DIA Director Dr Natalie Wright is the IDEA 2024 Gold Medal winner
Dr Natalie Wright, a pioneering interior design educator from Brisbane, won the prestigious Gold Medal at the 2024 Interior Design Excellence Awards (IDEA).
The Gold Medal is given to a practitioner who has made an “influential and enduring contribution to Australian design culture over the course of a career”.
Members of the IDEA jury nominate candidates for the annual award, with past accolades given to esteemed Australian designers such as Adam Goodrum in 2023, Kirsten Stanisish and Jonathan Richards in 2022 and Alison Page in 2021.
At the most recent IDEA gala on 29 November, Wright was recognised for her unwavering commitment to the design profession and the role of educator – without whom no designer would ever become who they are today.
Wright’s journey began in Brisbane. With a mother who was a teacher and a father who was in construction and property development, she was immersed in creativity and the built world from day one.
Reflecting on how she found her way to a career in design, Wright credits her high school art teacher.
“Early on a teacher encouraged me to study art, and despite being steered towards a Maths/Science pathway in my senior year to ensure a high TE [Tertiary Entrance] score, I chose to study my favourite subjects of art, home economics and maths,” she says. “This turned out to be a wise decision for me.”
Earning a degree in interior design at Queensland University of Technology (QUT) in the late 1980s, Wright emerged eager to shape the built world. The early years of her career took her from Brisbane to Japan, across to London and back home again. This international experience, combined with consciously choosing to work across multiple typologies, equipped her with a broad base of knowledge and experience, which she would draw on throughout her career as an advocate and educator.
Recognising that designers as professionals were not as well-respected for their expertise and design thinking abilities as they could be, Wright became an advocate and educator in the early 2000s. Over the past 20-plus years, she has been at the forefront of design education, advocacy and leadership.
Among her many career highlights, Wright developed the innovative immersive education program, goDesign, which brought design education to regional Australian schools. Through the program’s hands-on approach, students are empowered to use creativity to address real-world problems, illustrating the power of creative education.
Beyond the classroom, Wright has been a tireless advocate for the design profession. Her work with the Design Institute of Australia (DIA) has been instrumental in the ongoing efforts to regulate and accredit interior designers in Australia and raise the status of the profession to ensure that designers are recognised for their expert knowledge and skills at a similar level to architects and engineers. Her advocacy has pushed for greater protections and standards in the industry, contributing to a more robust and respected profession.
“I always felt that it was important to give back to our profession,” she says.
Wright’s passion and commitment to the industry are tireless, and she continues to explore new ways of fostering design education and supporting the profession. Her dedication and vision for the future of design in Australia have inspired countless students, professionals and the broader community.
Wright is an undeniable force, playing a vital role in shaping the interior design landscape.