International award-winning Australian designer and author Jamie Durie started his design practice 21 years ago in 1998. Since then he and his team at Durie Design have received over 36 international design awards including the coveted gold medal at the Chelsea flower show in London and further gold medals received in Singapore, Tokyo, Auckland NZ, Melbourne, and Durie’s place of birth, Sydney.

In 2001 Durie made his entrance into furniture design when he and his team were asked to design various pieces of custom furniture for several upmarket hotels and resorts first in Spain, with several more in Asia, Australia and the Middle East. After launching several design collaborations in Europe, USA and Australia his furniture is now retailed worldwide through his multiple partnerships.

Jamie started his television career as host of the 6-time Logie award winning lifestyle juggernaut Backyard Blitz. Jamie has hosted over 52 primetime design shows worldwide aired in over 90 countries, and has hosted The Outdoor Room, HGTV Green Home, HGTV Dream Home TV shows among many others since his debut as a regular celebrity designer guest for 4 years on the Oprah Winfrey show.

Today, Durie is the new judge in House Rules and a regular contributor of Better Homes and Gardens. Durie is also the host of Habitus House of the Year and the new host of Australia by Design.

In honour of his work over the last two decades, Jamie was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia in 2013 for services to the environment & design, while in 2004, he received the Centenary Medal for services to the environment, television, and the community.

Suzie is a registered architect with over 34 years’ experience in both government and the private sector, in Australia and the United Kingdom. Following the birth of her fourth child she established her own award-winning architecture, interior and heritage design practice Suzanne Hunt Architect in 2004. Specialising in the delivery of full design services Suzie also provides strategic design advice and advocacy to private and government clients.

Known for her down-to-earth approach and wide-ranging professional and life experiences, Suzie has a warm and engaging manner that manifests in the buildings and spaces she designs. Her work is strongly influenced by the Australian climate and stunning landscapes resulting in timeless, tranquil buildings and spaces that are beautifully detailed and environmentally and financially sustainable. Architecture, interiors and landscape are designed symbiotically with seamless transitions between inside and outside. Her philosophy is that: “Great architecture enriches our lives physically, psychologically, spiritually and emotionally, and leaves a legacy for generations to come.”

Suzie is aware of the challenges of juggling caring roles with professional demands championing gender equity and diversity along with sustainable work practices. Now Immediate Past President of the Australian Institute of Architects (RAIA) WA Chapter, in 2017 she was the first woman elected to the role since the Chapter’s establishment in 1896. Suzie sits on several boards and advisory panels, is a formal mentor and established the networking group #WorkWomenWisdom Forum for women in the design profession in 2017. In addition, Suzie is an engaging presenter for Channel 10’s Australia By Design and a regular columnist in The West Australian and The Post Property News.

Suzie is Chair of the Curtin Architecture Advisory Board, the Peter Hunt Travel Prize Committee, sits as Deputy Community Representative on the Legal Profession Complaints Committee. She has sat on the Rottnest Island Authority Board since 2010 (her term finishes 30 June 2019) and the RIA FRAC committee since 2017.

Jill Garner was one of the first graduates of Masters by Design program offered at RMIT. She co-founded Garner Davis Architects in 1990 and holds the role of Principal. Over a career of thirty years she has been a visible and active contributor to the discourse of architecture and a passionate advocate for design excellence. Currently, Jill is the Victorian Government Architect.

Peter is an architect and one of the founding directors of Six Degrees, with over 25 years’ experience in the industry. He has been project leader for many of the large institutional projects completed by Six Degrees, including UTAS Schools of Architecture and Fine Furniture, MTC and various University of Melbourne projects, along with the award winning 6 Star Greenstar Western BACE 6 star Greenstar rated Western Business Accelerator and Centre for Excellence. In 2013 was elected President of the AIA Victorian Chapter.

Six Degrees is widely recognised for engaging and rich design in hospitality, multi residential, tertiary education and civic fields, urban design, place making and precinct development. The practice continues to develop ideas around human needs, community, raw materiality and memory.

Accreditation
Architect’s Registration Board of Victoria (Australia), Registration No. 14617

Associations
A+ Member with AIA (Australian Institute of Architects)
Past President, Victorian Chapter, Australian Institute of Architects 2016

Education
B Arch (Hons) University of Melbourne

Industry Positions
Fellow Australian Institute of Architects

Employment
Six Degrees Founding Director 1992 – Present

Mr Ken Slattery is the Chief Executive Officer of Cement Concrete & Aggregates Australia, the peak body for Australia’s $15 billion heavy construction materials industry.

Prior to joining the concrete industry, Ken had an extensive career in the steel industry, where he held a number of senior marketing and applied research roles supporting the construction, automotive and manufacturing industry sectors. He has developed a deep understanding of the building products industry and its operating environment.

Throughout his career Ken has developed and maintained a passion for quality architecture and a sound understanding of the role that materials play in facilitating good design.

Blake Tasker is a marketing professional with experience across both B2B & B2C fields in the building and construction industry. He holds a Bachelor of Commerce (Marketing and Management, 2012) from the University of Wollongong.

Blake is currently the Marketing Manager, Building Components, at BlueScope, with responsibility for marketing and branding initiatives for the Lysaght and Fielders brands, across residential, home improvement, commercial and industrial categories.

Through this experience Blake has gained a broad understanding of what concerns and drives the various players in the industry, such as architects, designers, engineers, resellers, installers, and consumers. Blake lives in Sydney, is a member of the Sydney Swans Football Club, enjoys watching cricket in summer, swims most mornings of the week, and loves travelling both within Australia and overseas for holidays.

Kim has worked in the building industry for most of her career, and has a genuine affinity for Australian manufacturing businesses, such as CSR and Caroma, where she has spent most of her working life.  She has many years’ experience in developing and implementing marketing strategy within the industry, and her passion lies with new product design and development. Through her associations, she has developed a strong community to provide continual learnings on the intricacies of good product design.

Kim has a reputation for challenging the status quo of product ranges with her down to earth attitude.  Her hands-on approach is how she helps bring people on the journey and motivates the teams she works with.  She demands excellence and believes collaboration with people who share the same goal brings everyone success.

Her steely reserve manages to bring about change and she loves to see products used in all kinds of buildings, the everyday and marvellous.  Even more so, she loves to see the people she works with excited and proud about the products they bring to market.

Dennis Hall is the founder and Managing Director of Maxton Fox Furniture Systems.

Maxton Fox is a privately owned and proudly Australian business that has been designing and manufacturing commercial furniture and joinery systems since the 1960s.

Dennis began his professional career at the tender age of 15 as an apprentice carpenter and joiner in the building industry. However, his interest soon turned to upholstery (the family business) commencing night school to gain his qualifications.

At the age of 20, Dennis took over his father’s business, Hall & Etches (which was a small re-upholstery business in Sydney). This event set the course for a working collaboration with Benwick Furniture, a chair frame manufacturer, that would eventually lead to the formation of Tudor Furniture. This formidable pairing of companies (with complementary skillsets) led to numerous contracts including large scale projects for the NSW Government.

In the 1990s, in response to the design-led and ergonomic movement, Maxton Fox was launched, and the rest is history.

Headquartered at the factory premises in Sydney’s Western Suburbs, Maxton Fox services projects and customers throughout Australia, working in close partnership with project teams across a variety of sectors such as: Commercial Workplace, Residential, Education, Hospitality and Transportation.

Dennis continues to be passionate about Australian manufacturing and is buoyed by the growing interest and demand for Australia’s design expertise and innovation.

Rajesh Nandan is the Founder, Publisher and Chief Executive Officer of the design industry’s premier regional media house, Indesign Media Asia Pacific. After acquiring his first magazine at the age of 22 in 1993, Raj continued to launch a suite of magazine titles throughout the 90s which would become the foundation for his boutique publishing house in 2000 under the flagship title, Indesign. In 2010, the company moved further throughout Asia with digital and print titles in Indonesia, Singapore, Hong Kong – including welcoming India to the fold in the very near future. The root of his success lies in Raj being a very early proponent of the potential for digital platforms to support our region’s creative talent.

With print and digital assets under the brands of Indesign, Habitus, Cubes, Lookbox, Architecture & Design, and DQ, the international design world collaborates with Indesign Media through experiential events throughout the region – inspiring the design communities in Melbourne, Sydney, Perth, Brisbane, Singapore, Hong Kong in previous years and Indonesia in the years ahead.

Raj has since lent is curatorial eye for several boards and juries including the RedDot Design Awards Judging Panel, the Strategic Advisory Board of the International Federation of Interior Architects/Designers, the Advisory Board for Emergency Architects Australia, and is also an Ambassador for Unlimited: Designing for the Asia Pacific, an Official Judge for the International Design Awards Los Angeles, and for the Good Design Awards Australia.

After recently launching the INDE.Awards – the Asia Pacific region’s largest and most powerful interior design and architecture awards – to continue Indesign Media’s commitment to unflagging industry stewardship, this year Raj Nandan and Indesign Media embark upon tackling new challenges presented by the changing nature of the region’s design, architecture, engineering and property sectors. This year, Indesign Media brings Asia Pacific a new event, FRONT, that finally unites all stakeholders in the AECO supply chain, bringing to a crowning point over two decades of building a more co-operative, more intelligent and ultimately stronger outlook for our region’s creative talent on the global stage.

Sarah Stephenson, Senior Brand Communications Manager, Wattyl and Sherwin-Williams Company, is a highly regarded forecaster, educator and presenter in the world of colour and design.

Noted for her insightful colour predictions and often quoted in the country’s leading lifestyle and design publications, Sarah brings an unrivalled level of creative and strategic expertise to the world of colour in design.

A former teacher at the prestigious International School of Colour and Design, Sarah had a distinguished career in television production in London prior to channelling her extensive knowledge and qualifications in colour into her current marketing and communications role with Wattyl.

Peter is an architect who has extensive TV credits across a range of television genres, from lifestyle, reality and sport including commentary for Seven’s Olympic Games broadcast.