At the 21st edition of Decor + Design, we’re celebrating and nurturing the next generation of interior designers at the 2025 Charge Your Career Lounge! Located near VIVID Emerging Designer Awards, this will be a place for designers at all stages of their career to relax and exchange ideas. There will also be a fun program of activities throughout the show.
Much-loved designer and TV star James Treble will be in the Lounge every day, Wednesday 16 July – Friday 18 July 12pm – 1pm, ready to answer any design or career questions! There will also be an exciting live challenge for interior design students taking place on Wednesday 16 July from 2pm – 3pm: Ready, Set, DESIGN!
Three teams of student designers will respond to a design brief using miniature furniture made by Fabwork, modelled on Temple & Webster furniture. The competition is curated by Dina Kalpouzos, from Melbourne-based interior design firm Concept Living and will be judged by Dina, James Treble and Lucy Sutherland from Temple & Webster.
We are delighted that Temple & Webster are styling the Charge Your Career Lounge and will be supporting the competition with prizes. In the lead up to the event, we spoke to Lucy Sutherland from Temple & Webster about why the brand believe in engaging so strongly with the next generation of designers.
What inspired Temple & Webster to partner with Decor + Design for the ‘Charge Your Career Lounge’?
We love to support the future of Australian design and saw this as a way to connect with industry, meet attendees, showcase some of our range and have some fun with the Ready, Set, DESIGN student challenge!
How does this collaboration align with Temple & Webster’s broader mission and values as a brand?
It sits perfectly with our mission to help everyone to create a beautiful space in their homes whether they are industry professionals or consumers. We value collaboration and this is an excellent opportunity to collaborate with the industry to support emerging designers and to provide a space for student and professionals to connect and learn.
Temple & Webster
What excites you most about the ‘Charge Your Career Lounge’ and its activities, such as the ‘Ready, Set, DESIGN!’ challenge?
I love the idea of a student challenge, and it will be great to experience firsthand the talent we have in our design community. I am really excited about the fact that we will be working with miniature 3D printed models of our furniture as part of the challenge. made by Fabwork. It will be a fun concept! The lounge is also a space for our industry to recharge and connect in a beautiful environment.
Temple & Webster is contributing prizes for the student design challenge. Why is it important for you to support emerging talent in the design industry? In what other ways do you work with the next generation?
It is very important to connect with and support emerging talent for us. These students are our future customers and sometimes future employees!
At Temple & Webster we have programs in place with several design institutions that provide valuable internships, awards and real-life briefs to make sure that students are fully equipped when they step out into the industry.
We currently have an Industrial design internship program in place with students working within our design team. Our Styling studio also works with emerging interior designer and styling talent to provide them with a robust internship in our studio.
DO NOT miss the Ready, Set, DESIGN competition in the Charge Your Career Lounge at Decor + Design, Wednesday 16 July from 2pm – 3pm. Whether you’re a student designer, emerging or established, the Charge Your Career Lounge will be a great opportunity to network with your peers, while visiting stands from 200+ exhibitors throughout the exhibtion. Register to attend now!