IDEA 2021 celebrated its 2020 Designer of the Year David Flack with a star-studded evening hosted by Miele at its South Melbourne Experience Centre last week.

The event, which was attended by last year’s winning and highly commended Melbourne-based practices, was the official opening of the awards program for 2021.

For guests, it was a chance to browse the incredible range of Miele appliances, including the new Generation 7000, while munching on canapés, a decadent oyster bar and other delicious treats prepared by the in-house Miele kitchen team.

Enter IDEA 2021 now

As part of the evening’s festivities, Flack sat down with inside editor Elisa Scarton to chat about his experience as the IDEA 2020 Designer of the Year and his studio’s Middle Park Residence, which won last year’s Colour and Residential decoration categories.

Last year, for the first time in IDEA’s 18-year history, Designer of the Year finalists were unable to present in person at our Shortlist Reveal party due to COVID-19 restrictions. Instead they were asked to film at 10-minute video pitching themselves to the jury.

A snippet of Flack Studio’s video was shared with guests at last week’s party with Flack himself laughing at how “bloody awful” the experience of filming himself was.

The video, which also explores Middle Park Residence, concludes with a look at Flack Studio’s role in the community, including its newly launched mentorship program, which seeks to foster a new generation of designers from Australia’s diverse communities.

IDEA 2021 open for entries

IDEA is now open for entries to all Australian architecture and interior designers studios and practices that want to submit their residential, commercial, public and institutional projects.

Furniture, lighting and object designers will also be able to submit their products into two dedicated categories – one for emerging designers and one for established designers.

You can submit your project until 11 June. This year, all projects completed between January 2020 and July 2021 will be eligible for entry, as long as they haven’t been entered in IDEA previously.

New! The Community Services category

The new Community Services category has been introduced to acknowledge the positive impact interior design and architecture have had on our community or not-for-profit sectors. 

To be eligible for this award, the constructed project or interior: 

• must have been delivered as a pro bono service or at a significantly reduced fee,
• must demonstrate a long-term, positive impact on individuals and/or groups that are community based, not-for-profit or high risk; and/or
• must demonstrate that the project benefits users that wouldn’t normally have access to design expertise.
• must have been completed between January 2018 and July 2021

As part of their application, entrants will be asked to provide a 300-word description of how the project benefited the community, high risk groups and/or neighbourhood.

Judges will be looking in particular at the contribution of the architect or designer in delivering the project. 

All entry fees for this category will be donated to the charity nominated by the winning practice or studio. 

Visit the IDEA website to find out more about our new Community Services category. And if you’re interested in sponsoring this category, drop us a line at paul.lidgerwood@niche.com.au.

Seven industry-leading judges

A star-studded jury will judge the awards categories. So far, we’ve announced five – Melbourne interior designers Chelsea Hing, David Flack and Brahman Perera, Adelaide designer Ryan Genesin and Sydney principal Domino Risch. Stay tuned for the final two and our special Sustainability judge!

The judges will not only be looking for projects that are remarkable and innovative, but also ones that do their part in responding to the challenges faced by the world today.

To start working on your entry, visit www.idea-awards.com.au.

Photography: Stephanie Yang.