In past editorials, I have been wont to rally against ‘beauty for beauty’s sake’, and as 2022 dawns, my new year’s resolution – editorially at least – is be a champion for, I waxed lyrical about Australia’s growing dominance on the international interior design and architecture scene. Robin Boyd had gotten it right in when he said our architectural landscape was a bombardment of confused style and mixed ideas, ripped – poorly – from overseas. But if the architect were still alive today, I know he’d think differently. Or at least, I believe he would. The COVID-19 pandemic may have slowed us down, but it has not knocked us out. In some ways, it has forced us all to look inwards, to call on local practices and studios rather than international ones. The Australian identity is so beautiful in its diversity, in its broad scope and in its multitude of voices and interpretations that I cannot think of a better way to begin 2022 than with a simple, unabashed and wholly amoralistic ode to Australian handsomeness.
