Revealed: 10 of SA’s best interior designers and their 2022 predictions
If there’s one thing Covid taught us to value, it’s the interior spaces in our home. Here, we meet SA’s best and get their top tips for design trends in 2022.
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It’s a harsh reality, but in the past 18 months many of us learned our homes aren’t as nice as they should be. In fact, as we stayed home to work, it forced us to address issues such as a lack of space, functionality and the importance of aesthetics, says interior designer Rebekah Cichero, of OSR Design.
As a result, interest in interior design, renovations and creating better, more liveable spaces has boomed in the past 12 months, as has commercial interior fit-outs.
Leading the residential charge has been home offices and open-plan areas, new kitchen and bathrooms and butler’s pantries.
“It’s been crazy this year,” Mrs Cichero said. “Its definitely increased, I think all interior designers that I know have said it’s been crazy.
“Everyone was like OK, we need to make our homes an oasis, we’re working from home, but we’re also needing to be able to retreat at home and feel safe, and I think that’s been the biggest thing.
Other positives have been a renewed focus on sustainable, locally made furniture and homewares, and the realisation that how we live does impact our mental wellbeing.
“Not spending on holidays so much and being forced to be in their homes more, makes (people) realise their homes aren’t as nice as they could be, perhaps,” Mrs Cichero said.
“It’s forced them to address what is around them, all the time, and it has become more important to make it nicer, and it actually gives you a sense of feeling good.”
Here we reveal SA’s best interior designers and their predictions for homes in 2022.
REBEKAH CICHERO
OSR Design (One Small Room)
What makes a good interior designer?
You have to have an open mind, a good sense of humour, be willing to compromise, resolve on the go and juggle the big picture while ensuring the small details aren’t overlooked. You often have to be part investigator, psychologist, negotiator, mediator, motivator, as well as a good listener. Understanding the needs of the occupiers, now and in the future and how best to guide them through the design process is a must. Being able to unlock the full potential of the space by ensuring it looks good aesthetically, flows and functions well and very importantly feels great to be in is the skill of good designer.
Your favourite residential project to date?
Probably one of my earliest ones. Thomas St – it was a complete renovation throughout with clients that trusted us to make the design decisions and just go with it. It’s a gorgeous home that continues to evolve over time and become lovelier and lovelier. We became friends with the clients so it has a special ongoing connection.
What are you currently working on?
Some updates to the Prairie Hotel, Parachilna, a number of residential renovations from Burnside, Mitcham, Woodville to Brisbane, and hopefully more commercial projects like our recent Best Wishes and Let Them Eat fit-outs.
Your favourite interiors style and your own home’s interior style?
Relaxed, evolved, timeless. I appreciate many styles, so it’s more about how a space feels to me and the layers that make it up telling the story of those living in it. Our home reflects our travels, time living overseas, our love of Europe, the old mixed with artisan made, clean lines of mid-century modern with a curvy antique piece in the mix, lots of art, textures, and our desire to have our home as our oasis.
The best idea you saw, or developed, in a residential project this year?
The use of balls as an island bench base by Natalie Turnbull as it shows how nothing has to be as you think it should be and it can be as simple as using balls instead of legs or grounded cabinets. Have fun with design and make it your own.
Interiors predictions for homes in 2022?
Homes and spaces that offer retreat and relaxation where less is more. With Covid and environmental issues, more people will appreciate craftsmanship and Australian-made products, with longevity and quality in mind, and embracing our spaces as retreats and safe havens, with the home office is a big priority. I think colour play is still going to be popular but with gentler more muted palettes. We want softness around us and rounded corners, furniture and walls with curves feel gentler within the home and are being embraced. Textures, wood cladding, renders, handmade tiles and built-in seating, some things are too good not to include.
SUSANNA BILARDO
Director of Enoki Pty Ltd
What makes a good interior designer?
A passionate individual who loves design and wants to share that with others. I believe it is integral to be a good listener and communicator, whereby one can translate and reinterpret the client’s needs into the built form.
Your favourite residential project to date?
I love them all! Our projects reflect our clients and they are all unique and highly personal.
At Enoki, we endeavour not to have a company style, rather a curated range of individual solutions.
What are you currently working on?
A varied range of small and large homes, offices, wineries, accommodation, education and allied health facilities.
Your favourite interior style?
Easy and relaxed, yet minimal spaces, which are filled with personality and opportunities for introversion and extroversion.
The best idea you saw, or developed, in a residential project this year?
I believe people are seeing the importance of creating nurturing spaces within the home, where people can move easily from active spaces, whether it be the home office or kitchen, to areas that promote relaxation. The home as the sanctuary is all so important. People are seeing their home as a safe haven, which provides comfort, joy, beauty and security.
Interiors predictions for homes in 2022?
I believe the lines will continue to be blurred between home and work. People will be looking at using new, more sustainable materials that touch lightly on our planet, to create multi-use spaces within their home. These spaces need to be ever evolving, as well as functional and aesthetically beautiful.
GEORGIE SHEPHERD
GSID - Georgie Shepherd Interior Design
What makes a good interior designer?
Having a true love, fascination and passion for interiors and a want to create environments that positively impact the people that live in and around them. Creating authentic spaces that are environmentally focused and aim towards longevity is our main focus at GSID.
Your favourite residential project to date?
Too hard to choose a favourite, we are proud of all our projects. I have included three of our projects, Stanley House, House of Billie and The Pavilion.
What are you currently working on?
We are working on a mixture of residential projects and hospitality projects at the moment.
Your favourite interior style and your own home’s interior style?
At GSID each project and client brings about a new narrative which informs the style and direction. My style in my home is eclectic with a mixture of texture, colour and pieces from my favourite designers. A part of the fun of residential design is bringing out the personality of each space.
Interiors predictions for homes in 2022?
Since Covid, we are finding that there is a lot more focus on the home and creating spaces that improve the way you live and feel, and that people want to spend their time in. I think 2022 will see more of this direction along with a further appreciation for well designed, unique spaces.
SOPHIA LEOPARDI
Williams Burton Leopardi
What makes a good interior designer?
The ability to listen and empathise with your client, and meld their brief with your design perspective, ending with a result that feels meaningful and connects to them. It also helps if you can uncover the joy in the design journey. The process is cumulative over a period of time, and along the way there can be many challenging moments, but the focus is always to get everything to connect and flow, and allow the magic to happen.
Your favourite residential project to date, and why?
The common thread that I feel most connected to are those where trust has been earnt, and we have been able to bring our best. If I have to narrow it down to one, I think it would be my own home. Nothing makes my heart sing quite like looking at a composed moment in my own piece of the world. It’s far from perfect and I have a healthy back catalogue of big dream plans yet to be realised, but it’s the continual process of micro projects and experimentations that bring me immense joy.
Your favourite commercial project to date?
Our own (WBL) studio, within the larger Darling Building restoration. This project marks a distinct moment in the evolution of me (as a designer) and of the studio, where we were able to express our true values. It gave us the platform to showcase our reverence for storied spaces and an appreciation for the value in nuanced and emotional sensibilities that we bring into our residential design - pushing the traditional boundaries of “home”.
What are you currently working on?
We have an exciting pipeline of residential work – spanning adaptations, alterations and additions of many different heritage buildings, new residences and multi-residential developments in both inner city and outer fringes, as well as a luxury boutique accommodation project in the Barossa Valley.
Your favourite interior style and your own home’s interior style?
I love a restrained framework anchored by natural materials that can be overlayed with texture, light and the personal layer that brings a space it’s soul. When I’ve been asked to describe my design ‘happy place’, I refer to the imaginary lovechild of John Pawson and Dimore Studio. The combination would see the clash of John Pawson’s restraint with Dimore Studio’s evocative and richly layered approach – to me, an unexpected mismatch made in heaven.
The best idea you saw, or developed, in a residential project this year?
Taking something as ubiquitous as the kitchen sink, and elevating it from purely functional to a moment of delight within life’s daily rituals. We recently installed an extra deep integrated crafted stone sink within an island in an open kitchen and dining space – the extra depth gives a place to hide mess from view at the adjacent dining table and when not in use feels like a considered and crafted sculptural detail.
Interiors predictions for homes in 2022?
We will see a continued redefinition of how we travel and work, and will no doubt continue to look inward to what we need “home” to provide. We are conscious in the planning and execution of our designs that spaces integrate enough flexibility to accommodate work and wellbeing, while retaining the ideas around home as a place to come together and retreat. Our work will continue to seek a return to simplicity, where we can get more from less, and distil an appreciation for quality, handcrafted expression and how this can elevate our every day.
STUDIO-GRAM
Graham Charbonneau and Dave Bickmore
Directors of Studio-Gram
Your favourite residential project to date?
DB: The Millswood House was a really fun project for me as I got to collaborate with my wife Kate (who is brilliant architect in her own right) on the design.
Your favourite commercial project to date, and why?
GC: That would be like choosing your favourite child; you might have one but you don’t say it aloud.
What are you currently working on?
GC: Some larger commercial work, still within the hotel and hospitality sectors, including some work at Monarto Zoo and a cellar door in Tanunda. We’ve seen a huge shift in our residential portfolio over the past couple years and we are currently working on 16 houses between South Australia and Byron Bay.
Your favourite interior style?
DB: Our practice prides itself on not having a house style. We try not to approach a house or a commercial job with our own predefined aesthetic ideas and rather let the clients brief and the site determine the appropriate direction.
The best idea you saw, or developed, in a residential project this year?
DB: We are currently working on three residential projects that are all designed with multi-generational / mixed mode living in mind. This is certainly not a new idea but one that we could adopt more here in Australia.
Interiors predictions for homes in 2022?
GC: Less Plasterboard, more home-offices.
SARA HORSTMANN
Das Studio
What makes a good interior designer?
In my opinion the best designer is someone who will really listen to and understand their client’s needs. We often joke that our residential briefing process is more of an interrogation, we want to know everything, from where people like to sit when they have their morning coffee to the nightly process of putting their kids to bed. The more we know about someone the better equipped we are to design exactly what they need.
Your favourite residential project to date?
My favourite projects are the real challenging ones that involve extreme constraints, whether it be an efficient home on a very tiny piece of land, the adaptive reuse of an old structure reimagined in a residential setting, or a home that needs to be prefabricated in sections to be transported across a body of water. We’re in the business of solving puzzles for people and these are just some of the more interesting ones we’ve had over the past couple of years.
What are you currently working on?
Lots! However one of the projects I am most excited about is the restoration of the penthouse level of a prominent state heritage-listed building in the CBD. Converting what was once a restaurant into five beautiful apartments and honouring the building’s original arts and crafts roots.
Your favourite interior style and own home’s interior style?
Our residential projects are very much an expression of our client’s personalities and influenced by locality and the history of place, so stylistically, they are all very different.
My personal interior style however, involves contrast and the clashing of colours, textures and eras and a slow thoughtful curation of objects that tell a story.
The best idea you saw, or developed, in a residential project this year?
We are finding increasingly that many of our residential projects are becoming more about utilisation and efficiency of space. So with that in mind, one of the better space-saving strategies that we incorporated into a design was a dining room pavilion that could be fully opened up to the elements on two sides, allowing the space to double both as an everyday dining room and our client’s outdoor dining space depending on the weather conditions.
Interiors predictions for homes in 2022?
We have noticed an increased emphasis on the provenance of finishes and furnishings. More clients than ever are seeking locally designed and manufactured products, mainly due to the long and uncertain lead times currently associated with international orders. For us this has been a fantastic turn of events both from a sustainability perspective and also for supporting the SA design and manufacturing industries, and is something we hope will endure even once the world settles back to normality.
MANDY GOEHR
Interior design director, Studio Nine Architects
What makes a good interior designer?
Someone who listens and can put their own personal preferences aside to deliver a tailored expression and the best outcome for their clients. A good designer can take on a client’s wishes and needs, and translate that into something thoughtful and creative that exceeds their expectations.
Your favourite residential project to date?
I love them all for various reasons. It could be a beautiful and deserving client, one where lasting friendships have been formed, or where you are able to walk back into a home some years later and the client is just as happy as the day they moved in.
What are you currently working on?
I have projects in the hospitality, commercial, multi-residential and single bespoke residential spaces. I am working on a residential masterplan that will give my client a number of options to suit their needs and budget, with elements that can be delivered in the short-term and in the long-term.
Your favourite interior style and own home’s interior style?
Favourite style, I don’t have one, but I do lean more towards mid-century. I tend to love all facets and eras of design and revel in the ability to mix things together and create a style that is truly unique. I showcase my own personality through my personal style. I am eclectic, yet harmonious. I love to layer but I also love order, it’s a balancing act.
The best idea you saw, or developed, in a residential project this year?
A combination larder and wine room, serving as an interesting backdrop and point of difference but also a practical solution to the kitchen.
Interiors predictions for homes in 2022?
- With more time being spent at home, we need to create and provide more versatility and options for the occupants to either socialise or retreat.
- The introduction of biophilic elements.
- We need to be more resourceful and try to work with what we’ve got – continuing to move objects and furniture around to see them in a new light. If we purchase quality products from the outset there won’t be the need to toss and replace.
- Be curvy and soften the edges.
- Choose handmade.
CARRIE DEVERSON
Carrie Deverson Interiors
carriedeversoninteriors.com.au
What makes a good interior designer?
Apart from being au fait with all aspects of design, it’s all about communication. Listening to the client and being able to adapt to their brief without enforcing your own style.
Your favourite residential project to date?
One project in particular has been the complete redecoration of a landmark home in the Adelaide Hills with renovation work by Hurren Architects. Apart from being a beautiful building, I was able to work for amazing clients and gently push the boundaries of their expectations to achieve a beautiful home.
What are you currently working on?
I work on several projects at a time. I am working on the renovation of a 1930s architecturally designed home, lots of wallpaper and gorgeous fabrics! In contrast, the renovation of a family home on the coast, with the redesign of the kitchen, bathrooms, laundry and all furnishings.
Your own home’s interior style?
My own home’s style is classic and very layered. I have been a collector from a very young age and so is full of the things I love, especially anything blue!
The best idea you saw, or developed, in a residential project this year?
I am loving dark coloured lacquered ceilings and walls. It’s nothing new, but can create such an amazing look in a large or small space. I can’t wait to use this idea in a powder room or dining room or even a bedroom, how stunning!
Interiors predictions for homes in 2022?
I have always encouraged my clients to use treasured or found objects in their homes and I think because of our current circumstances we are tending to look “inward” in regards to decorating or designing our homes rather than “outward”. I think we will see more use of things or ideas that have meaning to us and not be so influenced by trends.
KATE HARRY
Fabrikate
What makes a good interior designer?
An innate ability to understand and listen to your client, then the aptness to engage and excite them as you take them on their journey to their desired outcome, hopefully to something that may have been unimaginable to them begin with. I feel success is not always in the design itself if it is not client responsive. How you are able to respond to their needs beyond your personal preference and communicate that back to them in a meaningful way with a design that works makes for a good interior designer.
Your favourite residential project to date?
I guess for my team and I, it’s always about the dynamic of a project, the people you collaborate with and a brave client that trusts you. The engagement by our clients in collaboration with Troppo Architects for our Summertown House project is one I’m particularly proud of. We had a lovely sympatico with the clients, their way of life, and the team was committed to the outcome from the get go.
What are you currently working on?
We have wonderful projects coming to fruition in 2022. A cellar door fit-out for a biodynamic winery in the Adelaide Hills, the Main house at Hillenvale (after completing the Coach house accommodation this year). Beautiful architectural projects on both the beach in the Fleurieu Peninsula and the Adelaide Hills, a stunning heritage home in Goodwood and further abroad we’re working on projects in regional Victoria on the Murray River, with the hope of a wonderful project in Byron Bay too.
Your favourite interior style and own home’s interior style?
I’m drawn to an interior style that is honest and authentic with a level of detail that is brave and forward thinking. My philosophy, perhaps idealistic, is that homes form our sanctuary, where we find safety, pleasure and restoration and that our interior should reflect this. I am always attracted to objects made with hands, with heart. My home is full of these collected pieces. You will find a curation of vintage pieces, Australian designed pieces, art, textiles, ceramics. I would say my style is intuitive, approachable and relaxed.
The best idea you saw, or developed, in a residential project this year?
More broadly speaking this year has seen Fabrikate strengthen our connection to local designers and makers. Across all our projects we look to incorporate those details, those elements that give a little soul, and personal connection. It’s been a pleasure working with the likes of Jam Factory, Handmade and Found, Calum Hurley, Ivana Taylor and Hannah Nowlan.
Interiors predictions for homes in 2022?
It’s been a challenging few years on many levels, but for most forcing us all to reflect on what’s important in our lives. I think this has had an effect on the way people want to experience their homes. My advice is too design for you, make it personal, be brave and surround yourself with things that make you truly happy and given we’re spending more time in our homes make sure it’s functional not just Instagramable.
JOSEPHINE MARSHALL
Director and principal interior designer at One Rundle Trading Co.
@onerundletrading
@josephine_finds
What makes a good interior designer?
I’m not claiming to have these qualities… just hopeful that I might have some: an eye for balance, scale, proportion and colour helps create a good interior canvas, but then there has to be that special creative quality that can overlay the canvas with interesting, timeless pieces, including some unexpected elements, to create a memorable interior that will be a pleasure to live with and fun to visit. Above all a designer must be a good listener and problem solver. As an ex-lawyer I hope I have those skills.
Your favourite residential project to date?
I have worked with two separate families on the same large historic home in Fitzroy. I think the new owners felt they had inherited me, along with the other fixtures and fittings in their new house. Its been lovely to be see how the house has flourished equally with two slightly different interpretations and how adaptable a well designed interior can be.
What are you currently working on?
I have just finished a commercial project for the Master Builders Association in their 1960s building on South Terrace. We created a fabulous new Members Lounge out of several offices. The lounge now has amazing views over the Parklands and brilliant work and meeting spaces for members. It was great fun to rediscover and replace 1960s elements, including some reissued iconic TH Brown furniture, which is still made by hand in Adelaide. I persuaded them to include vibrant art by One Rundle’s resident Aboriginal artist, Debra Nangala McDonald. Her Uwalki Watiya Tjuta Dreaming is an ancient story with a remarkable 1960s vibe!
Your favourite interior style and own home’s interior style?
I find layered spaces which incorporate the depth and patina of historic European interiors with the freshness and vitality of Australian homes, is an irresistible combination. This is my natural aesthetic language, Steve Cordony and Melissa Penfold, have a similar and enormously more famous interpretations of this style. We lived for six years in London during which I worked in Bonhams Auction House, in antiques heaven and spent the rest of my time in historic houses and rummaging about at antiques markets. I think I became permanently infected with the antiques bug.
The best idea you saw, or developed, in a residential project this year?
I love stripping back the layers of a house to reveal its architectural bones. We recently stripped out a 1940s ceiling in a small room in our house to reveal the original 1880s ceiling joists and the crazy old wiring that had been looped up there since a 1940s reno just after the war. It was very satisfying to reclaim another section of the house’s history. I love the slightly messy bits. The Japanese call this Wabi Sabi, the beauty of imperfection.
Interiors predictions for homes in 2022?
I have a sense we are going to be more adventurous with our design choices and directions, which is strange given that the world is emerging from a difficult and scary 18 months and could be excused for wanting to retreat to the safe and predictable. I think we will see more exotic Eastern and Middle Eastern elements in our interiors. We will continue to see soft elements for bathrooms and kitchens, soft brass, muted golds and antique pewter. I think we might see more tiled floors and in particular exotic Islamic-inspired floor tiles.
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