Winners of the 2024 Interior Design Excellence Awards (IDEA) show us what their trophies are up to three months on from gala night.

For 22 years, IDEA has celebrated the best interior and product design coming out of Australia. Axolotl, an Australian supplier of architectural surfaces, joined this journey in 2010, designing and producing the coveted IDEA trophy every year since then.

But 2024 set off a new era of trophy design for IDEA. Axolotl announced it would partner annually with an IDEA winner to craft an award that embodies the winner’s unique design aesthetic, exploring new materials and fabrication techniques in the process. 

Acclaimed Australian product designer and winner of the IDEA 2023 Gold Medal, Adam Goodrum was Axolotl’s inaugural collaborator. Together, they took the IDEA trophy to an entirely new place in 2024, transforming its traditional conical shape and sleek metal makeup. Their new glass invention, coloured in a sunset-like gradient, proudly adorns shelves in the homes and studios of last year’s winners.

Australian Design Review (ADR) asked the winning studios to share a ‘shelfie’ that not only shows off the beauty of this object, but also contextualises it within the winners’ own aesthetic or that of their winning project.

Alcami Architecture

Alcami Architecture’s dreamy and reflective shelfie understood the brief.

The Sydney-based studio won the top award in the highly competitive Residential Single category for Terrace House Mirage, a 60-square-metre terrace house extension in nearby Chippendale. 

Director Victor Alcami describes the project as a “mirage” among Chippendale’s Victorian terraces and the IDEA 2024 jury agreed that the project introduces fantasy into everyday life.

Read our interview with Alcami about their IDEA win here.

Carr

Carr’s shelfie tells us the Melbourne-based interior design and architecture studio, known for its timeless, monolithic architectural style, is very familiar with the IDEA program.

Its 2024 trophy for the best project in the Workplace Over 1000 Sqm category takes pride of place next to Carr’s IDEA awards for two consecutive wins in the Multi-Residential category in 2022 and 2023. 

The studio’s design of Aesop Australian Headquarters earned them the IDEA 2024 trophy. Read our interview with Sue Carr about this project here.

Studio Shand

The IDEA 2024 Emerging Designer of the Year, Studio Shand, has taken a shelfie that shows off the Sydney-based practice’s love of objects.

Established in 2020 as an architecture and art studio, Studio Shand has since completed more than 50 projects, spanning single residential and commercial architecture, object design for private and retail clients, and sculpture for public display.

Read more about the studio here.

Splinter Society

Melbourne-based interior design and architecture studio Splinter Society made history in 2024 by becoming the first winner of IDEA’s new Outdoor category. This award recognises the integral role of outdoor environments in enhancing interiors. 

Splinter Society’s winning project was Monash University Pharmacy Pavilion. Located on Monash University’s Parkville campus in Melbourne, the structure connects an existing administrative building to the streetscape, providing a sheltered space away from the laboratory environment for pharmacy students and faculty.

Read our project feature on the pavilion here.

Dr Natalie Wright

Dr Natalie Wright, a pioneering interior design educator from Brisbane, won the prestigious IDEA Gold Medal in 2024 for her contribution to the industry.

Wright’s trophy is now proudly displayed in her cocktail cabinet at home to remind her of this “momentous celebration”. She has included two books in her shelfie, one that features her work and one that inspires her.

“The cocktail tray displays a mirror image of the trophy, a bit of metaphor for the Gold Medal as a reflection of my career in design,” Wright tells ADR.
View our video interview with Wright about her Gold Medal win here.

Zetr

Zetr’s trophy is at home next to 48 Round, which won the designer of high-end architectural products the top award in the IDEA Object, Furniture and Lighting – Professional category.

48 is a subtle electrical solution for architectural projects. According to Zetr, it is the first and smallest range of flush, round outlets and switch grids on the Australian market, complemented by matching button covers and metal finish faceplates. 

View 48 Round here.

Photography supplied by studios.

Dreaming of your studio’s own shelfie? You can make it a reality at IDEA 2025. Entries open next Monday 3 March. Find out more about IDEA here.