Since launching in 2006, the Corian® Design Awards have been a key platform for recognising outstanding progress and evolution in Australian design and fabrication. Held annually under the auspices of CASF Australia, the Awards celebrate the ingenuity and creativity of Australian design professionals as evidenced through innovative use of Corian® in their design practice. For more than a decade, the Awards have served as a launch pad for some of the most interesting names in Australian design and fabrication, and have been a sterling endorsement of the industry’s burgeoning capabilities in manufacturing and construction.

In the years following the Awards’ inception, the Australian design industry has gone from strength to strength, chiselling out a unique design identity that grows ever more distinct with each passing year and new project. Today, Australian design is garnering acclaim around the world for its seemingly effortless combination of style, practicality, and fearless exploration of new materials and manufacturing techniques. In an age where the centrality of design to crafting positive everyday experiences around the world is increasingly apparent, these qualities are invaluable.

As technology becomes more embedded in design processes and manufacturing and material capabilities around the world evolve at a rapid pace, nurturing a design culture that rewards stepping outside the box and taking risks is more important than ever. That’s why, twelve years after their launch, the Corian® Design Awards remain a relevant and necessary part of the growing Australian design industry. No other awards celebrate innovative material usage on a similar scale, nor do they grant exposure to a network as wide as that of CASF. Below, we take a look at some of the previous winners of the Awards and see what they’ve been up to in the time following their win.

In 2017, the Grand Prize was awarded to Canberra firm Guida Moseley Brown Architects for their fit out of the new International Facilities of Canberra’s International airport. The project – which makes stunning, gestural use of Corian® in benchtops, booths, and desks – was lauded for its advancement of fabrication and design processes, as well as its unconventional use of Corian® for small radius curved and faceted surfaces. The project subsequently received a Commendation in the Interior Architecture category of the Australian Institute of Architect’s 2017 National Awards program, following top honours in the Institute’s ACT Chapter award in the same category.

Similarly, in 2016 top honours also went to a commercial project: Daniel Noy and David Lawrence of Crosier Scott Architects’ sculptural staircase for Ego Pharmaceuticals’ Braeside headquarters. Spiralling lithely between three floors and clad in matt white Corian®, the staircase is a feat of creative material use, and melts fluidly into the floor and ceiling planes above and below. Crosier Scott has since been engaged to complete the West Wing of Ego’s new headquarters, the design of which is currently underway.

Yet the Awards jury, comprising design professionals from across the country, does not preference certain styles or sectors. The Grand Prize has not always gone to commercial facilities in the conventional sense, nor has it always been awarded to an interior architectural element or fit out. In 2015, the student designed and built Caulfield Sound Shell on Monash University’s Caulfield campus was crowned the overall winner in a watershed moment in the Awards’ history. A freestanding pavilion structure comprising 12, 000 geometrically unique Corian® components, the Shell was designed, fabricated, and assembled by students from the Monash Department of Architecture and the University of Kassel, Germany.

To realise the shell, the students developed a novel mould making process using heat resistant high density foam, a bespoke cutting process using a 6-axis industrial robot, and a purpose-designed L-bracket to connect the Corian® panels to primary and secondary structural timber. The win highlights the Awards’ commitment to recognising design excellence at all levels, and should stand as an encouragement to other students and early career design professionals to submit their works for consideration. Whether 2018 will be the year that a residential project takes home top honours at the Awards remains to be seen, but if we’ve learnt anything from previous years’ Awards, it’s that anything is possible.

Entries for the 2018 Corian® design awards are now open via the CASF website. In honour of CASF’s 20^th anniversary in Australia, the prizes on offer at this year’s awards are bigger and better than ever, and include a sightseeing trip to Japan!

More information about the Awards and an entry form can be found here.