Australasia’s best-designed hospitality venues have been named in the annual Eat Drink Design Awards, which celebrate design excellence and innovation within restaurants, bars, cafes, nightclubs, retail spaces and temporary venues from across Australia and New Zealand.
New South Wales dominated 2017’s awards with three venues winning their categories and a timeless favourite being inducted into the Eat Drink Design Awards’ Hall of Fame. Sydney’s inner-city suburb of Barangaroo is clearly the place to be in 2017; Campos Barangaroo by Woods Bagot took out Best Retail Design while Noma Australia by Foolscap Studio claimed the title of Best Installation Design. Whimsical yet disciplined in its approach, The Dolphin Hotel by George Livissianis won Best Bar Design for its immaculate balance of diametric opposites.
Potts Point’s timelessly “theatrical” Fratelli Paradiso, designed by the late Mike Murphy, becomes the newest long-standing hospitality institution welcomed into the Eat Drink Design Awards’ Hall of Fame.
Surprisingly, Melbourne’s CBD was left wanting with Victoria’s winners coming from suburban and regional areas. Located almost 25 kilometres south-west of the city centre, Morris and Heath by Ritz and Ghougassian flew the flag for Hoppers Crossing, winning Best Cafe Design, while Mornington Peninsula’s Jackalope Hotel received recognition for Best Identity Design (by Fabio Ongarato Design).
South Australia was not to be outdone by its eastern counterparts; Viet Next Door by Genesin Studio, in Pennington, was awarded Best Restaurant Design.
Each year, the Eat Drink Design Awards jury features industry leaders from hospitality and design. The 2017 jury comprised Ingrid Richards (co-founder, Richards & Spence Architects), Nat Cheshire (director, Cheshire Architects), Vanessa Crichton (general manager, Rockpool Bar & Grill), Ross Lusted (chef and owner, The Bridge Room) and Cassie Hansen (editor, Artichoke magazine).
For full coverage see Artichoke magazine issue 61. eat-drink-design.com