1. Describe your professional style and how it has progressed over the last decade of working as an architect in Sydney. My process usually begins by tapping into the energy of the project, the brief, site, and the client. Influences of music, art, and sub-cultures such as skate, shape the way I approach design. My progression as a designer has been more about feeling confident in my decisions and processes.
2. What influences did you draw upon for your latest project in Tamarama? The client is a NZ native, so a strong connection to the surrounding nature was an important design consideration. Material selections were also informed by the client’s heritage particularly the kitchen marble bench top which resembles the aerial views of NZ’s rivers. Our overall design intention was to capture the nuances of our client through textures, time, and history. As a renovation, rather than a new build, we began the design process by defining the elements we wished to retain and developed a strategy around modernising the home without it feeling forced or faux.
3. What and Where do you look for inspiration? Old magazines & design books. Art, travel, music, and connecting with our friends and peers in the industry, discussing our favourite buildings and designers.
4. What is it about Dunlin that you find compliments Akin’s design aesthetic? A sense of familiarity, tactility, and warmth. Dunlin’s pieces feel at once modern but also like they’ve existed for a long time. I love that nothing in Dunlin’s collection feels overtly new or mass.
5. What is your favourite Dunlin piece at the moment? The Pierre Disderot Table Lamp 1013 in black or yellow.
6. What are you working on currently and when can you share it with us? I’m really excited to be working on a project with the Art Gallery of NSW. It’s wonderful to work on a project for such a meaningful institution.
7. What do you look for when considering lighting for a residential project vs. a commercial project? Also what look were you after for this most recent Tama project? We don’t really distinguish – it’s really about creating a lighting outcome that is right for the project and the tone we want to set.
9. If you we not an Architect what or who would you be? A fisherman.
10. When you’re not working what are you doing and where can we find you? At the snow, in the ocean, camping in a forest, or building something in my garage.