Dalton Stewart is one of Australian Design Review’s 30UNDER30 Interior and Product Designers for 2024/2025. In this Q&A, Stewart shares why experimentation is central to his creative process, one in which he questions, reframes and challenges current narratives around our built and cultural environments. 

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

Dalton Stewart: I was a very creative child, drawn to making, painting, drawing and imagining. I loved looking at architecture and interior design magazines, soaking in the worlds they opened up. My first ambition was to be a fashion designer, inspired by all the shows I would watch on Fashion TV. That passion eventually shifted toward architecture, and later, my skills and love for visual art led me to study it formally.

One of my earliest and most vivid design memories is of a curious object, a two-legged console table my mother inherited. It balanced precariously against a wall and completely captured my imagination. It was less about function and more about presence. That object had a strange elegance that stayed with me and planted the seed of curiosity about the designed world that has stayed with me ever since. 

Basalt Shelf. Photo: Pier Carthew

ADR: How would you describe your work?

DS: Bold, abstract and deliberately restrained.

My work is multidisciplinary. I’m drawn to the overlooked and the ordinary – materials shaped by time, use or the built environment. I use abstraction and reassembly as a way to reframe them. Through a tectonic-led approach, I explore how the significance and history of form, process and material can coexist in objects that are both pragmatic and poetic. While my aesthetic is formally reduced, each project seeks to open up space for deeper engagement with typology, context, the tactility of making and the quiet complexities embedded in everyday materials and their associated processes.

Do Works. Photo: Pier Carthew

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

DS: 2025 has been an incredibly exciting year and a real highlight in my career so far. Being named in ADR’s 30UNDER30 was a real privilege. I also had my first experience making and presenting work internationally at the Collectible Design Fair in Brussels and was recently announced as a finalist in the Rigg Design Prize, Australia’s most prestigious design accolade. 

Exhibiting in Europe with my friend, colleague and fellow ADR’s 30UNDER30 member Annie Paxton was a dream. It was the first time either of us had made and shown work internationally. The entire experience, from fabricating in Berlin and transporting the pieces to exploring the incredible city of Brussels, the land of waffles and Art Nouveau, was unforgettable.

Off the back of that, I travelled to Bali, which gave me time to reflect and recharge. It reminded me how much I value working in different contexts and cultures. I never imagined my work would take me to these places, and I’m really grateful for the momentum and support around my practice right now.

Do Works. Photo: Pier Carthew 

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

DS: I find this question impossible to answer. There are just too many.

If I could resurrect Charlotte Perriand, I’d love to share a dinner with her. Every time I revisit her work, I discover something new. The breadth, depth and lasting impact of her practice speak for themselves, but what I admire most is the way she translated the human scale of architecture into formal assemblages that reimagine the familiar in deeply evocative ways.

If I had to choose someone living, it would probably be Anne Holtrop. His poetic and experimental approach to architecture – where material, form and process are in constant dialogue – feels like a radical and beautiful repositioning of what it means to design. His work opens up new ways of thinking about what architecture means and how it can be made. I find that aspirational.

Garden Bench, Do Works. Photo: Pier Carthew

ADR: What do you do to kickstart your creativity when you’re in a rut?

DS: I go looking, quite literally. I visit buildings and wander through libraries and bookstores. There’s something about discovering an unexpected image in a book or noticing a detail in a building that can unlock new ideas. 

I also revisit old projects or past inspirations to reconnect with what excited me before. I’ve come to see my creativity as a kind of discipline, understanding what environments, rituals or constraints help ignite my ideas. Often, it’s having a project or brief that gives me something to push against. And over time, a regular creative practice has helped me quiet the noise of perfectionism. It reminds me that showing up consistently matters far more than getting it ‘right’ from the start.

Perfect Lovers. Photo: Matthew McQuiggan

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

DS: The guiding values that drive my work are experimentation, sustainability and collaboration. I see design as a critical lens through which to explore, question and reframe the stories, histories and materials that shape our built and cultural environments. Experimentation is essential to my process. I’m interested in how new assemblages and design languages can emerge from overlooked or discarded materials, translating fragments of the built environment into human-scale works that are evocative, resourceful and full of narrative potential.

Through making, research and interdisciplinary collaboration, I hope to challenge the systems and ways of thinking we have inherited, thinking about the role of design beyond form-making but rather as a critical form of cultural production.

Pillar Stoll. Photo: Supplied

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

DS: Making it into ADR’s 30UNDER30 was a really exciting moment and a real privilege. It feels like a meaningful acknowledgment of all the ideas I’ve been passionate about and the hard work involved. It’s an honour to be recognised among such a diverse and talented group of emerging creatives. The experience has also given me greater clarity about where I want to take my practice. It’s been incredible to connect with new people who are now part of my creative orbit.

Lead image of Dalton Stewart by George Downing. 

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.