Designers Australia Awards

The Design Institute of Australia (DIA)—Australia's peak national design body, released the recipients for its highly sought-after Designers Australia Awards 2022. The final winners out of a shortlist of eighty-two across the country reflect the designer's ability to make a solid contribution to a better world, including three National winners, a President's Award and forty-five Merit Awards.  

The awards, a first for the industry, identify Australia's preeminent designers and studios, calling attention to the individual/s and their distinguished design processes as much as the outcome. Cobalt Design for Cobalt - magAssist VAD Heart Pump received the winning 'Use' award, and Culture as Creative for SAY IT LOUD Naarm Melbourne 2022 won 'Interact'. Kennedy Nolan for Always won the 'Place' category, and Ros and John Moriarty received the President's Award. 

"The DIA believes that designers and their contribution shape everything around us and that this 'contribution' is most effective when design is accurately investigated. The Designers Australia Awards represent design by ethics and promote ideas, creativity, diversity, and processes. This year the award winners and merit awards reinforced great design's social, cultural, economic and environmental ramifications."

DIA President Gavin Campbell FDIA


"As we face increasing ecological, social and economic challenges, globally and locally, rethinking how we live in and interact with the world is vital. In selecting this year's winners, we were looking for great designers who reimagine our interaction with the world, creating inspiring places, objects and experiences. The DIA’s Designers Australia Awards exemplify the calibre of Australian design ingenuity and integrity. It was fantastic to be a part of an awards programme distinguished for recognising the link between the process—how designers work with clients and contexts and meaningful outcomes."

Awards juror Kate Goodwin, Professor of Practise, in Architecture at the University of Sydney, integrating curatorial practice with teaching and former Head of Architecture and Heinz Curator at the Royal Academy of Arts in London

Backed by the institute, the DIA's Designers Australia Awards are different in their categories and criteria to most of the design awards currently offered in Australia. The awards recognise the most nuanced design thinking applied across the categories Place, Use, Interact and dissolve the traditional silos, reflecting a trend toward multi-disciplinary approaches and problem-solving. They replace conventional design categories such as industrial, interior, graphic, digital, product, environmental, textile, fashion, etc.

• PLACE

Category Winner
Kennedy Nolan for Always

Awards of Merit
Bates Smart for Hilton Melbourne Little Queen Street 
Cox Architecture for Midtown Workplace 
Cumulus for Goulburn Street Housing 
Das Studio for Esca Blewitt Springs 
Design Paper for South32 Singapore 
Diadem for 180 Lonsdale Street, Melbourne 
Foolscap Studio for The Commons South Yarra 
Gensler for EY Melbourne Reimagined 
Studio Duo for Vermont Terrace 
Mata Design Studio for Gage Roads Freo Brewery 
Monash Urban Lab for RetroFit Kit: design tools for making our homes accessible 
Neil Cownie Architect for 123 House 
Rezen for IGO 
Richards Stanisich for 9-15 Young Street 
Russell & George for Society 
Russell & George for Yakimono 
Simone Haag, Tom Robertson Architects and Studio Sly for Bassano 
Simone Haag for The Whiskey Room 
SITE Architecture Studio for Rockingham Youth Centre 
SJB in collaboration with Richard Leplastrier AO and Vania Contreras for Eucalyptusdom 
Studio aem and Studio Gestalt for Harbour View House
Studio Nine Architects for The Calyx Project by Forage Built 
Woods Bagot for ABN Group HQ Leederville

• USE

Category Winner
Cobalt Design for Cobalt - magAssist VAD Heart Pump

Awards of Merit
Advanced Navigation for Hydrus 
Blackmagic Design for Blackmagic ATEM Mini Extreme 
Blackmagic Design for Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 6K Pro 
Blackmagic Design for Blackmagic Studio Camera 
Blundstone Australia and Monash University for Blundstone Intelligent Footwear 
Breville for 'an Aboriginal Culinary Journey' by Breville 
Charlwood Design for Dsmile 
DesignByThem for Olio Armchair, design collaboration by Christina Bricknell, Sarah Gibson & Nicholas Karlovasitis 
Edward Linacre Studio and Danielle Brustman for Meteorite 
JamFactory for Heli Pendant Light 
Nüüd studio and Naomi Milgrom Foundation for MPavilion 2021 Dancer Chair 
Returnr / Cumulo Group for Returnr Marketplace 
Simon Modra Design for HEXADECA by Pulsing Heart 
Street and Garden Furniture Co. for Street + Garden Studio

• INTERACT

Category Winner
Culture as Creative, Sandra Githinji Studio and Beyond the Built Environment for Say It Loud Naarm Melbourne 2022

Awards of Merit
Balarinji for Nation Brand Mark 
CO-architecture for CO-architecture & Australian Architecture Job Board
Design IS: for Port Melbourne Secondary College brand strategy and design
Ellis Jones for Worth Holding Onto
Exhibition Studios for Underground 
Ian Wong and Monash University for Victorian Premier's Design Awards Showcase
Monash University XYX Lab for Keep Running 
Monash University XYX Lab for YourGround

Leading jurors representing a broad cross-section of the international and local design community include Professor Cameron Bruhn, Gavin Campbell, Dr Nathan James Crane, Penny Craswell, Emma Elizabeth, Kate Goodwin, Adam de Guara, Dale Hardiman, Tuba Kocaturk, Dr Laura Kostanski, Shay McMahon, David Meagher, Liane Rossler, Andrew Scott, Thomas Skeehan, Ellie Stathaki, Abdullah M.I. Syed, and Karen Webster.