Ashleigh Sullivan is among Australian Design Review’s 30UNDER30 Interior and Product Designers for 2024/2025. Here, we learn more about her career-defining experiences in Amsterdam, her love of texture, pattern and colour, and her appreciation of circular design principles.

Australian Design Review: Do you remember your first encounter with design?

Ashleigh Sullivan: In my first year of study, our tutors organised an archi-tour, with well-known Brisbane architects, including Vokes and Peters and Donovan Hill. One visit was to the TRI (Translational Research Institute) – a multidisciplinary research hub, where visible laboratories surround a material-rich, light-filled, green atrium, transforming something inherently clinical into an open, positive place of exchange.

It was the first time I heard a designer speak about their work with such passion and care, and now I remember it as a moment that I first felt moved by design. Nowadays, I love visiting built work and learning firsthand – all my travels seem to centre around my own archi-tours!

30UNDER30 member Ashleigh Sullivan visiting built work. Image: Supplied

ADR: What has been a highlight in your career so far?

AS: Throughout my career, I’m proud to work alongside designers whose ambitions and passions I resonate with. A formative chapter for me was living and working in Amsterdam, where I joined krft, a creative, research-driven studio founded by Thomas Dieben and Oscar Vos. There, I contributed to two ambitious education projects – a performing arts centre in the UK and a school in the Netherlands made from circular, bio-based materials.

Brighton College Performing Arts Centre by krft in collaboration with Nicholas Hare Architects (NHA). Photo: Stijn Bollaert

Thoughtfully integrated within its historic campus, Brighton College’s Performing Arts Centre in the UK combines a 400-seat theatre with rehearsal studios and diverse informal and formal learning spaces. The interior needed to balance technical and functional complexities with design and material clarity.

The close relationships formed between the whole design team, including all consultants, partner office Nicholas Hare Architects and a dedicated client team, made this project particularly special. Since its completion, it has been such a joy to see it completely come to life and be adored by the school and community.

The other highlight project is ‘IKEC’ – a new school built from modular mass timber construction for children with special learning needs in the Netherlands. Catering to more than 600 pupils, the aim was to break down the scale of a large school while designing interiors that feel personal, safe and nurturing. To do so, every decision from the materials to the layout was guided by circular principles, with the aim to create a calm, stress-reducing environment. Set for completion in July, it is really rewarding to see a design ethos, one so focused on sustainability and ease-of-experience, carried through until the end.

IKEC Hoorn by krft. Image: Supplied

ADR: What guiding values drive you and what kind of impact do you hope to make through your work?

AS: I believe in design by research, by listening, by collaboration and by provocation. It is both a responsibility and an opportunity to design spaces that deeply resonate and thoughtfully connect people to each other, to place and to the bigger picture.

As Brisbane/Meanjin approaches the 2032 Olympics and our community spaces receive a global lens, I’m excited to contribute to an era of Queensland design that embraces our strengths – such as our subtropical climate, vibrant natural offerings and relaxed lifestyle – to foster a new wave of design that is more inclusive, cultural, reciprocal and in turn more meaningful.

Brighton College Performing Arts Centre Drama Studio by krft in collaboration with NHA. Photo: Stijn Bollaert

ADR: If you could work with any designer, artist or other creative – living or dead – who would it be and why?

AS: Working across public and community projects, I’m keen to collaborate more with local and emerging artists, designers and material-enthusiasts to embed local relevance and craft into our interiors.

While my work overseas often used a restrained palette to respond to a specific brief, my work-in-progress at COX explores more colour, pattern and texture, often drawing inspiration from both natural and made media around me. But it is hard to narrow it down to a single designer to work with! Instead, I’ll mention a visual artist I currently adore – Narjia Brownlie. I’m enamoured by her colours, whimsical brush strokes and evocative subject portrayal.

IKEC Hoorn by krft. Photo: Christian van der Kooy

ADR: How did it feel to make it into Australian Design Review’s 30UNDER30?

AS: I was genuinely excited. Awards like ADR’s 30UNDER30 are important opportunities to showcase the value of design and form connections with fellow passionate peers.

It’s incredibly validating to receive recognition, but it’s also a motivating reminder to keep challenging our positions and default decisions. I’m excited to be a part of a cohort that shares the same commitment and is making a real difference through design.

ADR’s 30UNDER30 Interior and Product Designers stream is brought to you by major sponsor Neolith, alongside Krost, Miele, Interface and Tongue & Groove.

The program is also supported by practice partners Arent&Pyke, BLP, BVN, Cera Stribley, COX Architecture, GroupGSA, Hassell, HDR, Richards Stanisich, Rothelowman, SJB and Williams Burton Leopardi. To find out more about the final 30, head to the winners page.