Project: 14 Martin Place

The overarching design direction developed in collaboration with our wonderful clients at Lipman Burgon & Partners was to create a home away from home feeling - Bringing warmth and comfort to where the vast majority of us spend all of our working lives. Specialising in financial planning, our aim with Lipman Burgon & Partners was to create a sense of quiet luxury that speaks to their clientele whilst maintaining a humble, welcoming and approachable feel. This was achieved by layering in a balance of textures and chocolate hues, as well as residential style lighting to create ambiance and speak to the subconscious.

In collaboration with Nook, the lighting selection aimed to enhance the lighter residential materials palette by incorporating darker matte black fixtures, such as the Coln, Libellule, and Versale Pendant Lights. These choices not only added a layer of depth, and respected the building’s heritage features, they seamlessly integrated with the ongoing base building upgrades and moodier design that was occurring at the time. The lighting played a pivotal role in evoking a sense of quiet luxury, creating a calming and humble ambiance. By carefully selecting these pieces, I struck the perfect balance between sophistication and warmth, ensuring the space exuded a welcoming, tranquil atmosphere that reflected the vision of understated elegance.

I was drawn to the Coln, Libellule, and Versale Pendant Lights for their harmonious blend of masculine and feminine aesthetics. The Libellule and Versale pendants balanced soft curves and fine linearity, reflecting femininity, while the matte black finish added a touch of masculinity. The Coln was selected for its clean linearity and subtle detailing, which were further enhanced by staggering three pendants at varying heights and angles, which introduced a creative twist on an otherwise simple design.

To me, lighting is the make or break of any project, particularly in the workplace where clinical colour hues and troffer lighting are the status quo. Lighting plays a crucial role in enhancing the experience of all interior spaces, shaping productivity, comfort, and well-being. It is the final piece of the puzzle - a beautiful pendant or wall light can take the most simple of designs to new heights, meanwhile enhancing the employee experience in the workplace by increasing employee performance, satisfaction, and mental clarity.

One of my favourite parts of this project was the people – as cliché as it sounds, we are a product of our environment and the people around us, so working with like-minded, talented and encouraging clients and suppliers elevate the entire design and construction process. Our clients at Lipman Burgon & Partners placed their full trust in our design direction and decision-making, giving full freedom to explore creative solutions. This autonomy allowed for enhanced collaboration with suppliers like Nook, resulting in both exceptional design outcomes and the simultaneous cultivation of strong professional relationships that will see us through many projects to come.