MELBOURNE.- Melbourne design practice Hecker Guthrie has been awarded the prestigious Rigg Design Prize, the highest accolade for Australian contemporary design.

The $30,000 triennial prize was announced at the opening of the National Gallery of Victoria’s Rigg Design Prize 2018 exhibition, which features bespoke, purpose-built interior rooms by ten shortlisted Australian interior designers. It is the first major presentation of contemporary interior design in the NGV’s history.

Creating a custom-made room in response to the theme of ‘domestic living’, lead designers Paul Hecker and Hamish Guthrie created an interior, The table is the base, which celebrates the table as a modest yet powerful object, often pulling and binding people together as they gather around it. By playing with the form and scale of the table, the installation prompts the spectator to question their relationship to and the aesthetics of the object.

Shashi Caan, International Judge of the Rigg Design Prize 2018 said: ‘Using only two elements – the simple form of the Parsons table and terracotta as material – the Hecker Guthrie project demonstrates the power of design restraint and curiosity at play. A testament to the potential and capacity of design, this project inherently addresses our societal need for smaller footprints for today’s responsibly designed domestic space.’

The ten Australian interior designers that were shortlisted for the Rigg Design Prize 2018 are: Amber Road, Arent & Pyke, Danielle Brustman, David Hicks, Flack Studio, Hecker Guthrie, Martyn Thompson Studio, Richards Stanisich, Scott Weston Architecture Design and The Society Inc by Sibella Court.

Tony Ellwood AM, Director, NGV said, ‘The Rigg Design Prize 2018 recognises the central role that interior design plays in our lives and reflects the NGV’s commitment to elevating the cultural value of contemporary design in Australia. The participants concepts are thoughtful reflections of interior spaces and their ability to shift perceptions and tell personal stories of place and identity.’

The Rigg Design Prize 2018 is generously supported by the Cicely and Colin Rigg Bequest, managed by Equity Trustees. The exhibition is FREE and on display from 12 October 2018 – 24 February 2019 at the Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia at Federation Square.