George Freedman
George Freedman was born, raised and educated in New York. He attended Syracuse University to study architecture. After travelling around Europe in the late 1950s, he worked for Tandy, Halford and Mills in London. He returned to New York in 1968 and took a role with Knoll International’s Planning Unit, where he was responsible for the interiors of Knoll’s globally based corporate clients. His projects included designing the VIP dignitaries’ hospitality areas inside the USA Pavilion for the 1970 Osaka World Fair.
In 1968, Knoll sent Freedman to Sydney to design the executive accommodation for the Bank of New South Wales (now Westpac). Soon after arriving in Sydney he met prominent interior designer Neville Marsh and began a long personal and professional relationship. Marsh Freedman Associates was established in 1973. MFA became an iconic Sydney design practice responsible for many of Australia’s most significant projects of the time including The State Bank of NSW’s executive floors in Martin Place, AMP Foyer, Leighton’s HQ, Bilsons in the Overseas Passenger Terminal Building, Quay restaurant, Berowra Waters, Claude’s, Five Way Fusion and the QVB restoration.
After Neville Marsh retired in 1986 and moved to Rome, George established George Freedman Associates (with Robert Chester and Sam Marshall). In 2002 he appointed a younger architect, Ralph Rembel, as his business partner and renamed the practice Freedman Rembel. This practice was dissolved in 2010 when Freedman joined architects Peddle Thorp and Walker as Head of Interior Design.
Freedman mentored a whole generation of Sydney Interior Designers. He told Monument Magazine in 1995, "It has given me great pleasure, because there has been lots of lovely interaction. It’s like watching flowers grow – seeing people develop into full bloom."
He was a Fellow of the Academy of Design Australia and the Design Institute of Australia. He will be remembered for his exceptional eye for colour, material and detail, and for bringing art, design and architecture together to create some of Sydney’s most remarkable interiors.
