Waterloo brings together some of Saturday Indesign’s most interactive showrooms, with a program shaped by material experimentation, new technology, live making and plenty of good food along the way. From kitchens and lighting to stone, outdoor furniture, rugs and collectible design books, the precinct offers a close look at both the products that shape our spaces and the thinking behind them.
There’s a strong spirit of participation running through Waterloo this year. Fermob Sydney invites visitors to explore colour from pigment to finished product, while Leicht Kitchens opens up conversations around materials, engineering and the future of living. Special Lights and KODA Lighting turn lighting design into something visitors can touch, assemble and experience, and Talostone, Abey and CAV’ART Designer Stone each offer a different perspective on the possibilities held within stone and surface materials. At Winnings, live cooking, design conversations and hospitality will unfold throughout the day, while Ellison Studios brings books, furniture, music and a little friendly competition into the mix. Big Ass Fans rounds out the program with two practical CPD sessions focused on comfort and energy efficiency.
Here’s everything happening across the precinct on Saturday 12 September.
Explore throughout the day
Waterloo’s ongoing experiences make the precinct just as rewarding between scheduled sessions, with opportunities to test products, work with materials, enter competitions and spend time inside each showroom.
At Special Lights, visitors can explore Danish lighting through Take Home a Piece of Denmark. After discovering a curated collection of Nordlux luminaires, the first 280 participants can select a favourite design and receive a complimentary Nordlux Faye Rechargeable Table Lamp. Light Play with Unios offers a more hands-on look at architectural lighting design and engineering, inviting visitors to touch, assemble and explore how subtle decisions influence atmosphere, perception and movement. European-inspired pastries, lunch and afternoon refreshments will be served throughout the day as part of A Taste of Europe.
At Leicht Kitchens, two evolving installations look at the details shaping how we live. The Power of One Detail brings together pre-recorded interviews with architects, designers and members of the public, each considering a small decision that might go unnoticed but changes how a space is experienced. How Will We Live in 2046? turns that reflection towards the future, inviting visitors to contribute written or visual responses around wellness, community, technology and sustainability. Together, the contributions will form a growing pinboard of ideas about the home over the next 20 years.
Material transformation takes centre stage at Talostone with Alchemy — Transforming Matter into Meaning, created in partnership with students from Whitehouse Institute of Design for The Project. The installation moves beyond stone as a purely functional surface, using a series of immersive works to explore materiality, identity, time and craft. Visitors can see the finished pieces throughout the day and cast a vote for The Project’s People’s Choice Award before hearing more about the concept in a scheduled presentation later in the morning.
At KODA Lighting, four experiences demonstrate how light responds to different environments. Acoustic Lighting for Modern Workspaces brings illumination and sound absorption together, while Designing with Outdoor Lighting explores beam angles, fixture placement, glare and atmosphere across gardens, pathways and façades. Intelligent Lighting: The Power of Wireless Control shows scene setting and adaptable dimming in action, and Step Inside KODA’s Sydney Lightspace brings the broader collection together across residential, workplace, hospitality and outdoor applications. Internationally inspired food will be served from 12pm, followed by alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks from 3pm.
At Ellison Studios, a one-day Book Fair with Selected Objects brings together rare and collectible books, out-of-print titles and first editions spanning art and design, with coffee by Artificer available throughout the day. Visitors can also get an early look at the latest Ellison Studios collection before turning their attention to the showroom’s all-day Ping Pong Tournament. Paddles are up from 9am, mild rivalries are welcome and the strongest players will meet in the grand final at 4pm.
The hospitality starts early at Winnings and continues across the day. The Miele Culinary Airstream will be serving food and demonstrating the brand’s latest cooking technology from 9am to 4pm, while the ZIP Hydration Station begins with non-alcoholic drinks before shifting into a ZIP Spritz Bar as the afternoon gathers pace. These ongoing experiences sit alongside Winnings’ packed program of product demonstrations, talks, hands-on making and food.
Begin with coffee, colour and new design thinking
Waterloo gets moving from 9am. At Fermob Sydney, Factory & Materials follows the journey from pigment to finished product, introducing the raw materials, factory stories and powder-coating processes behind the brand’s signature colour and finish. Iced matcha and iced lattes from Harry’s accompany the session, with a special welcome gift for participants.
At Abey, Coffee & Cannoli – Discover Fima will be served from 9am to 11am as visitors become some of the first in Australia to discover Fima. The presentation introduces the SO, Flo, Park Lane and Outdoor collections, moving from expressive customisation and fluid simplicity to refined detailing and outdoor flexibility. Over at Winnings, The Coffee Bar & Breakfast opens alongside The Gifting Suite, where the first 100 visitors can collect a bag and move through curated supplier displays to choose their gifts.
At 10am, materiality becomes a connecting thread across the precinct. The Leicht Material Bar — Morning invites visitors to build a personal palette from Leicht door finishes and Cosentino benchtops, then share the thinking behind their choices. At Abey and CAV’ART Designer Stone, Natural Stone: Selecting, Specifying and Applying Stone in Modern Interiors offers practical guidance on material directions, colour, performance, maintenance and managing client expectations when specifying stone.
At Talostone, Mapo Gelato: Four Seasons in a Cup also begins at 10am and continues until 2pm. Inspired by the colours of Talostone’s Four Seasons marble, four Mapo Gelato flavours turn the material palette into something visitors can taste as they explore the showroom.
Also at 10am, Winnings hosts the official Design Discussion Where the Home Meets Wellness and Hospitality: How Are Designers Blurring Typology Lines? The line-up brings together Sophie Lanigan, founder of Studio Index; Emma Nunan, senior trade account executive at Winnings; Kristen Whittle, principal at Hassell; Grace Tham, associate director of interior design at GroupGSA; and Barrington Gohns, principal and Australian head of design at Warren and Mahoney. Together, they will explore how workplace, hospitality and wellness thinking are shaping residential design, and what designers can learn when the boundaries between traditional project types begin to blur.
At 10.30am, Fermob Sydney hosts the 30-minute roundtable Feel the Colour. The relaxed conversation looks at Fermob’s history of colour development, the psychology behind the shades people are drawn to and the role tonal combinations can play in transforming a space.
At the same time, the official Design Discussion Designing with AI: Perspectives from University Research to Practice begins at Special Lights. Timothy Alouani-Roby, writer and design editor at Indesign Media Asia Pacific, joins Katherine Turk, architectural technician at SJB; Kazjon Grace, associate professor in computational design at UNSW; and Jet Geaghan, senior associate at Woods Bagot. Together, they bring editorial, academic and practice-based perspectives to a technology already changing how the industry works, moving beyond broad predictions to consider what artificial intelligence means for designers working across different career stages and areas of expertise.
At 10.40am, the first Miele Cooking Demonstration begins at Winnings. Miele’s culinary team will put the latest cooking technology into action, sharing practical techniques and demonstrating the appliances through a live cooking experience.
Move into making, materials and live demonstrations
The 11am program offers several very different ways to take part. At Talostone, Renee Richmond of SAGE presents Beyond the Moodboard: Turning Vision into Reality, tracing the journey behind high-end residential projects from initial concept through collaboration, construction and the details that bring a space together.
At Winnings, Craftsmanship & Product Innovation Defining a New Generation of Interior Design: David Hicks x Sussex brings David Hicks and Sussex together to consider how tapware is moving beyond a functional necessity to become a sculptural part of an interior. Visitors can also get hands-on at the same time with Pottery by Love Ryan Ceramics, trying the wheel and experiencing the craft of pottery for themselves.
From 11am to 1pm, Fermob invites visitors to Create the Next Fermob Colours. Participants can mix the shade they believe is missing from the brand’s palette and predict one or both of Fermob’s two new colours for 2027. The closest predictions will each win a Luxembourg Drinks Trolley in the winning shade.
At KODA Lighting, Big Ass Fans Technical Sales Engineer Michael Jouny leads the first of two CPD presentations. CPD Presentation: Designing for Comfort & Sustainability explores the role of natural ventilation in contemporary architecture, with attendees able to earn one CPD point. Registration is required.
At 11.30am, Talostone returns to its collaboration with Whitehouse Institute of Design. Creative Direction student James Watts will take visitors behind Alchemy — Transforming Matter into Meaning, discussing how transformation, identity and materiality informed an installation that reimagines stone as a record of time, craft and meaning.
Winnings also turns its focus to wellbeing at 11.30am as chef, television presenter, author and functional nutritionist Luke Hines brings V-ZUG’s Swiss-designed appliances to life through a live culinary demonstration.
At 12pm, Leicht Kitchens welcomes DUO Architects for a conversation about the design of Leicht HQ, shortlisted for Retail Design at the 2026 Australian Interior Design Awards. The panel will unpack the collaboration, the thinking behind the showroom and the way Leicht’s products and design philosophy informed the finished space.
At the same time, The Wine Bar with Cantina begins its afternoon service at Winnings, pairing wine and cheese with a look at the technology behind considered wine storage.
Continue into the afternoon
At 1pm, Waterloo shifts into a more social afternoon rhythm. At Fermob Sydney, Stories to Gather turns lunch into a feast of fire and flavour, with an artfully arranged grazing table inspired by the warmth and intensity of Fermob’s Fire Colours. The experience runs until 2.30pm.
At Abey and CAV’ART Designer Stone, The Italian Design Edit — Water. Material. Form. invites visitors to begin with a piece from Fima’s new SO, Flo, Park Lane or Outdoor collections, then build a complete bathroom palette around it using stone, tile, surface, colour and texture. Fresh arancini and chilled Prosecco will be served from 1pm to 3pm as visitors compose and photograph their own flat lays.
Over at Winnings, Cut. Seal. Serve. runs from 1pm to 4pm, pairing sashimi prepared by the chefs from Ora with a demonstration of Hitachi’s vacuum technology and its role in preserving delicate fresh ingredients.
At 2pm, The Anatomy of a Leicht Cabinet reveals the precision engineering behind Leicht cabinetry through a live assembly and disassembly demonstration. From arrival from Germany to final installation, the 20-minute session offers a close look at the system-based construction, craftsmanship and considered detailing behind each kitchen.
Two technical stone and comfort sessions begin at the same time. At Talostone, stonemason Brooke McCartney of HB Stone Sydney presents Bending the Rules: A Stonemason’s Guide to Specifying Stone, demystifying curved stone across natural, mineral and sintered materials while sharing practical advice about applications and pitfalls. At KODA Lighting, Big Ass Fans returns with Air Movement for Energy-Efficient Comfort in Conditioned Spaces, another one-point CPD presentation led by Michael Jouny. Registration is required for the CPD session.
From 3pm, the precinct begins to wind down without losing momentum. The afternoon edition of The Leicht Material Bar offers another 45-minute opportunity to develop and discuss a personal palette. At Special Lights, Afterglow Cocktails brings Aperol Spritzes, Limoncello Spritzes, Bellinis and Mimosas into the showroom, while Drinks and Decks at Ellison Studios moves the outdoor collection into the carpark for vinyl and a relaxed block-party atmosphere until 5pm. Drinks also begin at KODA’s Sydney Lightspace from 3pm.
At 3.30pm, Fermob’s Champagne & Madeleines offers a relaxed nod to the brand’s French heritage and a chance to reconnect over something sweet. Then at 4pm, the Ellison Studios Ping Pong Tournament reaches its grand final, bringing the day’s best players together for the title and prizes.
While many showrooms are located within walking distance, some of Waterloo’s showrooms are spread across the precinct, with complimentary hop-on, hop-off buses running throughout the day to help visitors move between locations and connect with Surry Hills, Alexandria and Paddington.
