Interior June / August 2019

Welcome to the Interior Awards issue. There is little doubt that this year’s entries were of a calibre well above what I have seen since I began convening this programme five years ago. Everything, from Student through to the Workplace over 1000m2 categories, was bursting with projects and individuals who went beyond the call of duty to create impeccable, humanistic and well-thought-out interiors. Congratulations to the finalists and winners, and to my fellow jurors, whose professionalism and experience made this such an enjoyable event. In this issue, we also explore the theme of sustainability and, for that purpose, trek through various projects locally and internationally, and speak to individuals that have an honest goal of making passive and, at points, even carbon negative interiors. The research of this topic brought…

DONI CLARKE Event Coordinator Originally from New Orleans, Louisiana, Doni has a Fine Arts degree in Ceramics. She coordinated our Interior Awards this year. IT’S YOUR LAST YEAR HERE. WHAT HAVE YOU ENJOYED MOST ABOUT ORGANISING THE INTERIOR AWARDS? I have loved being able to help bring together all of these really different interior spaces, projects and designers into one programme. Also, I enjoyed working to create a fun night to celebrate all of the hard work that went into all of these projects. WHICH OF THE INTERIORS THAT YOU HAVE WORKED WITH, HAS PARTICULARLY INTRIGUED YOU? I think, because of my fine arts background, the Harmos Horton Lusk project by Warren and Mahoney was one I was drawn to right away this year. The way the firms art collection…

The power of personal experiences “Today, organisations are increasingly collections of diverse individuals with diverse motivations, aspirations and skills.” So begins Dinesh Acharya, the director of consulting for JLL, in his presentation on the need to customise and personalise interiors and workplaces. Acharya isn’t talking about redesigning desks to the personal tastes of tenants but the “delivery of tailored content across every touchpoint in the customer journey”, citing retail, hospitality and streaming services as leading industries in the delivery of personalised experiences. He believes that, because workplaces are ecosystems, businesses “need to apply ecosystem-thinking in terms of how [they] bring together all of [a building’s] elements – the design, organisational culture, leadership, location, services and technology – to curate experience holistically.” To do so, he suggested breaking down one’s understanding…

This year’s iteration of the Green Building Summit, held in April, championed action. Local and international speakers stressed, from the beginning, the importance of developing a green culture in business. Indeed, ‘strategy’ was the operative word here. Panellists and attendees alike discussed the benefits of implementing sustainability plans: namely, that they not only put more back into the environment but also bring long-term profitability and provide a shift in the ways we learn about climate change. Dr Michelle Dickinson, otherwise known as Nanogirl, was the greatest advocate for the latter, underlining the importance of changing the ways in which we have conversations about being more sustainable; these methods, she suggested, need to be less combative and more educative. Other proposed actions which unfurled from discussions on bringing about change included:…

Do you have a personal philosophy when it comes to design? Not something which is easy to distil! Essentially, for us, it comes down to human experience and the connection with people: how you use a space, how it makes you feel, how it looks, how it feels, how it functions. We’re not big-gesture people and are really interested in the grain of design solutions and the thinking behind them. Most good projects have killer diagrams behind them! What were your particular inspirations for this fit-out? The existing space itself was a huge part of the design approach here. The high ceilings, original timber columns and beams, and expansive windows created a great canvas to work with. We didn’t want to lose the raw appeal of the space and its…

Chantel, what projects did you work on in London? Chantel Fisher (CF): One of the most exciting projects I worked on there was the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors in Westminster. It was a beautiful period building that needed a full renovation. After about six months of being at my job there, they threw me in as, basically, the lead designer. There were a few tears. Lots of late nights, too, but it was amazing and it’s where I found a love of period buildings and that kind of classic, timeless feel of design. To have a project in Westminster and have meetings there every day was inspiring. Kelly, tell us about your background. Kelly Rowe (KR): I studied architecture at Victoria University of Wellington and then went to Sydney.…