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Phoenix Tapware supports emerging designers

Phoenix Tapware supports emerging designers

Phoenix Tapware
Phoenix Tapware
Articles & Features

Phoenix Tapware has reprised its partnership with The Design Files as the proud sponsor of the Emerging Designer category, which seeks to recognise the achievements of one outstanding designer, architect, independent creative or studio.

At Phoenix Tapware, we are driven by creativity and excellence, which is why we are thrilled to reprise our relationship with The Design Files Awards in 2021.

About the awards

The awards are an extension of The Design Files (TDF) website, which recognises the diversity of creative fields thriving in Australia today.

It’s the only Australian awards program that celebrates the best in residential architecture and interior design, alongside innovative new work by the country’s most talented furniture designers, craft practitioners, textile designers, and more.

Phoenix Tapware’s involvement

In 2021, Phoenix Tapware has again chosen to sponsor the Emerging Designer category due to a shared passion for recognising outstanding talent in the design space, and a desire to help uncover the next generation of Australian designers and creatives.

“The Design Files is passionate about uncovering and supporting the next generation of Australian designers and creatives,” says Lucy Feagin, founder, The Design Files.

“Championing creative professionals in the early stages of their career is so rewarding, and can have a huge impact on their future. With the support of Phoenix Tapware, the Emerging Designer award shines a spotlight on the next generation of talented Australian designers and architects.”

Phoenix Tapware’s new Lexi MKII collection has won a 2021 Red Dot Design Award and an If Design Award

A leader in Australian design and innovation, our in-house design team has over 150 years of experience in the design industry collectively and has been recognised with a string of international awards, most notably a Red Dot ‘Best of the Best’, along with nine iF Product Design awards, eight Red Dot Awards and six Good Design Awards.

Judge’s insight

Ahead of the awards, which will take place in Melbourne in September, Phoenix Tapware caught up with Danielle Brustman, a judge in the Emerging Designer category and founder of the eponymously named Danielle Brustman Interior Design Studio. Read the Q&A below.

Phoenix: Congratulations for being selected as one of the judges for TDF Design Awards. Can you share your thoughts on the awards and being a judge of this event?

Danielle Brustman: It is terribly exciting to be a judge for this year’s TDF Awards. The awards program offers such a great platform for local designers and makers to showcase their work to such a broad audience. As well as being a competition, the TDF awards is a celebration and acknowledgement of the great work coming out of our local design community.

The standard of local design is so high and seems to be growing exponentially from strength to strength. Platforms like this award provide a portal where we can look in close detail at what is happening as a community and be inspired.

What are you hoping to see from the emerging designer entries?

I hope to see something unique and fresh. Something that delights and inspires. I will also be looking for concept driven work with close attention to detailing and materiality.

What advice would you give to designers who are starting out in the industry?

Be brave – find your own unique voice and signature. Find the things that fuel your passion for design and make these the priority. Treat every project as a great opportunity to learn, develop your skills and move forward in your career. Be determined to ride out the tough times.

Tell us a little bit about yourself, your studio and how you got into interior design.

I graduated from RMIT interior Design in the early 2000s. At the time of graduation, I was a little intimidated by the permanence of interior design and architecture, so I ventured off into the more temporal design world of experimental theatre and set design.

Eventually I found my way back to interior design and set up my own studio in 2012. Since then, I have been working primarily on residential and commercial interior design projects along with a new arm of my business that focuses on limited edition furniture and lighting pieces. My work presents within a rich syntax of colour and form to conceive narrative driven interiors and furniture that challenge our perception of private and public space.

Over the past few years, I have had some wonderful opportunities to exhibit my furniture and installation work within gallery and exhibition environments. In 2018 I was invited to be a finalist in the Rigg Design Prize at NGV Australia. My installation proposed an alternate domestic living space that asked if the home can be a more fantastical place.

More recently my installation ‘Coloured In’ was exhibited at the National Gallery of Victoria as part of the NGV Triennial.

The Design Files Awards is open to all Australian-based designers and creatives, for projects completed within Australia between January 1 2020 and April 27 2021. In order to be eligible, each applicant must submit their project via the online portal located here by 5.00pm AEST Friday June 4 2021.

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