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Design

This Month

Becker Minty Linear tumblers.

Stuck for ideas? Two top Australian designers share their wish lists

You’re bound to be inspired once you read what designer Blainey North and architect William Smart have chosen.

  • Stephen Todd
The pair of “eyes” at 12th floor terrace level.

Inside Melbourne’s latest luxury hotel

This CBD new-build is avowedly local, and intrinsically sophisticated. The essence of Victoria’s capital, really.

  • Stephen Todd

Hip industrial designer Henry Wilson has a brilliant new store

One of Australia’s most esteemed creatives now has a shopfront for his instantly recognisable pieces.

  • Stephen Todd
Billowing drapes offset the monumentality of Gerard’s restaurant designed by J.AR Office.

These award-winning restaurants and bars are designed to take you away

At the recent Eat Drink Design awards, judges noted a refreshing shift towards “otherworldly design” in hospitality venues.

  • Stephen Todd

November

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In Pictures: The restoration of a 10th-century chapel in Provence

Photographer Alex Roxburgh Reyto spent a weekend with an Australian family who have restored a 400 year old chapel in Saignon, a tiny hilltop town in Provence.

  • Nicky Catley
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A 1950s chair designed by Janine Abraham and Dirk Jan Rol.

The 70s furniture trend making an unlikely (but welcome) comeback

This humble yet sustainable material is getting a high-end makeover.

  • Stephen Todd
The New Bahru lifestyle precinct is housed in a former high school built around a shaded lawn.

Singapore layover? Check out New Bahru

This well-designed collection of creative businesses – from food to wellness and retail – will easily account for a day.

  • Stephen Todd
One of artist Callum Morton’s ‘In Through the Out Door’ mosaics in an inner-Sydney laneway.

Good old tiles are making a comeback

Ugly public structures are being transformed with bold and intricately patterned mosaic works of art. The trend is in play in fashionable houses, too.

  • Stephen Todd
Cartier Love bracelet.

The stories behind the world’s top-selling jewellery

Symbols of luck and love, empowerment and experimentation, these pieces have endured across generations.

  • Hannah Tattersall

Homewares that last forever? How is that good business?

The CEO of one of Europe’s oldest companies says sustainability and recycling are the key to its vintage brands’ survival.

  • Glynis Traill-Nash

October

An atrium inside 1 Elizabeth, the new headquarters for Macquarie.

Macquarie’s new home is one to admire for its smarts

The investment banking and trading giant’s new office at 1 Elizabeth Street in Sydney brings building materials, and a metro station, to the fore.

  • Matthew Drummond
Dragon Ball

Japan’s unlikely export success

The surging global popularity of anime has lifted the industry’s value to the likes of semiconductors or steel.

  • The Economist

Outback-inspired pieces set to go on show at Design Miami fair

Trent Jansen explores Australia’s cross-cultural history through his furniture collaborations with Indigenous artisans.

  • Stephen Todd
Denver & Liely marlo wine glass

An Australian’s revolutionary wine glass has floored French experts

It looks intriguing and glassware designer Denver Cramer says it can “age” its contents by four to five years.

  • Paul Best
Luca Guadagnino.

Hit films and now a hit hotel: The design genius of Luca Guadagnino

The director behind Challengers and Call Me By Your Name has a new movie, a new five-star hotel in Rome and a just-opened craft festival.

  • Maria Shollenbarger
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Both the 31-year-old drop and the André Saraiva-designed box it comes in are collectibles.

A collector’s guide to unconventional art investments

Art is an entry point into different worlds, and the way we consume it is as varied as its many movements and styles.

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by Glenfiddich

September

A meeting room in Flack Studio features the work of Sydney Ball, set off with a moody portrait by Darren Sylvester.

Interior design maestro pays tribute to his famous colour muse

David Flack was inspired by abstract painter Sydney Ball as a schoolboy; now he is curating an exhibition of the late artist’s work.

  • Stephen Todd
An original 1970s French sofa has been reupholstered in plush velvet and trimmed with cord.

The interior decorators in the spotlight for their beautiful spaces

Looking for a home refresh to enhance your signature style or soften hard lines? These three women have the know-how.

  • Stephen Todd
Melbourne’s new The Standard.

An edgy Hollywood hotel brand makes its Australian debut

It may have its origins in Los Angeles, but The StandardX has embraced the gritty hipness of its new location in Fitzroy, Melbourne.

  • Stephen Todd

August

John McAslan

Keep building ambition, says key architect behind Sydney Metro

UK-based John McAslan says Sydney Metro was a smoother ride than London’s recent Elizabeth Line.

  • Matthew Drummond

Hermès for your home? See what the luxury brand has in store

These covetable products may be new, but they include plenty of retro nods.

  • Stephen Todd
Richie Allanson and Iain Murray with their 100 percent carbon fibre 9AM, showing the radical new keel.

‘In a class of its own’: a radical new racing yacht sets sail

Two driving forces of Australian sailing have come up with an ingenious new type of craft, with a specially designed keel.

  • Stephen Todd and Nicole Shrimpton
Jessie French at work creating bioplastic from marine algae.

Jessie French turns algae into art, and conjures a PVC alternative

The materials researcher found a way to make art – and replace petrochemical-derived plastics – with algae.

  • Stephen Todd

July

These are the top Australian designs picked by our design editor

Eight of the most original, thoughtful and certainly beautiful new creations from local creatives.

  • Stephen Todd

Original URL: https://www.afr.com/life-and-luxury/design