Innehållsförteckning för Issue 57 från Artichoke

When we first began the Eat Drink Design Awards five years ago, we could have never imagined just how well revered and respected it would become. For the Australasian design community, the awards are not just a celebration of hospitality design, they are also a reference point and a reflection of how eating and drinking environments are evolving in our part of the world. This evolution is most marked in Adelaide. I sat in on the judging of the awards’ first year in 2012, where we had only four entries from the city. This year, we received more than a dozen entries from Adelaide, with the city winning two categories and receiving three high commendations (make no mistake, there’s a quiet revolution happening in Adelaide’s CBD). While there have been…

Designer — Peculiar Familia Location — Adelaide, South Australia Jury comment — The stunning success of Pink Moon Saloon is a result of a fully integrated vision for the space, architectural form and visual and graphic identity. From the profoundly simple logo, which is comprised of the archetypal pink moon positioned over an abstraction of the architectural form of the venue, to the use of typography and graphics throughout the venue, the overall impression is of playfulness and lighthearted celebration. The design studio’s quirky influences – the US National Parks Service and Japanese design sensibility – are discernible, but ultimately they have been transcended in the final product. At a time when “joy” is a hard quality to find, Pink Moon Saloon dishes it up in spades. The use of…

Best Bar Design Best Restaurant Design Best Cafe Design Best Retail Design Best Identity Design Best Temporary Design See more, visit gallery.eat-drink-design.com…

Yan Lin, a graduate of design in visual communication from the University of Technology Sydney, has been named the overall winner of the 2016 Australasian Graduate of the Year Awards (AGOTYA). Lin outperformed graduates from five design disciplines and was unanimously awarded by the judges, who included Geoff Fitzpatrick (design ambassador, Design Institute of Australia), Jo Kellock (CEO, Design Institute of Australia) and Cassie Hansen (editor, Artichoke magazine). Lin’s graphic designs for a family recipe book, a linguistics manual and a poster for a non-profit organization demonstrated “confidence and maturity” the judges said. The family recipe book project titled Homeward was cited by the judges as a very impressive piece of work. “The winning project, Homeward, by student Yan Lin, is a wonderful combination of exemplary typography, illustration and beautiful…

There’s something in the water on the Gold Coast. And no, it’s not the usual olive-skinned surfers and bikinied millennials this time. Blame it on the city’s upcoming Commonwealth Games, blame it on the population growth it’s expecting soon, or simply blame it on its ingrained need to stay relevant, but the Gold Coast is staging something of a comeback. Its airport is being extended, Jupiter’s Casino is getting a six-star hotel addition, a suite of high-rise residential towers are all under construction and the city’s cafe and arts scenes have experienced a massive swell. And, most recently, shopping complex Pacific Fair has just finished its own makeover. Built on swampland and opened in 1977, Pacific Fair was, until recently, looking a little tired. But a $670-million redevelopment has given…

More than two-thirds of Australians believe that their money is better spent on experiences than products. As the experience economy rapidly grows, where does design fit in and how can designers create successful experience-based environments for consumers and brands? These questions and more were explored at the recent Artichoke Night School in Melbourne as speakers Luke Wallis, Amanda Henderson and Rodney Eggleston shared their views and client experiences. The first presenter of the night, Luke Wallis, content director at marketing and communications agency Deepend, explored the evolution of an experience and how it is defined. According to Wallis, an experience can be broken down into four key stages – exploration, anticipation, consumption and effect. The exploration stage begins with that “spark” moment, when a consumer encounters something new, researches information…

In this age of innovation, is design relevant? “Innovation” is now a catchcry for politicians and economists everywhere, used to describe anything that is a bit different, and poor old design has been left to find a new champion. Design is for the quaint, the hip and the shocking. Not only that, has the architecture profession lost its importance as it is swallowed up by digital technology and the changing role of the architect? The word “architect,” though protected by law, appears increasingly to be used as a metaphor for “the person behind something” and often in a negative way (for example, the architect of a Ponzi scheme). “Creativity,” however, is taking over as a must-have swing tag for everything. A former national president of the Australian Institute of Architects…

Jury comment — Pink Moon Saloon is a diminutive venue that occupies a former rubbish bin alley sandwiched between two office buildings in a laneway in central Adelaide. The project is simultaneously audaciously ambitious and modest. It successfully manages to make something from nothing – a forgotten space infused with a feeling of joy that the jury found particularly contagious. While the design undoubtedly pursues a sense of genuine fun, it also taps into that deep Australian memory of long-forgotten cubby houses and sheds. It is here, within this archetypal connotation, where joyful celebration takes place. Pink Moon Saloon has been executed with a razor-sharp eye for detail and the overall design, while being immediately familiar in some uncanny way, manages to both shock and surprise us – in a…

Designer — Chris Connell Design Location — Melbourne, Victoria Jury reflection — In an industry that seems to mow through its own ranks on a regular basis, subjecting itself to constant churn and renewal, Il Bacaro is a hospitality survivor and an institution. It is the quintessential example of that particular but rare Melbourne species: the classic, timeless, character-filled Italian dining interior, and it continues to please critics and the public alike. In fact, on Il Bacaro’s twentieth anniversary last year, a reviewer for Australian Gourmet Traveller half-jokingly noted that the restaurant might just qualify for heritage listing. Opened in 1995, Il Bacaro was an important early work for designer Chris Connell and followed an earlier project with Il Bacaro’s founder Maurizio Terzini, the equally iconic Caffe e Cucina in…

Created by the Humanscale Design Studio to encourage a more engaged and active workspace, the Red Dot Award-winning QuickStand Lite transforms any fixed-height desk into an active one. QuickStand Lite can be easily incorporated into an existing setting. Its ability to transform fixed-height desks into sit-stand workstations encourages users to move around, increasing their health and wellbeing, and means sit-stand solutions are accessible to everyone. Its minimalist aesthetic complements any office environment and supports a variety of hardware. An adjustable keyboard and monitor arm platform provides exceptional stability while typing. The main assembly holds single or dual monitors up to 11.3 kilograms in weight and can be converted to either configuration with minimal tools and components. QuickStand Lite features an innovative counterbalance mechanism that enables users of varying heights to…

Hungarian-American psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi has spent his life studying, amongst many other things, creativity and happiness, and how they are expressed as a vehicle and by-product of human motivation. The widely popularized notion of “flow,” as a highly focused, intensely immersive state of activity or creative work, was first articulated in his seminal 1990 book Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience. What has this got to do with a small ceramics studio in Melbourne’s inner north, you might be asking? The answer is, a great deal, and all of it revolves around the personal vocation of Bruce Rowe, the founder of Anchor Ceramics. A venture several years young, Anchor Ceramics is a producer of ceramic products generally organized into four streams: lighting, tiles, garden pots and vessels, and highly personal,…

Marcus Baumgart is a designer and blogger based in Melbourne. With business partner John A. Clark, he launched the startup Baumgart Clark Architects. You can follow their adventures at archistartup.com. — Profile: Bruce Rowe (page 74) Tom Blachford is a Melbourne born and bred photographer, specializing in travel, interiors and architecture. — Maticevski: Dark Wonderland (page 118) Narelle Cuthbert is head of interior design at Plus Architecture. Known for her tailored design and innovative use of materials, Narelle is passionate about authentic, well-crafted design. — Making Magic (page 116) Rebecca Gross is a freelance writer and design historian. She has a masters from Parsons School of Design and writes about cultural history through the lens of architecture and design. — Humming Puppy Sydney (page 88) Katherine Lu is a Sydney-based…

Jury comment — We can summarize the essence of Dinner by Heston Blumenthal in one word: sumptuous. This is an interior that perfectly reflects the ambition of the venue and the chef himself – to transport the diner through a curated experience that is simultaneously calm yet exciting. Blumenthal wants everything to be an adventure, but one that engages the diner with comfort: the design of the interior supports this absolutely. Eschewing the brittle formality that can accompany the high-end gastronomic experience, everything about this interior is “squishy” – to use an oddly non-designer-like word – you sink into the deep comfort of this interior, both literally and conceptually. The experience begins with the entry, a dark and lusciously finished hall that physically transports you away from the “everyday” and…

Jury comment — Lune Croissanterie is many things all at once: an experience, an event, a showroom for goods, even a shrine complete with altar, all to the greater glory of one thing: the croissant. Taking the concept of laser-focused purpose to a new, higher level, Lune Croissanterie perfectly showcases the prodigious talents required to create this one type of pastry, along with various variations on the core retail theme. The act of creating and selling what The New York Times has referred to as arguably the “world’s best croissant” has been given a focused and exceptional interior, where the visitor is stepped through the process of ordering and purchasing as if through a religious-like observance. As with a religious ritual, the interior is designed to provide the props, sets,…

The Rug Maker’s business name may seem self-explanatory, but there is a lot more than meets the eye to this Singaporean family-run company. Starting out more than fifteen years ago, the company was built from the ground up by current sales director Melvyn Khong’s parents, Freddy Khong and Lee Foong Yoke. After living in Europe for several years, the young couple decided to return home to Singapore and channel their combined expertise in carpets into a new business. Since then, The Rug Maker has established itself as a provider of high-quality, custom carpets. With Melvyn taking over the reins, the company has started to move in a new direction. The first step was a collaboration with Outofstock, a Singapore/Argentine multi-disciplinary design practice who works out of Singapore, Buenos Aires and…