Last week, the Melbourne-based Australian Design Review’s (ADR’s) 30UNDER30 cohort came together for the first time on Thursday 9 April – here’s how it went.

This year’s 30UNDER30 settled in at Culter & Co.’s private dining room for a warm in-person welcome to the program and the people who make it happen. 

There were some reunions between familiar industry faces and friends from university days, but for most in the cohort, this was the first time being in the same room together. Two of the cohort flew in on the day from Queensland and South Australia to meet the rest of the cohort on the east coast. The event provided the 30UNDER30 with an opportunity to break the ice over an intimate three-course meal before they all fly into Bali to take part in the high-performance leadership and creativity retreat in May. 

Friendly representatives from supporters of the program were also in attendance, including major sponsor Neolith, as well as gold partners Miele, Designer Rugs, Laufen, Tongue & Groove, Krost and Signature Appliances powered by Miele.

ADR’s general manager of Commercial Jillian Hood and Con Papadakis of Neolith welcomed the group, inviting them to enjoy everything the program has to offer – starting with the potentially life-long connections forged on this night. 

Cera Stribley’s principal and 30UNDER30 2025/26 judge/mentor, Chris Stribley, congratulated the cohort on their success and said “each one of you deserve to be here”. 

ADR’s team was thrilled to meet this warm and affable cohort and learn more about the breadth of interests and perspectives that they bring to the program and the industry at large.

Check out the gallery from the 30UNDER30 Melbourne dinner below:

Photography by Scott Gick.

Australian Design Review’s 30UNDER30 is brought to you by major sponsor Neolith, alongside partners Designer Rugs, Laufen, Krost, Miele, Signature Appliances powered by Miele and Tongue & Groove.

Australian Design Review is also grateful to our 30UNDER30 practice partners AJC Architects, BVN, Cera Stribley, COX Architecture, Genton, GroupGSA, HDR, Richards Stanisich, RIZEN Atelier,  Rob Mills Architects, Rothelowman, SJB and Design by WBL for helping us foster the future of Australian design.