Designers and design enthusiasts from around Australia celebrated the winners of the Interior Design Excellence Awards (IDEA) at Centennial Homestead, Sydney, on Thursday 23 November. Check out the highlights from the IDEA Gala.

Even after 21 years of IDEA, the gala night never fails to surprise and delight. Hundreds of interior designers, architects and product designers braved the rain for a chance to see who took home this year’s IDEA trophies, designed by Axolotl, and mingle with the winners.

After some entry drinks, nibbles and catching up, the gala guests settled in for the awards ceremony, hosted by Eva Sue of Woods Bagot and BVN’s Kevin O’Brien. An array of special guests joined the emcees to present the winners and highly commended projects, including interior designers, sponsors, members of Australian Design Review’s inaugural 30UNDER30 cohort and the Niche Media team.

The winners

Genesin Studio, Studio Bright and Nickolas Gurtler Office were among the first to be called up on stage, taking home the trophies for Hospitality, Event and Institutional respectively.

The Overall Project Winner as well as the Residential Single award went to Kennedy Nolan for the project Somers house on Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula.

Flack Studio founder and principal David Flack announced that Bates Smart with Garner Davis Architects won the Community Services category for their project, the Refugee Resource Hub powered by the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre. Flack then remained onstage for a special announcement – accompanied by a video by Ceinwen Berry – about a change to the IDEA Community Services category. Going forward, the category will be named the Mark Robinson Community award in honour of the late co-principal of Flack Studio and his commitment to activism.

Carr took home the Residential Multi trophy for the second year in a row, this time for 835 High Street. Meanwhile, Simone Haag won the Residential Interior Curation category for Weeroona house, and The Gallery Shop by Akin Atelier was named winner of Retail.

Arent&Pyke had a massive night, taking out the coveted Designer of the Year title as well as the International category for the project Speargrass house. The practice was also highly commended in the Retail and Colour categories.

It was thrilling to see the surprised looks on the faces of new talent as their names were announced, including Emiliano Miranda, founder of LINTEL Studio for Architecture, which was named Emerging Designer of the Year, and Locki Humphrey, who took home the Object – Furniture & Lighting – Rising award.

Ross Gardam, YSG Studio, Studio Tate, Smart Design Studio and Kosloff Architecture were also among the project category winners to pick up an IDEA trophy.

Finally, Wardle won the Sustainability award for Bendigo Law Courts and industrial designer Adam Goodrum was named the IDEA Gold Medallist, concluding the ceremony.

Dinner was served and the party continued on, with a well-deserved sense of pride and excitement permeating the venue.

Australian Design Review extends a huge congratulations to all the winners and those whose projects were highly commended. A big thank you also to all those who came down to Centennial Homestead to make our 21st year so special.

IDEA 2023 would not have been possible without our sponsors Miele, Cult, Crafted Hardwoods, Neolith, Halliday + Baillie, Krost, MillerKnoll, Laufen, Tongue & Groove and Zenith, and our event partners Axolotl, Four Pillars Gin and Moo Brew Beer.

We can’t wait to see what next year brings!

Head to the IDEA winners’ page for the full rundown of winners and highly commended projects.

Photography by Narrative Post.