NEWS: Annie Paxton is on a roll. The winner of three categories at the 2023 VIVID Emerging Designer Awards at Decor + Design was recently named in Vogue Living’s prestigious VL50: Australia’s best designers, architects, landscapers and artists of 2024. It’s quite an achievement, given that the VL50 list includes established designers with decades of practice.

VIVID Emerging Designer Awards celebrates the best burgeoning talent in the country. It is the longest running design competition in Australia that is only open to designers with less than 5 years in practice. It It is an important platform judged by industry heavyweights; one which has helped launch the careers of notable designers such as Nicole Monk, Adam Markowitz and Ed Lineacre. We expect the standard to be higher than ever in 2024, with entries now open for the program being curated by Latitude Group.

Image: www.anniepaxton.com Photographer (This and Top Image): Elizabeth Kaye Campbell

Paxton won three of the most coveted awards at the 2023 VIVID presentation – the Object Award (Vestige Mirror –  Pictured Above), Lighting Award (Short Column, Double – Pictured Above) and Judges’ Choice Award. She also received a Commendation in the Furniture Award category. Annie works as an architect at Kennedy Nolan, alongside her own multidisciplinary practice which navigates the juncture between architecture and furniture/object.

Her functional, sculptural pieces are made from silk, steel, chainmail, recycled fabrics and metals. The time taken to create is often visible in the finished works, with patina and traces of craft present in the object.

VIVID Emerging Designer Awards will return to Decor + Design in 2024, with entries now open. Register to enter or register to visit the exhibition to see the finalists and attend the award ceremony, which will take place on the first day of the exhibition, 17 July 2024. 

Entry to the exhibition from 17 – 19 July at Melbourne Exhibition Centre is free but limited to design trade. Design students who wish to attend may register and then present a valid student ID at the registration desk.