Diadem, the architectural signage and wayfinding studio, marks its 21st anniversary with a special podcast featuring Indesign editor Alice Blackwood in conversation with co-founder Dominic Russo.
If you’ve not come across Diadem before, it’s entirely likely you’ve come into contact with their work – perhaps on a daily basis. It could be on your way to the train, or walking through a shopping centre.
It’s that sense of place and the way you navigate it that is designed and shaped by the company.
ANZ Martin Place, Sydney, photo courtesy of Diadem.
Twenty-one years ago Dominic Russo founded Diadem with Adrian Calleri and John Saddington. With a background in industrial design Russo, Calleri and Saddington would establish their integrated signage and wayfinding practice to operate at the intersection of architecture, branding and human behaviour.
Today they are a multi-national business working across Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong and the wider Asia Pacific.
In this special anniversary podcast, Indesign editor Alice Blackwood chats with Russo about creating authentic connections and engendering culture; the impacts of the pandemic on wayfinding; its future in a technologically advanced world; and the most memorable adventures and collaborations it has experienced over the past 21 years.
Australia Post, Melbourne, photo courtesy of Diadem.
Diadem
diadem.co
We think you might like this podcast with Robert Puksand of Gray Puksand.
INDESIGN is on instagram
Follow @indesignlive
A searchable and comprehensive guide for specifying leading products and their suppliers
Keep up to date with the latest and greatest from our industry BFF's!
In the second instalment of our performance seating three-parter, we turn to DKO’s Michael Drescher and Jacob Olsen to peek behind Sayl’s confident architectural form and explore the ideas of inclusivity, adaptability and freedom to move as hallmarks of what sitting your best actually means.
Natural stone shapes the interiors of Billyard Avenue, a luxury apartment development in Sydney’s Elizabeth Bay designed by architecture and design practice SJB. Here, a curated selection of stone from Anterior XL sets the backdrop for the project’s material language.
The Geelong College’s Sport and Wellbeing Centre ‘Belerren’ designed by Wardle is designed around bringing in natural light. But Shade Factor’s job was to help modulate and precisely control it for the most important competitive moments.
In the last instalment of our three-part performance seating series, Alex Bain from Architectus explains why sitting well shouldn’t feel like sitting at all and explores an unexpected success metric of the hybrid workplace: the grounding power of emotional support.
Despite its long and rich history, signwriting is a profession in decline. Will Lynes’ new show, Oily Water at Canberra Glassworks, aims to showcase the techniques of the trade to highlight its potential in design.
Global e-commerce tech company ROKT has a revitalised, art-filled workplace in Sydney thanks to Hammond Studio’s reuse-focused design.
The internet never sleeps! Here's the stuff you might have missed
Architects Neil Durbach, Camilla Block and David Jaggers of Durbach Block Jaggers have been named as joint recipients of the Australian Institute of Architects (AIA) Gold Medal for 2026.
On the occasion of Salone del Mobile 2026, the Opale collection designed by Patrick Jouin for Pedrali expands with two new iterations: a chair and a barstool with armrests.