Guests and judges viewed the six finalists’ entries, which had been narrowed down from 850 submissions across Australia and New Zealand.

The judging panel included Sibella Court, Matthew Sheargold, Stephen Ormandy and Shareen Joel, who designed a rug for the Designer Rugs ID Collection. Designer Rugs Chairman Eli Tal and Managing Director Yosi Tal were also judges.

The major prize was shared by Gavin Harris of Futurespace, for his Squiggle It design, and Lachlan Alley of Group GSA for his Dusk design.

Gavin and Lachlan will receive return flights and accommodation to Milan to coincide with the Milan Furniture Fair, their rug and a trophy by Dinosaur Designs.

The awards ceremony also saw the presentation of the People’s Choice Award, voted for by 1500 members of the industry and general public out of a shortlist of 25.

The People’s Choice went to Jessica Graham from Base Architecture for her Tail Feather design. Jessica will receive a BeoCom 5 phone from Bang and Olufsen.

Stay tuned for the next Designer Rugs Evolve Awards in 2011!