The SBID International Design Awards launches for 2022

Click here to discover the last year’s SBID Awards winners!

To enter, visit sbidawards.com for more information.

This week’s instalment of SBID’s Product of the Week series features a standout kitchen design by 2021 SBID Awards Finalist, Roundhouse.

This standout kitchen offers a serious amount of space with doors to the back terrace and a woodburner for winter comfort. Complete with an island that features polished concrete worktops, an underside in patinated corrugated iron and splashback in Lilac Milas marble, the textures used are purposefully varied and wonderfully original. With reused and recycled elements from the original barn, this is a space designed to be seen and used for all occasions.

In this week’s interview with 2021 SBID Awards winners for the Outdoor Product Design category, Belgard, discusses key industry changes, gives advice for designing outdoor spaces and introduces more of their innovative outdoor products.

How important is it to enter the SBID Awards & receive industry recognition for your work? What are the benefits?

Joe: We certainly appreciate the visibility that comes from receiving international industry recognition for our work. Beyond marketing opportunities, an award of this magnitude is very exciting for Belgard because it validates our approach to design, as we are transforming our portfolio to be much more design centric. It is also important to us to tell the story behind our products.

It’s recognition like the SBID awards that will help us connect to local architect and design communities across the world. This is helpful as we look to launch the Artforms system in Europe next year.

What do you think made this particular design an award winner?

Joel: From a research and development perspective, Artforms’ design is a game changer. It is the first modular concrete panel system that can be used in a variety of applications for outdoor living spaces. The modularity of the system offers simplicity and a modern design that contractors around the world are looking for today.

Joe: The innovative approach behind the flexibility and versatility of Artforms directly aligns with current outdoor living design trends. It provides a clean, contemporary look, which was historically very expensive and time consuming to achieve, in a new, more cost-effective way.

What was the design concept behind the Artforms modular panels? What does the solution aim to achieve?

Joel: The thought process behind the Artforms concept was to create larger format panels that can be installed vertically to maximize efficiency. The modular design also achieves the simplicity that aligns with ongoing trends in outdoor living design.

Previous techniques needed to achieve a more modern, linear aesthetic were extremely labor intensive. Artforms modular design provides the ideal aesthetic result in a fraction of the time and cost.

With the burgeoning trend of indoor-outdoor living on the rise, what advice can you give designers when approaching outside spaces as an extension of the interior environment?

Joe: My advice for designers approaching outdoor spaces is that it’s critical to consider the connection with the home and how both spaces function together. People often look at it as separate environments, but the best designs blur the line and make a physical and visual connection with the exterior. When you look at materials especially, if you’re able to pull interior materials outdoors or vice versa to make sure it ties into the architecture and flow of the home, that is where we see the most success. Artforms goes a long way toward achieving that. With interior design trending more modern, Artforms extends that flow to the exterior.

Joel: Interior design trends tend to move faster when compared to outdoor living design, which usually adapts as it follows slowly behind interior trends. We saw the trend of larger format and concrete design becoming more popular and were able to predict this now ideal modular design bleeding into the backyard. The concrete look is popular indoors, with many iterations of porcelain tile with a concrete look that can be easily matched to Artforms in outdoor spaces.

Now that you’ve won an SBID Award, what are the next steps? Is there anything new you are excited to be working on?

Joel: Artforms as a system, has a few next steps as we roll out a variety of applications, parts and new finishes/textures that are easily integrated into this system for personalized configurations. These additional compatible features allow the modularity to extend into the whole outdoor space with one comprehensive design. One example is the privacy panel that is part of the Artforms ecosystem.

Belgard continues to make outdoor living spaces more efficient and functional, especially with the increased interest from homeowners. We want to be able to offer all the products and features to outdoor living spaces complete and feel like “home.” Our new Elements line of products fills this need. In addition to our modular outdoor fire features and grill islands, Elements is also a collection of stainless appliances and fixtures including cooking, storage, bar and sink accessory features that make outdoor living areas – specifically kitchen and dining spaces – feel complete.

Looking at what’s next, we’re excited to share our patented system with select communities in Europe within the next year. Artforms is currently available in the United States, Canada (Artforms/Artex), and Belgium (Moodul Creation).

What advice can you give to young designers starting out in the design industry?

Joe: Designers often get caught up on the artistic side of design or focus too much on products, creating a narrowed approach. My advice for young designers would be to not prioritize your personal goals. Understanding the consumers’ needs and lifestyle is critical, and you can work from that point to create the perfect design. If you can integrate new ideas, that’s great, but only if it’s the right fit. There is no need to push a certain look at the expense of the consumers.

Questions answered by Joe Raboine, Director of Residential Hardscapes, and Joel Remillard, R&D Hardscape Group Leader, Belgard.

This week’s instalment of SBID’s Product of the Week series features a luxurious piano design by 2021 SBID Awards Finalist, Edelweiss Pianos.

The SOLIS was hand-built in the UK by Cambridge based piano makers Edelweiss. The SOLIS is the one of a kind design from the ‘Goldfinch’ designer range of self-play pianos. Exclusively created for a California residence this majestic piano symbolises the setting sun across the Nevada desert.

A semi-circular piano has a butterfly lid that is unique to Edelweiss Pianos. The SOLIS seamlessly holds a self-play system and is highly specified with a carbon fibre composite mechanism, a perma-formed soundboard, and a custom produced keyboard with sustainably sourced exotic wood sharps.

This week’s instalment of SBID’s Product of the Week series features a hardware collection design by 2021 SBID Awards Finalist, Croft.

The Mineral Collection by Croft is a one-of-a-kind, limited edition range for those looking to seamlessly transform and add character to any space. As its name suggests, the overall design concept of the collection is based on natural occurring minerals. The Mineral collections look of purity and intrigue suggests it is a naturally formed product, celebrating the relationship between nature and craftsmanship.

Meticulously hand-crafted using a pattern bonding process, the collection is comprised of Croft’s Elegance door handle with a covered rose, bathroom turn, cabinet knob and handle and an appliance pull. Available in a matt or gloss finish and two striking colours, Tiger’s Eye and Jade, each product has its own individual, colour-bearing veins giving a uniqueness to every item. A step away from their usual product range, the Mineral Collection was created by Croft, a British manufacturer based in the heart of England.

This week’s instalment of SBID’s Product of the Week series features a morphable furniture design by 2021 SBID Awards Finalist, Thomas Abraham For IDeA Design House.

The Optimus by Thomas Abraham is a morphable furniture piece that transforms in size, shape and purpose. Because it can be multi-used and multi-purposed, it limits the number of furniture in the room thereby providing free space.

It is made of sheesham wood from renewable plantations that are environmentally friendly with low carbon footprints. It is in every way an ‘Environment first’ Architectural Design, prioritizing sustainability, durability, recycling and reusing material, waste management, reduction of carbon footprint and economically affordable design. It also focuses on the efficient use of resources and follows a zero-waste policy. Everything used was handmade, thus providing much needed employment to local population as well as preserving the skillsets of craftsmen in the neighbourhood.

This is design as cosmopolitan as it gets, a glocal (global + local) sensibility with diversity and universal value – furniture that would fit in every home, in any culture

This week’s instalment of SBID’s Product of the Week series features a sleek desk design by 2021 SBID Awards Finalist, Isomi.

The initial inspiration for Umi revolved around the shift in use of technology and a much more mobile concept to a reception desk. Umi anticipates the user to move around the object using a mobile device such as a tablet. It’s this change in use that starts to inform the soft edges and ability to flow around the object. The link between the user and client is much more intimate and the division between front and back are deliberately undefined.

Equally comfortable as an individual piece or part of a series, Umi is designed to grow with the requirements of any space.

This week’s instalment of SBID’s Product of the Week series features a textured and colourful carpet designs by 2021 SBID Awards Finalist, TSAR Carpets.

The Sierra Collection is a series of broadloom wool-rich Axminster carpet designs inspired by mountainous terrains and desert landscapes. An exploration in woven process and natural textures, the collection’s patterns were derived from an array of experimental and labor-intensive hand, seersucker and jacquard weaving techniques, which were then digitally translated into broadloom Axminster carpet designs.

While keeping in line with TSAR’s signature use of bold and signature designs, the collection transforms the company’s vision for the future of hospitality, commercial and residential projects into paired-back contemporary statements teeming with topographical dimension.  Available since February 2021, the collection is sold exclusively at TSAR’s studios in Melbourne, Sydney, New York, London, and Shanghai.

This week’s instalment of SBID’s Product of the Week series features a minimal shower tray design by 2021 SBID Awards Finalist, Acquabella.

Flow Zero is the new shower tray by Acquabella. It has been designed to fully merge with the water. The shower tray is silhouetted by soft lines that direct the water towards an almost homogeneous grid that can easily accommodate the significant volume of water that flows over its surface.

A design perfectly in line with the softness of its Zero texture, a microtextured finish that fits perfectly with the Flow Zero model. The shower tray immerses us in a universe of calm and relaxation through the use of minimalism in its purest form, applied to the bathroom.

This week’s instalment of SBID’s new Product of the Week series features a candle vessel design by 2021 SBID Awards Finalist, SA Baxter Design Studio & Foundry.

Scott Alexander designs and manufactures timeless solid bronze art vessels with world class candles for residential homes and commercial buildings, offering organic and sustainable coconut wax and a palette of in-house crafted scents.

All of the Scott Alexander candles are hand made to order by a group of local, world-renowned artisans using both modern and old-world manufacturing techniques in their eco-friendly foundry and atelier, located in the New York Hudson Valley.