Interior Design
See the Winners of the 2021 Australian Interior Design Awards
They're the best of the best – step inside six award-winning homes from around the country
Now in its 18th year, the Australian Interior Design Awards celebrate the very best in Australian design, and they’re one of the most eagerly awaited events in the industry’s calendar. Well, the wait is over; the winners of the 2021 awards have been announced – and they’re packed full of incredible ideas for your next project.
Acknowledging the impact of the past 18 months, the jury celebrated the resilience of the industry, remarking, “the pandemic hit hard and for the Australian interior design industry, the oftentimes devastating consequences were felt across the board. But if this hardship showed us anything, it’s that our designers and architects are a resilient bunch with an indomitable spirit”.
So grab a cuppa, sit back and prepare to feast your eyes on the six award-winning projects in the residential category. You can find the full list of winning projects and more photos at Australian Interior Design Awards.
Acknowledging the impact of the past 18 months, the jury celebrated the resilience of the industry, remarking, “the pandemic hit hard and for the Australian interior design industry, the oftentimes devastating consequences were felt across the board. But if this hardship showed us anything, it’s that our designers and architects are a resilient bunch with an indomitable spirit”.
So grab a cuppa, sit back and prepare to feast your eyes on the six award-winning projects in the residential category. You can find the full list of winning projects and more photos at Australian Interior Design Awards.
Jury comments: Bellows House caught the jury’s attention because it is unusual. A lot of the Residential Design category’s projects are working within an existing space, but this one creates a new space. It takes on the challenge wholeheartedly and does something innovative that none of the jury members had seen before.
The project also exhibits a thorough knowledge of 20th-century architectural history and reinterprets it in a creative and fresh way.
It’s a resolved design that integrates the interior with the architecture, giving rise to a series of spaces that are dramatic, theatrical and extremely liveable.
Inspired to redo your own interior? Find a local interior designer on Houzz
It’s a resolved design that integrates the interior with the architecture, giving rise to a series of spaces that are dramatic, theatrical and extremely liveable.
Inspired to redo your own interior? Find a local interior designer on Houzz
JOINT WINNER – RESIDENTIAL DESIGN AWARD AND WINNER BEST OF STATE FOR RESIDENTIAL DESIGN – NSW
Project: Potts Point, NSW
Designer: Flack Studio
Photography: Anson Smart
Project description: This is our first project in Sydney, through a client referral.
The client had already experienced our work at an intimate level and having the reassurance of our design outcomes we were able to push boundaries further with our initial design intent, which was a love letter to Sydney.
Project: Potts Point, NSW
Designer: Flack Studio
Photography: Anson Smart
Project description: This is our first project in Sydney, through a client referral.
The client had already experienced our work at an intimate level and having the reassurance of our design outcomes we were able to push boundaries further with our initial design intent, which was a love letter to Sydney.
Jury comments: Potts Point is a clear example of good interior design that immaculately delivers the brief.
A sense of place and of the people who live there are invested in every room. The interiors are carefully curated and offer the quintessential answer to what the Residential Design category is all about – to deliver liveable, domestic bliss.
A sense of place and of the people who live there are invested in every room. The interiors are carefully curated and offer the quintessential answer to what the Residential Design category is all about – to deliver liveable, domestic bliss.
Potts Point has a warmth to it and the overall proportions are excellent. It cultivates discovery, curiosity and joy as one journeys from room to room.
The jury members solidly agreed it’s a home they would want to live in.
The jury members solidly agreed it’s a home they would want to live in.
JOINT WINNER – RESIDENTIAL DECORATION AND WINNER BEST OF STATE FOR RESIDENTIAL DESIGN – VICTORIA
Project: Middle Park House, Victoria
Designer: Flack Studio
Photography: Anson Smart
Project description: Middle Park is an Edwardian home. This two-storey family home was designed as our client’s forever home – a place dedicated to family, cooking and entertaining.
Project: Middle Park House, Victoria
Designer: Flack Studio
Photography: Anson Smart
Project description: Middle Park is an Edwardian home. This two-storey family home was designed as our client’s forever home – a place dedicated to family, cooking and entertaining.
Jury comments: Middle Park House is thoughtful in its curation and ultimately very beautiful. The jury commended it for being a principled creative undertaking and was impressed by its highly evocative qualities.
One jury member commented that it feels like it was borne out of a detailed knowledge of the history of interior decoration, both locally and internationally, resulting in an interior that appears fresh and somehow familiar.
Browse more incredible images of Australian living rooms on Houzz
Browse more incredible images of Australian living rooms on Houzz
JOINT WINNER – RESIDENTIAL DECORATION
Project: Garden House, NSW
Designer: Arent & Pyke
Photography: Anson Smart
Project description: Joking they’d happily live in a luxury tent, such is the client’s passion for their 2,400-square-metre garden.
When the landscape is the mesmerising star of the show, restraint in the decoration was the key to success at Garden House.
Project: Garden House, NSW
Designer: Arent & Pyke
Photography: Anson Smart
Project description: Joking they’d happily live in a luxury tent, such is the client’s passion for their 2,400-square-metre garden.
When the landscape is the mesmerising star of the show, restraint in the decoration was the key to success at Garden House.
Jury comments: Garden House is well-curated, breathtakingly beautiful and very liveable. It features a thoughtfully executed interior decoration scheme that is particular to the client and place, and the jury was above all impressed with its polished eclecticism.
This project is global in the best sense of the word, making Garden House appear utterly contemporary. It is to be admired for its austerity and fresh restraint.
WINNER BEST OF STATE FOR RESIDENTIAL DESIGN – QUEENSLAND
Project: Harcourt House, Queensland
Designer: Myers Ellyett Architecture + Interior Design
Photography: David Chatfield
Project description: Harcourt is a build-under and extension to an existing cottage.
Project: Harcourt House, Queensland
Designer: Myers Ellyett Architecture + Interior Design
Photography: David Chatfield
Project description: Harcourt is a build-under and extension to an existing cottage.
While maintaining its heritage, the new addition draws from and adds to its surrounding urban context. Delivering a new model of occupation, the house provides all the amenity of a big home within the confines of a narrow, inner-city block.
There are no jury comments on this award-winning entry.
WINNER EMERGING INTERIOR DESIGN PRACTICE
Project: Eastbourne, Victoria
Designer: Eastop Architects
Photography: Willem-Dirk du Toit
Project description: Eastbourne centres itself around a core idea – the sharing of light, space and air through literal and phenomenal transparency.
From a central void all the inhabited spaces of the home are connected, entirely insular and abstracted from its context when closed, but layered and integrated into its surrounds when opened.
Project: Eastbourne, Victoria
Designer: Eastop Architects
Photography: Willem-Dirk du Toit
Project description: Eastbourne centres itself around a core idea – the sharing of light, space and air through literal and phenomenal transparency.
From a central void all the inhabited spaces of the home are connected, entirely insular and abstracted from its context when closed, but layered and integrated into its surrounds when opened.
Jury comments: Eastop Architects is a practice that has developed a strong design direction in a relatively short period of time. Its portfolio displays predominantly residential projects that are well-resolved and highly sophisticated, with a real sense of knowledge in both architecture and interiors.
Each project also offers a glimpse into the studio’s meticulous design approach. If this is what Eastop Architects has been capable of in its early years, then the practice has a stunning future ahead of it.
The jury collectively agreed the Melbourne-based studio established by Liam Eastop in 2017 is worthy of their support and recognition.
Your turn
Which of these winning interiors is your favourite? Tell us in the Comments below and join the conversation.
More
Want to see more show-stopping homes? Read This Just In: Winners of the 35th Annual Dulux Colour Awards
The jury collectively agreed the Melbourne-based studio established by Liam Eastop in 2017 is worthy of their support and recognition.
Your turn
Which of these winning interiors is your favourite? Tell us in the Comments below and join the conversation.
More
Want to see more show-stopping homes? Read This Just In: Winners of the 35th Annual Dulux Colour Awards
Project: Bellows House, Victoria
Designer: Architects EAT
Photography: Derek Swalwell
Project description: A single row of mature poplar trees cast morning shadows and animate the long articulated facade. The articulations, with the frustum roofs and layering of spaces, evoke street engagements and curiosities. Once inside the house, the two largest frustum roofs reveal their internal structure: reverse-step concrete pyramids.