Green Interior Awards winners announced!

I’m excited to share the winners of the inaugural Your Future Home Green Interior Awards, highlighting professional and emerging interior designers, consultants and stylists who have completed a ‘green’ project.

An invitation for entries was issued in September and a panel of three judges (myself, Daphna Tal and Eminè Mehmet) recently had the difficult task of selecting the winners from a number of fabulous entries. And the winners are…

OVERALL WINNER: AZUBA

This commercial project, created by Azuba for Mortgage Ezy, successfully created a safe, non-toxic environment where people could feel nourished and flourish while at work. Eminè says: “Joanna’s wonderful dedication and collaborative work ethic has resulted in an amazing environment that is future forward and considers the health of both the environment and human beings.”

Personally, Azuba’s project blew me away as it not only looked stylish and modern but cut no corners in being green to its core. Setting out to achieve low-to-no toxic materials, little-to-no electric, electromagnetic and high frequency fields AND to recycle and reuse as much as possible was a tall order. The execution was impressive and the end result fantastic. Reusing things like the glass tops of the old desks on the walls was inspired. 

Daphna adds: “Joanna influenced others in the industry to change from old ways in renovating and building to creating new, more sustainable and ethical ways, which were at the same time aesthetically very pleasing.”

OVERALL RUNNER UP and GREEN HOME: HARE AND KLEIN

Hare and Klein created the interiors for this environmentally friendly, sustainable home to the highest possible standard on a five-acre property in Coledale NSW. Eminè called it stunning: “A great example of the integration of a home into its surrounding environment through using local trades and materials.”

GREEN OFFICE: AZUBA

Also the overall winner (above), this commercial project was created by Azuba for Mortgage Ezy. Eminè adds: “I love the holistic approach covering environmental, spiritual and physical aspects. Joanna is to be commended for engaging the client and the building team through her own enthusiasm.”

CHILDREN’S ROOM: SABI STYLE

Sabi Style were asked to convert a home office overlooking the bushland of Mount Coot-tha into a child’s nursery, which had minimal impact on the environment, and was a healthy space free of chemicals.

Daphna commented: “Sabi Style designed a room that is sustainable in its nature due its ability to grow with the child. They consciously made it practical and beautiful and still environmentally friendly, using products that have a low impact on the environment and are non-toxic to the children that use this space.”

BATHROOM AND KITCHEN: CAMILLA MOLDERS DESIGN

Camilla Molders so impressed us that she won both the kitchen and bathroom categories. These rooms in her Elwood project made great use of bamboo, a renewable and durable material. It also looks fantastic and gives the kitchen and bathroom a much warmer feel than you’d usually expect. I loved the handmade Australian tiles and the environmentally friendly paint choices too.

DINING ROOM: DEBRA CRONIN

Debra Cronin created a dining room space which looked timeless and effortless, but a lot of effort went into using products which were upcycled. Hunting down these pieces from antique shops and auction houses was no easy feat. Well done!

The judges

The two far more experienced industry professionals helping me in the judging were Daphna Tal, a sustainable interiors consultant at Australian Living, and sustainability thought leader Eminè Mehmet. When designing interiors, Daphna focuses on obtaining environmentally friendly and sustainable products that suit the client’s lifestyle and taste. Eminè has the ability to mix design rules and regulations with creative flair and apply them practically to living and working environments.

While Interiors Addict was the main sponsor, I’d love to thank our other sponsors Cafe Culture, Biome Eco Store, Eco Chic, Evolvex, OnStone, Hemp Gallery, evo style and Koskela, The Real Store and Planet Luxe, who provided prizes for our winners. Also thanks to our media partners InDesign, Sanctuary, ReNew and Sustainable House Day.

Organiser Your Future Home is an educational initiative of Australian Living, a sustainable building consultancy, who specialise in the creation of sustainable homes. It is helping increase awareness of sustainable homes and provide education for industry and the community.

Read more about all the winning entries.