Juror: Ryan Russell

Russell & George (Vic)

Ryan’s experience as a designer has crossed the fields of architecture and interior design, industrial design, theatre and exhibition design.

In 2007, Ryan Russell won both the National Interior Design Award for Emerging Practice and the national Idea Award for Retail, for Left, a cutting edge fashion store situated on Gertrude Street, Fitzroy, one of Melbourne’s emerging inner city streets for art and fashion. As a retail space, Left demonstrated Ryan’s skilful manipulation of space, light and material

surfaces to create stores which communicate the essence of the philosophy and products behind a brand, while engaging the customer with a unique shopping experience.

In the last two years, Ryan’s commissions have ranged from the design of Aesop stores throughout Australia and Asia, new offices complete with custom-designed furniture for Harvey Publicity, and the corporate pavilion for Qantas at the 2009 Australian Grand Prix, to exhibition and graphic design for the fashion exhibition retrospective at the National Trust’s Como House, on Melbourne couturier Robert Fritzlaff - the exhibition highlight of the 2009 L’Oreal Melbourne Fashion Festival.

Before starting his practice in 2006, Ryan was a Design Associate with Cox Architects and Planners responsible for the design, delivery and team management of projects from $100k to $1.5billion in project areas such as, sport and tourism, single residential, multi-residential, hospitality, retail, education and commercial, such as the Al Ain University in the UAE, 567 Collins Street, Melbourne and Kuala Lumpur Media Scape.

Ryan’s key strength’s lie in the rapid assessment and development of innovative design solutions, and a sound understanding of the essential interface between design and commercial viability. He is a registered architect and member of the Australian Institute of Architects and the Design Institute of Australia.