Carr Design Group was the big winner at this year’s Dulux Colour Awards, being awarded the Grand Prix title as well as Most Outstanding Environmentally Friendly project for Deacon Law Tenancy in Sydney.
Dulux’s panel of judges – international guest interior designer Dr. Frederique Houssard-Andrieux, Cox Rayner’s Michael Rayner and Jimmy Possum’s Margot Spalding – commended the project for using colour to make a genuine impact.
“Deacon Law Tenancy is a striking example of how a considerably large palette can be applied to a relative small area without having an overbearing impact on the space. It is truly an exhilarating approach to colour,” said the panel.
The Grand Prix includes a business class return flight and accommodation to Milan for next month’s Salone Internazionale del Mobile as part of a $15,000 prize pool, which includes $3500 in cash. Additionally, all winners will now be exhibited at designEX.
Overall, judges noticed a significant increase in interiors adopting more subdued combinations, often applying Dulux Namadji and Dulux White Watsonia as supporting colours for neutral colour schemes as well as backdrop colours to accentuate flashes of brightness.
Feature colours tended to be applied with a fun new quirkiness, but counselled against the occasional tendency to overpower with colour. The use of feature colours was a clear preference to overall ‘whole-room’ colours, with an abundance of red, orange and green in particular.
The application of colour to enhance internal features was another noticeable trend, using it to accentuate or showcase shape, highlight architectural uniqueness or to tattoo a space with individual personality.
Other winners included National Gallery of Victoria for ‘Juan Davila’ (Commercial Interior); Terroir for ‘Kiosks’ (Commercial Exterior); Matt Gibson a + d for ‘Albert Park residence’ (Residential Interior); McBride Charles Ryan for ‘Klein Bottle House’ (Residential Exterior); Kitinana Kietgumjorn of University of Melbourne (Students Years 1-6).