia Day Design Award.

Mr Cleveland has been one of the major promoters and marketers of the work of the state's designers and founded the Tasmanian Wood Design Collection which has been exhibited around the world

“It has put Launceston on the map in another way and they have won awards in different magazines,” said Launceston mayor Albert van Zetten.

“There is a significance in what Gary has done for Launceston in the culture of art and wood design.”

In 2011 Mr Cleveland was named as a member in the general division of the Order of Australia for his service to the visual arts through executive roles, as a mentor of emerging artists, and for his promotion of excellence in design on a national and international level.

However, he maintains that his vision was supported by many others.

“It’s important to know that none of this would have happened if it hadn’t have been for the mayor of the time John Lees who had the confidence to invest $435,000 into this and then the premier Jim Bacon matched it, so we had the beginning of our funding,” Mr Cleveland said.