The Australian interior design sector is slowly moving to incorporate green building design and delivery practices.
US and Canadian sectors have already brought these green interior practices into the mainstream and seen their impacts on improving productivity and Interior Environmental Quality (IEQ) as well as long-term economic savings.
Due to these benefits, the Australian industry is getting behind the green interior sector with the Your Future Home – Green Interior Awards.
According to industry leaders, the recognition of this kind of environmentally oriented design will offer new incentive to the interior design community to follow these practices.
Their goal is “to shine the spotlight on those professional and amateur interior designers and stylists who have completed a project that has a ‘green’ theme.”
Australian Living sustainable interior design consultant Daphna Tal explains the company’s motivation in creating a venue through which green interior designers can be honoured.
“The ability to educate and create change in the way people look at interiors is a great responsibility and also an honour,” says Tal. “There are many design awards out there but this one is different because it is 100 per cent dedicated to green and sustainable outcomes and uses predominantly social media as its marketing outlet and voting platform.”
Tal will sit on the jury panel along with Sydney magazine editor and interiors blogger Jen Bishop and sustainability driven interior designer, speaker and writer Emine Mehmet.
Maintaining the high aesthetic standards of traditional or mainstream interior design is a key priority in bringing green designs and practices to the industry at large. Bishop is keen to see a stylish aesthetic maintained even as the focus is on the underlying green design foundation.
“I’m always keen to be involved with anything that promotes Australian interior design and I think the sustainability side of things is often forgotten about,” she says. “I hope the entries will show that stylish interiors can be green too.”
According to Mehmet, the added awareness of the possibilities for designers who take an environmentally responsible approach to interiors will shake the hesitancy and intimidation that surrounds the sector.
“These awards are not just about rewarding and acknowledging designers producing sustainable work, they are about dissolving the mystery around sustainability in design and making it more commonplace for both the industry and the general public,” she says.
Entries for the award program close in November.
