2021 Australian Interior Design Awards
We explore the forefront of Australian interiors through the 2021 Australian Interior Design Awards.
Words: Emma-Kate Wilson
The esteemed award for Residential Design was jointly awarded to Architects EAT for Bellows House and Flack Studio fo their work on Potts Point (pictured above). Photo: Anson Smart
‘Great design enhances experience; I believe a space is for all humans, not just the owners,’ says David Flack. Pictured: Middle Park House by Flack Studio. Photo: Anson Smart
Embracing colour, form, and materiality, the 2021 Australian Interior Design Awards highlights innovative and experimental methodologies at the forefront of Australian interior design.
Juliette Arent Squadrito — one half of the iconic Arent&Pyke who the Residential Decoration Award for Garden House — shares her tips for success: ‘It’s about dreaming big at concept phase, and challenging a linear path of any design brief,’ she reveals. ‘It is also about remembering all of the moments that sparked real joy during the design phase and honouring those during the delivery of each project.’
Arent&Pyke aim for experiential design, putting their observations and discoveries into each project. For the Garden House, the jury described the project as ‘well-curated, breathtakingly beautiful and very liveable.’ With a mix of ‘polished eclecticism’ and contemporary approach, the jury add, ‘it is to be admired for its austerity and fresh restraint.’
‘Everything we do is to create visceral joy,’ says Juliette. ‘The way we do that is by harnessing our unique set of skills to transform how people live… listening is key and embracing the journey you go on with each project, with each client.’
Fellow joint winner of the Residential Decoration Award for Middle Park House and the Residential Design Award for Potts Point, David Flack of Flack Studio shares their key to success is honouring their distinctive style. ‘[The] most powerful advice I’ve always adhered to from day one was to say no if we can’t deliver a Flack Studio project,’ says David. ‘This has ensured that all projects we take on within the studio are love projects.’
‘Too often, these everyday rituals and objects are left unconsidered or as last-minute add-ons; however, when you design them in mind from the beginning, they become part of the overall experiences and expression of the house and improve the quality of living,’ says Albert Mo from Architects EAT. Pictured: Bellows House (also featured in top hero image). Photo: Derek Swalwell
The esteemed award for Residential Design was jointly awarded to Architects EAT for Bellows House (pictured above) and Flack Studio for their work on Potts Point. Photo: Derek Swalwell
“Our spaces are made to heal in, to focus in, to love in and to move in – they play host to the scope of human existence in all of its beautiful, messy and extraordinary glory.”
‘We are always so honoured to win an award, particularly the Australian Interior Design Awards, as they are judged by so many of our peers who we admire so greatly. We work within such a broad and dynamic industry; it is really so special to have our contemporaries review our work in this way,’ says Juliette Arent Squadrito. Pictured: Garden House by Arent&Pyke. Photo: Anson Smart
‘Great design is about responding to design challenges with sensitivity, intelligence, and flair, to design spaces that uplift the human spirit,’ says Juliette Arent Squadrito from Arent&Pyke, pictured with Sarah-Jane Clarke.
Garden House by Arent&Pyke was jointly awarded the Residential Decoration award. Photo: Anson Smart
Generating homes full of personality, both the Potts Point and Middle Park House feature the idiosyncrasies of a Flack Studio project. The jury noted that the Sydney home clearly delivers ‘liveable domestic bliss’ while cultivating ‘discovery, curiosity and joy as one journeys from room to room.’ Adding the Melbourne winning home is evocative of a ‘detailed knowledge of the history of interior decoration’ resulting in ‘fresh and somehow familiar’ design.
Joining Flack Studio as the joint winner of the Residential Design Award, Architects EAT’s project Bellows House was described as an ‘unusual’ space that ‘does something innovative that none of the jury members had seen before’.
For designer Albert Mo, he believes the secret is focusing on the everyday moments. Instead, considering the rituals or last-minute add-ons from the onset of the design. ‘The part that I love most is actually the wetsuits hanging rail that we’ve designed and the firewood storage at the side of the garage; to me, they epitomise the idea of a holiday house and celebrate the location of it,’ says Albert.
Essential to each Architect Eat project is an element of ‘emotional frequency’, undoubtedly seen within the Bellows House with its playful yet durable aesthetics. Albert expresses that great design means ‘functional and experiential together’.
‘How does your footstep sound, how does the wood smell, how does the sunlight feel on your skin, the rustling of the brick as your hand smooths over it, how your window frames the view as you sip your first cup of coffee in the morning, how the air caresses your hairs as it passes through the house.’
Overall, with the challenges facing the design industry over the last 18 months, the 2021 Australian Interior Design Awards reveal the resilience of the sector and the importance of liveable and functional homes, especially in times like these.
‘Our studio space is the magical element that allows full collaboration and trust that allows the final design to be exactly want the space requires,’ says David Flack from Flack Studio.
Potts Point by Flack Studio. Photo: Anson Smart
“Personality within the space is hugely important — those small nuances and sense of navigation is what we strive to create, these spaces are holistic and highly considered from a functional perspective but most of all an emotional response.”
‘Our projects respond to the architecture and the client — I also have a little sixth sense with our clients and strive to create those beautiful moments that become quintessential to our projects,’ says Davd Flack. Pictured: Potts Point by Flack Studio. Photo: Anson Smart
The incredible bathroom space at Garden House, designed by Arent&Pyke. Photo: Anson Smart
Middle Park House by Flack Studio was jointly award the Residential Decoration award. Photo: Anson Smart