Through specially curated workshops, guests and applicants for the Designer Rugs Evolve Awards gained insight into designing a commercially viable rug.
April 1st, 2019
Across Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Auckland, the Evolve Awards Workshops had a tremendously impressive turnout.
Taking inspiration from huge names such as Easton Pearson, Emma Elizabeth, Akira Isogawa, and bernabeifreeman, Designer Rugs’ own senior designer, Lia Pielli, mediated the workshop as people absorbed the process behind making and designing rugs.
With a slideshow of images featuring rugs from The Great Gatsby movie set and previous Evolve Award finalists – to mention a few – attendees left the workshops inspired. Some of the key takeaways across the workshops was to design rugs with a maximum of six colours, in a hand-tufted 100 per cent New Zealand Wool. Other considerations included details with Bamboo Silk and whether to produce it in a cut pile or loop pile with the option of carving in design details.
Marking the fourth edition of the Awards – with this year’s awards being extended to Asia for the first time – Designer Rugs has established itself as a supporter of the ever-growing designer landscape both in Australia and overseas.
Applications are open until 30 April, with winning prizes of up to $30,000 inclusive of a trip to Milan, forming part of the Designer Rugs Evolve Collection 2019, and a personal rug design to own!

















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!
The newest brand to emerge from Cosentino’s creative crucible is Ēclos, a next-generation mineral surface that embodies the organic beauty and tactility of marble in a precision-mineral surface or material.
The magnetic pull of certain spaces comes down to how seamlessly they work and, more importantly, how they feel. Recognising this, Kettal Workplace draws on the uplifting codes of other sectors to deliver contemporary workplace design.
At 3daysofdesign 2026, AHEC’s immersive exhibition traced the journey of American hardwood from forest to finished product.
As Woven Image celebrates 40 years, it introduces a new collection developed in collaboration with Australian artist Ben Goss, inspired by his original artwork Where the Kookaburra Sits into a vibrant collection of digitally printed EchoPanel® murals and patterns.
At Paddington Town Hall, the Australian rug studio reflected on two decades of bespoke design with an event that brought its archives, collaborations and making processes into motion.
Presented by Designer Rugs
The internet never sleeps! Here's the stuff you might have missed
Late night rethinks, endless material testing and prototyping, half-finished or abandoned projects – the work behind-the-scenes work is often where ideas come undone. Elton Group’s Think Good Micro-Grant – a $5,000 annual fund now open for applications – exists to back this kind of unseen effort.
With an in-your-face campaign from the Design Institute of Australia, Write DESIGNER urges every design professional to identify themselves in the upcoming census.
From an overnight concert beneath the Royal Exhibition Building’s dome to light works along the Birrarung and a full-scale takeover of Melbourne Town Hall, Now or Never returns with a program that treats the city itself as a stage.
A wander around a BACHLI showroom reveals a tapestry of captivating furniture designs, curated precisely and craft-led. Thanks to its longstanding partnerships with iconic designers, BACHLI has become a go-to for discovering the most exciting established and emerging Australian and international brands. Initially based in Melbourne, BACHLI have recently expanded into Sydney with their Surry Hills showroom, increasing their presence and opening their invitation to the design-savvy and curious nationwide.