For ADR’s first Pineapple Soup event in Adelaide, Design by WBL and Designer Rugs collaborated to present a beautifully curated experience that was totally tactile, vividly visual… and even edible.

Design by WBL (Williams Burton Leopardi’s new name following its rebrand last year) has been in its studio in Adelaide’s heritage-listed Darling Building for a decade. It’s a wonderful grand old space ordinarily, but in late September it was transformed into a treasure trove of materials by Designer Rugs and art, along with a specially curated selection of cheeses and matched wines courtesy of Woodside Cheese Wrights and Kris Lloyd Artisan Range, and Murdoch Hill Wines respectively.

There’s something special that happens when food, drink and natural materials come together. Designer Rugs supplied balls of wool and buckets of little tuffets for the guests to touch and play with, all while imagining the possibilities of their use.

The entrance space to Design by WBL’s studio boasted an example of the finished product – a gorgeous bespoke forest green rug with gold and rich earth accents – while the myriad colours and textures provided by Designer Rugs gave full flavour to Design by WBL’s exploration of the evening’s theme – materiality, memory and process.

Expanding on that theme, and explaining the reasoning behind the format of this particular Pineapple Soup experience, David Burton delivered a brief presentation about Design by WBL’s recent collaboration with Designer Rugs on Aptos. 

“It’s a project that connects quite a few of us in the room tonight,” said Burton. “Chef Justin James had a pretty ambitious vision for a distinctive dining experience in a building that already held really strong memories for people. It began its life as a church and then became a much loved destination in Adelaide for decades. 

“The challenge was to try and create something new while allowing that history and the familiarity to remain present. And in that sense there is a connection to what you’re experiencing here in the studio. The existing character provides a starting point and then material, art, lighting and the work of many makers add new layers. And over time the people who visit also bring their own memories to the place as well. We’ve tried to offer a small taste tonight of what it feels like to experience Restaurant Aptos, something that engages the senses and really sparks curiosity.”

Every corner of the studio was involved in this aim. Complementing the material and comestible displays were over two dozen pieces of art on loan from local gallery, Hugo Michell, including Fiona McMonagle‘s most arresting watercolour of Virginia Woolf, whose piercing eyes followed guests around the studio as they visited the three main destination stations.

The comestibles

These destinations each featured a specific cheese. Kris Lloyd was on hand to explain the provenance of the cheeses, all made by hand by her family-owned business, which operates out of Woodside, a town in the Adelaide Hills about half an hour away from the Adelaide CBD.

To say Lloyd is passionate about her produce is an understatement – working with very small farms and dairies, she believes the business has an undeniable advantage when it comes to knowing the product’s provenance. “We know where the milk has come from, who the farmer is, the cows’ names and what they’re eating,” she said. 

For Pineapple Soup, Lloyd provided Monet, a goat’s cheese that uses “literally four ingredients – milk, starter culture, salt and non-animal rennet,” according to Lloyd. The finishing touch is an array of whatever flowers and herbs are in season. For Pineapple Soup there were pansies and violets. 

The second station, nestled within a bed of Designer Rugs’ materials garnished by a genuine hand loom tool and below an eye-catching video of the hand-knotting rug-making process, the cheese of choice was Anthill – another goat’s cheese, but this time dusted with a touch of lemon myrtle and, yes, ants, foraged by Indigenous providers. 

“They are delivered to us ready to go and plant on the cheese,” said Lloyd. “The common name is the Weaver ant and it grazes mainly on Kakadu plum leaves. But what is wonderful about them is they’re vegetarian ants and they have little sacks on their backs. It’s like a caviar pearl and you clench it and you get this gorgeous kaffir lime lemongrass flavour.”

The final station featured Tom-Tomme, the only cow’s milk cheese on display, in the style of a Swiss Alpine cheese, “with a distinctive layer of ash through the middle”, explained Lloyd.  

Matching the cheeses perfectly was a range of wines provided by Andrew Downer, who runs Murdoch Hill Wines with his brother Michael. 

Joking that following Kris Lloyd’s presentation of her products was a big ask and perhaps should have prepared more of a speech, Downer nonetheless explained to the crowd that his work had been done behind the scenes. 

“I knew what Kris’ cheeses were going to be tonight and what would match. So we focus a lot on chardonnay and pinot, which go really well. We have the Anthill cheese, which has the beautiful citrus characters. So I thought the chardonnay would work perfectly for that. And then the pinot noir, which has that bit more texture and depth and goes perfectly with the two other cheeses.”

He wasn’t wrong. 

Pineapple Soup is a regular early-evening event series that brings Australia’s architecture and design community together for connection, learning and fun. Hosted at leading studios, each event is unique, but combines project insights with interactive activities – design debates, quick-fire challenges and other creative formats – all facilitated by ADR.