This winners and commended projects in the The Design Files + Laminex Design Awards 2020 were recently announced in a live-streamed, online ceremony. The results showcase the incredible and diverse Australian talent that currently exists within the architecture and design industries.
10 winners and 19 commendations were awarded to a wide range of creatives from 119 finalists across the 10 awards categories: Residential Architecture, Interior Design, Collaboration, Emerging Designer, Furniture Design, Handcrafted, Landscape Design, Lighting Design, Sustainable Design or Initiative, and Textile Design.
The awards are an extension of Lucy Feagins’ The Design Files (TDF) blog.
Andrew Burgess Architects took out first place in the Residential Architecture category, for their work on Bismarck House. This urban oasis in the heart of Sydney’s Bondi emanates a soft industrial style, and utilises raw materials and sculpted spaces to integrate the house and garden.
The winner of the Interior Design category was YSG studio, with their creation Budge Over Dover. As an ode to both whimsy and functionality, this coastal home was transformed into a gorgeously nuanced piece of art, combining and contrasting shape, texture, and colour. It was praised by the judges for the effective fusion of the renovation with the original structure of the house, which felt seamless and organic.
Jessie Fowler and Tara Ward, who formed the Fowler and Ward architecture practice in 2018, won the first prize in the Emerging Designer category. This company is focused on redesigning residential spaces in Melbourne, especially smaller homes, or developments where the population density is increasing while the character of the neighbourhood is preserved.
There was also a significant increase in the number of First Nations designers and collaborative projects entered in 2020, which is reflected in winners and commended projects.
Pitjantjatjara woman Tjunkaya Tapaya, a senior artist with the Tjanpi Desert Weavers, took out the Handcrafted Design category for her Tjanpi Teapot woven from native grass, which represents a playful take on the important cultural practice of tea-making on the NPY (Ngaanyatjarra Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara) lands.
Acclaimed Kudjla/Gangalu artist Daniel Boyd collaborated with architects Edition Office on For Our Country, the inaugural National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander War Memorial located on Ngunnawal and Ngambri Country.
The Textile Design award went to North – a not-for-profit lifestyle brand facilitating the economic agency of remote Aboriginal artists and art centres – for their Tiwi Strong Women’s Collection created in partnership with female artists from Jilamara, Munupi, and Ngaruwanajirri Art Centres.
The major sponsors of the awards included Laminex, Brickworks, De’Longhi, Jardan, Country Road, and Phoenix Tapware.
“Celebrating a diverse cross section of designers and creatives from across Australia, The Design Files + Laminex Design Awards in 2020 has united us as a creative community, highlighting the remarkable strength and resilience of Australia’s creative industries,” said Lucy Feagins, founder of The Design Files.
For more on the winners, and to watch the awards ceremony
