DIA Fellows 2022 recognised for outstanding professional achievements

Paul van Barneveld, Jeremy Bull, Neil Cownie, Keith Dougal, Miriam Fanning, Catriona Gregg, Darren James, Stuart Krelle, Sophia Leopardi and Dr Scott Mayson

The DIA recently announced its Fellow appointments. The Fellows and Honorary Fellows are recognised for their outstanding ability, experience and achievement in a designer or associated profession.  

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A critical component of the DIA vision and strategy is to include and encourage designers within its open governance structure. Through this Fellowship initiative, the  DIA cultivates collaboration and conversation and elevates the collective commitment to Australian design and its influence on culture and society.

DIA President Gavin Campbell FDIA said: "We are investing in the Design Institute of Australia through our commitment to our designers and people that will add value, support and meaning for our members and industry. It is with much pleasure that we praise and welcome these outstanding Fellow and Honorary Fellow designers and design advocates."

The DIA Fellow 2022-2023 appointments are as follows:

Paul van Barneveld

Paul van Barneveld has a Master of Design Futures from RMIT and an Associate Diploma in Graphic Design from the CATC Design School. He has been director and strategic designer at Brave Creative since 1997. He has thirty-four years of industry experience with sector experience in medical and primary healthcare, manufacturing, infrastructure and energy, education, retail, associations and professional services.

Paul's core expertise is leveraging his experience in human-centred design-led strategies to develop strategic business solutions. From graphic designer, Paul evolved his practice to respond to the changing needs of business and how design can assist organisations in engaging with their customers and stakeholders.

Paul has consistently advocated for a better industry for all designers. He was the AGDA Queensland State President leading a program to reinvigorate the Queensland chapter. As National President, and under his guidance, AGDA was incorporated in 2013. Paul was elected to the inaugural board of the Australian Design Alliance [AdA] in 2010, eventually taking on the CEO role in 2017, initially sharing the job with the DIA's Jo Kellock. He delivered an Australia-wide industry research project, 'The Context Workshops – Understanding the current Landscape of Design in Australia', to redefine the organisation's purpose.

Jeremy Bull

Jeremy Bull is the founder and principal of Alexander & Co, a cross-disciplinary practice that includes space and brand design, styling, master planning and project management. 

The practice was born ten years ago with an intention to integrate architecture and interior design into a deliberately developmental organisation.  Exploring the ‘spirit of place' and the building of things to last through storytelling, craftsmanship and timelessness is the very essence of what Alexander & Co. do. It commits to sustainability, creating spaces that are good for the environment and good for people, designed for longevity both physically and symbolically. 

Jeremy was Belle magazine’s Interior Designer of the Year (2018). Alexander & Co has won Australia’s INDE Awards, Interior Design Awards and House & Garden’s Top 50 Rooms as well as winning America’s Architizer A+ Awards, Europe’s FRAME Awards, the Restaurant and Bar Design Awards, the UAE’s Harper’s Bazaar Interior Awards and has shortlisted in America’s Surface Awards, and the UK’s Dezeen Awards. Exemplar projects include the  company’s HQ, ‘Alexander House’ (Sydney) (which is an architectural residential showcase and a purpose-built live/work set-up aiming to challenge preconceptions of home, land, family and work) and Sean Connolly at Dubai Opera (UAE). 

Neil Cownie

Neil Cownie has a Bachelor of Architecture (B.Arch.) from the University of Western Australia. With more than 35 years of experience as an architect, Neil Cownie has reached an enviable point in his career. An award-winning architect based in Perth, his buildings are enduring in quality and responsive to the needs of our fast-changing world. In 2009, Neil started his boutique architectural service Neil Cownie Architect, following ten-plus years at Overman and Zuideveld.

Neil is renowned for his hands-on approach. From large-scale master planning to the intricate details that elevate each project beyond every day, Neil designs functional spaces with a high aesthetic and energy ethic. Neil brings together sustainable solutions, historical precedents, innovations and a deep understanding of how people and spaces function with his fondness for textural materials and hand-crafted elements.

Neil is a Fellow and an A+ member of the Australian Institute of Architects, a Board Member of the Architects Registration Board WA, a Registered Architect with the Architects Registration Board of Western Australia, a committee member of the Design Institute of Australia WA, and a former member of the Metropolitan Redevelopment Authority (MRA) Architectural Advisory Panel.

Keith Dougal

Keith Dougal is the nominee for Honorary Fellow. He has a B.A. in Design from Gray's School of Art at Robert Gordon University. A design strategist and interior designer, he has been a part of the South Australian design landscape for over 25 years. As one of Adelaide's most respected designers, Keith is a principal at Studio Nine Architects. 

Having contributed to highly awarded projects at Hassell, Woods Bagot, and now Studio Nine Architects, Dougal is synonymous with the South Australian design sector, bringing his experience working in studios across the U.K., Singapore and Australia. Keith has been a keen supporter of DIA over many years, involved in Student focussed events, and as a Gotya and Designers Australia Awards jury member.

Finding what matters in a project is most important to Keith. His genuine spirit of collaboration builds solid client-designer relationships, and he vies these client connections as essential to unlocking the potential to make a measurable difference through design.

Miriam Fanning

Miriam Fanning has an RMIT BA in Interior Design. She worked at Buchan Group and, from 2000, has been a founding director at Mim Design. With over 20 years of experience, Miriam’s work is characterised by the timeless principles of simplicity and restraint, favouring quality materials and authenticity to realise outcomes that are relevant today and tomorrow.

As one of Australia’s leading interior design and architecture firms, Mim Design is recognised for a diverse portfolio spanning high-end residential, retail, hospitality and commercial projects. Each project is informed by contextual cues considering client needs and site-specific parameters. Mim Design recently released ‘Works’, a publication recognising twenty-one years of her practice and how it shaped the Australian design landscape.

Catriona Gregg

Catriona Gregg is a recognised Australian designer-maker specialising in contemporary bespoke furniture, interiors and limited edition products. She has a BA in Design, with further furniture studies at John Makepeace School for Craftsmen in Wood, Dorset, UK. Whilst working in London at the David Linley Furniture Co., in addition to significant exemplary furniture projects for private clients, her work included the 16.5m-long English Oak boardroom table for the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. During her six years in London, whilst with Andrew Winch Designs and Dubois Naval Architects, she designed the interior fitouts of luxury yachts in New Zealand, Turkey and the UK. More recently, for Australia’s Oceanfast, her work included the fit out of Greg Norman’s 69.5m superyacht ‘MY Aussie Rules’. Recent projects have included luxury interiors, both architectural and superyacht, for Silverling UK, marine interior design management for Austal Shipbuilding and design coordination for GHDWoodhead.

Catriona’s bespoke furniture work is represented in public and private furniture collections and exhibitions in Australia and the UK. The ‘Chaise Longue’, was purchased in 1992 for the permanent collection by the Art Gallery of Western Australia. The pursuit of excellence, inherent in the ethos of the Makepeace School, continues to be the guiding principle of Catriona’s work as a designer/maker and mentor.

Darren James

Darren James has twenty years of experience in interior and architectural detail, cabinetry, and construction. This unique skill set provides an all-in-one approach to projects and benchmarks Darren's consistent success in Queensland. Darren is CEO and creative Director at Darren James Interiors. Launched in 2005, it provides a full-service design-build firm that creates unique bespoke interiors. Darren has an exceptional understanding of the technical aspects of a design project and is highly skilled in navigating projects through the renovation and construction process. 

Stuart Krelle

Stuart Krelle is principal/creative director at Luchetti Krelle. His eclectic design idiom, rigorous conceptual focus and meticulous eye for detail enable him to create immersive settings underpinned by resourceful practicality and charismatic design solutions – from intricately crafted joinery elements to lighting and furniture pieces.

In 2008 he co-founded the multi-award-winning Luchetti Krelle together with Rachel Luchetti. Based in Sydney, it operates globally with a portfolio of over 100 hospitality projects, including cafés, bars, restaurants and hotels, plus retail precincts. Stuart’s uniquely filtered vision has taken him offshore in recent years. Notable projects include Tokyo’s The Upper (combining fine dining with breezy sociable spaces) and Longrain restaurant, plus the radical rejuvenation of the Art Deco Tattersalls Hotel in NSW, all of which have received numerous accolades. He regularly resides on design judging panels, delivers industry talks and has lectured at The University of NSW and The University of Technology Sydney, where he completed his interior design studies. 

Sophia Leopardi

Sophia Leopardi is the nominee for Life Fellow. Sophia, who joined what was then Williams Burton as a graduate in 2003, was appointed director in 2013. She has been a consistent advocate for authentic design within the high-end residential design sector for close to 20 years. With a passion for enriching life through design and an intimate understanding of materiality and colour, Sophia represents South Australian design with a strong sense of place and consideration of locality. As a past invited jury member of the DIA awards, she has been recognised with numerous awards across the DIA, AIA and Australian Interior Design Awards.

A self-professed introspective thinker, Sophia has consistently supported and championed design through a number of guises and with a conscious effort to recognise the power of good design. The relationship between people and the experience of space, and how it impacts everyday life, underpins her practice. As a dedicated advocate for women in design, she has fostered a culture of flexibility for women to continue to be engaged with their careers alongside motherhood. 

Dr Scott Mayson

Dr Scott Mayson is a practice-based designer who contributes to design praxis through cross-disciplinary, industry-focused research and teaching lens. Collaborations aim to expand cross-disciplinary knowledge through innovative digital design methods and novel applications with national and international impact. He is currently the Dean and Associate Dean of Research & Innovation in the School of Fashion and Textiles at RMIT University. He has a BA in Industrial Design and a PhD in Philosophy, Design and Orthopaedics.

Notably, he has designed RMIT Mace for Melbourne and Vietnam, Larry Perkins Perpetual Trophy for the Australian Grand Prix Corporation, Hydration systems for the Porsche factory racing team, and Drone mapping for Tsunami affected prefectures in Japan. He has exhibited at national and international galleries, most recently at the National Museum of China, Beijing. 

His practice and research inform teaching by connecting students to industry, exposing them to multiple design disciplines and, through well-recognised teaching pedagogies, providing students with technical and creative skills to make them highly valued in the creative design industries.